Basic astronomy and night sky information
“There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen”, said V.I. Lenin. That, in a way, is what October feels like for stargazers and skywatchers who have enjoyed wave after wave of auroral displays, massive sunspots across the solar disk, and a bright, long-tailed comet in the morning and evening skies [Read more…] about Comet Update | Aurora, Aurora Everywhere
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Cepheus, the King, is an ancient and rather dim constellation, but its position along the northern Milky Way means it harbors more than its share of deep-sky sights including star clusters, nebulae, even the lovely Fireworks galaxy (NGC 6946). But the best field of view in the constellation encompasses three deep-sky sights including a star-forming nebula, a star cluster, and an aging red supergiant that’s one of the reddest and most luminous stars in the sky [Read more…] about The Elephant Trunk Nebula
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The comet lives! At least so far…
In July, some astronomers suspected the promising comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) was on its way to breaking into pieces and fading from view. But as the comet became lost in the Sun’s glare from Earth, satellite images showed it apparently still intact. This offers hope that this little interloper from the Oort Cloud will put on an appealing – and possibly spectacular – display in late September and October 2024 [Read more…] about Get Ready for a Bright Comet!
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At this time of year, just after darkness falls, we get to see the thickest part of the Milky Way extending over more than half the sky from Cygnus to Scutum to Sagittarius. And where there’s Milky Way, there are star clouds. Grab your binoculars or small telescope and take a tour of the best star clouds of a northern summer (and southern winter) with the recent article published in Sky & Telescope magazine. Inspired by the photographic work of E.E. Barnard in the early 20th century, this sky tour starts with the ‘Great Cloud’ of Sagittarius and works northwards, stopping to see many star clusters and dark nebula in and around these regions of shimmering starlight. It also includes visuals, especially the recent black-and-white film photography of James Cormier. Click on the image to the left to download the article on PDF format (it’s about 6MB). Then enjoy the tour!
While not a constellation itself, the Summer Triangle dominates the overhead sky in the northern summer and autumn months and guides stargazers to other stars, constellations, and deep-sky sights. The vertices of the triangle are marked by three bright stars Vega, Deneb, and Altair, each of which belong to true constellations Lyra, Cygnus, and Aquila, respectively. The image below shows the Summer Triangle rising as seen from mid-northern latitudes at 10 p.m. in mid July. The triangle is big: it spans about two full hand widths held at arm’s length. The triangle can be seen well south of the equator, too, above the northern horizon. Southern stargazers call it the “Northern Triangle” or the “Winter Triangle” [Read more…] about Touring the Summer Triangle
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