Brian Ventrudo

Science of Stargazing – Star Clusters

Each star cluster is as distinct as a European city, each as beautiful in really dark sky as a spray of diamond dust on black velvet. Open star clusters-- sometimes called galactic star clusters-- are congregations of a few hundred young stars that have emerged from the cocoon of an emission nebula and still hang together through mutual gravitation...

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Deep Sky Tours – October

Filed Under: Fundamentals of Stargazing

We look away from the Milky Way this month into the regions of the constellations Pegasus, Aquarius, and Scupltor to see a range of deep-sky sights including galaxies, planetary nebulae, and star clusters.
Click here to download notes for 'Deep Sky Tours - October' (PDF, 1 MB)
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Sky Tours (South) – October

Filed Under: Fundamentals of Stargazing

The only bright star near the zenith in October is Fomalhaut, the chief star of the constellation Piscis Austrinus. The exotic southern birds—Phoenix, Grus, Tucana—are visible, as well as Pavo, which you met last month. Capricornus lingers, and its zodiacal neighbor Aquarius approaches the zenith. North of Aquarius, you find the prominent northern ...

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Sky Tours (North) – October

Filed Under: Fundamentals of Stargazing

You will recall the stars of spring were fainter than the stars of northern winter. So it is with the stars of northern autumn. The plane of the Milky Way, which contains many bright stars visible in northern summer and winter, moves westward and is replaced by the sparse and somewhat bleak sky of northern autumn rising in the northeast. As you loo...

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Solar System Observing – Uranus and Neptune

Filed Under: Fundamentals of Stargazing

Beyond Saturn, in the icy reaches of the outer solar system, orbit the giant planets Uranus and Neptune. Uranus is the 3rd-largest planet by radius and the 4th largest by mass in the solar system, while Neptune is a little smaller but more massive than Uranus. Both planets were once considered gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn. Now astronomers und...

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