Brian Ventrudo

Science of Stargazing – How Stars Evolve

This month you discover how massive, mid-sized, and small stars evolve over the course of their lifetimes. An understanding of the lifecycles of stars is invaluable to you as a backyard stargazer because it helps you gain perspective on what you're looking at as you examine stars and star clusters in the night sky.
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Deep Sky Tours – June

Filed Under: Fundamentals of Stargazing

This month you get a look at a hodge-podge of deep-sky objects. Leo and Virgo linger, so you have a taste of the great Virgo galaxy cluster nestled between the stars Denebola and Vindemiatrix. If you have good dark sky and 4” or larger scope, you can also attempt to see the lovely “Markarian’s Chain” of galaxies. You also get a look at two fine glo...

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Sky Tours (South) – June

Filed Under: Fundamentals of Stargazing

In last month’s tour of the southern sky, you looked both in the starry plane of the Milky Way along the constellations Crux and Centaurus, and out of the plane of our galaxy toward the northern constellations Boötes, Corona Borealis, and Canes Venatici. This month, we return to the zodiac to examine the large but dim constellation Virgo, and the s...

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Sky Tours (North) – June

Filed Under: Fundamentals of Stargazing

This month you look eastward to the large but dim constellation Virgo, below which lie the two smaller constellations Corvus and Crater. You also get a first look at the northern summer constellations Libra, Hercules, and Draco. While none of these constellations have many bright stars, they do hold a number of excellent deep-sky objects for a smal...

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Solar System Observing – Tour of the Planet Mars

Filed Under: Fundamentals of Stargazing

The Red Planet made it last opposition on December 8, 2022. The planet only reaches opposition every 2 years and 50 days, so the next opposition arrives on January 15, 2025. So there is no opposition in 2023 and 2024. The planet begins 2024 small and dim in the eastern sky before sunrise, too small to reveal any detail in a telescope. But as 2024 w...

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