Recent Astronomy Articles at Cosmic Pursuits

The 23 Best Celestial Events of 2024

December 31, 2023 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Celestial Events

Orion over Killbear Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada (credit: Wesley Liikane)

The year 2024 is a busy one for celestial events and night sky sights. All the bright planets – especially Mercury and Mars – make spectacular appearances and a number of conjunctions through the year. A total solar eclipse passes across North America in early April. The Perseids arrive in August with the Moon mostly out of the way. And through the year, solar activity is expected to pick up resulting in increased sunspot counts and other chromospheric activity along with frequent auroral displays. We even get an extra day of stargazing since February has 29 days in 2024, a consequence of a calendar adjustment to account for the fact that it takes the Earth 365.25 days to go around the Sun, not 365. Here are the key celestial events for 2024. We’ll have more about each event, and much more, in the monthly night-sky updates on Cosmic Pursuits.

Share This:

A Deep-Sky Vista and the Dark Nebula Le Gentil 3

November 27, 2023 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

The North America Nebula (lower left) and IC1396 (upper right). The dark form of Le Gentil 3 lies just right and below center in this image.

Every picture tells a story, and this wide-field image of the northern Milky Way in Cygnus and Cepheus, which spans nearly 16º on each edge, surely has a lot going on.

To the upper right of this image, you see the blossom-like emission nebula IC1396 in Cepheus with the aging red-orange star μ Cephei, the ‘Garnet Star’, on its limb. Plenty of stars are forming within this stellar nursery.

At the upper left, you see the tiny blossom of the Cocoon Nebula (IC 5146), another stellar nursery at the end of a two-degree-long dark nebula Barnard 168, both set in a rich field of background stars.

Moving down the left side of the image you see more nebulosity culminating in the unmistakable North America Nebula (NGC 7000) and the neighbouring Pelican Nebula (IC 5070) below, both of which encompass more active regions of star formation. Various patches of dark dust and distant star clouds, especially the square formation above NGC 7000 also lie within this wide view, as does the bright star Deneb at the tail of Cygnus, the Swan.

But the showpiece of this image is notable for its lack of light. Just right and below centre you see the vast and irregular void of a cloud of gas and interstellar dust known as Le Gentil 3 that comprises an immense conglomeration of star-making material in the early stages of giving birth to dozens of new star clusters.

Share This:

Five Fall Double Stars for a Small Telescope

October 29, 2023 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

Albireo (Beta Cygni). Image credit: Jared Smith via Flickr under Creative Commons license.

Galaxies abound in the deep sky of northern autumn and imagers and visual observers with big telescopes and dark sky have plenty of choice targets. But for us urban visual observers with smaller scopes, galaxies, despite shining with the combined light of several hundred million stars, usually look a little underwhelming. So what’s left to see? Double stars, of course! Often overlooked for flashier sights, double (and multiple) stars offer a great challenge, contrasting colours, and understated but still gasp-worthy beauty that doesn’t take long to appreciate. Here are five superb double stars for northern autumn observers that will make you a fan of these under appreciated objects, listed approximately in order of easiest to hardest to observe [Read more…] about Five Fall Double Stars for a Small Telescope

Share This:

The Methuselah Star

June 29, 2023 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Science, Stargazing

The dim zodiacal constellation Libra harbors just a handful of dim deep-sky objects and no bright stars. But within its boundaries lies the Methuselah Star, an ancient relic of the early universe born from the ashes of the first stars that formed after the Big Bang. It’s likely the oldest object of any kind you will ever see, and it’s an easy target in a pair of binoculars or small telescope. [Read more…] about The Methuselah Star

Share This:

An Exploding Star in Messier 101

May 30, 2023 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky, Science

An image of the galaxy Messier 101 and the supernova SN2023ixf next to the emission nebula NGC 5461. Captured on May 20, 2023. Image credit – Florian Rünger/Wikipedia Commons.

A big star exploded as a supernova in the lovely face-on spiral M101 in Ursa Major this month. At a distance of 20 million light years, this is the closest supernova in five years and the first in this galaxy since 2011. The new supernova isn’t close enough to see with the unaided eye, alas, but it lies within reach of a 5” or larger telescope for visual observers (as of the end of May 2023) and it offers an easy target for imagers. [Read more…] about An Exploding Star in Messier 101

Share This: