Brian Ventrudo

Live Stream and Resources for the Total Solar Eclipse of April 8, 2024

March 31, 2024 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Solar System

The ‘Diamond Ring’ emerges just as totality ends on August 21, 2017. Image credit: Amanda Ventrudo.

On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will pass in a narrow band across Mexico, the continental United States, and southeastern Canada. Millions of people live within a day’s drive of the narrow path of this eclipse, so it may be one of the most watched astronomical events in history. If you’re heading to the path of totality, or if you’re planning to observe the partial solar eclipse off the path of the lunar umbra, I wish you safe travels and clear skies! And if you’re not traveling, or if you’re facing clouds, or you simply want to know what’s happening with this rare celestial event, here are a few resources and readings about this eclipse and solar eclipses in general. [Read more…] about Live Stream and Resources for the Total Solar Eclipse of April 8, 2024

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The Sound of the Jellyfish Nebula

March 26, 2024 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky, Science

A composite false-color image of the Jellyfish Nebula (IC443). Red indicates visible light, green shows regions of radio emission, and blue shows X-ray emission. Image credit: NASA/Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

Not far from the bright star Propus in the feet of the constellation Gemini lies the supernova remnant IC443, also known as Sharpless 248, but which is more evocatively known as the Jellyfish Nebula. While it’s a difficult object to see visually, this cosmic echo of a long-dead star presents a superb target for imagers because of its turbulent and complex structure. The nebula, which is about 5,000 light years away, is adjacent to a rich region of new star formation called Sharpless 249 in the Orion Spur of the Milky Way which makes the whole region even more photogenic.

The Jellyfish Nebula got its start when a massive star ran out of fuel, quickly collapsed, and detonated as a supernova about 30,000 years ago in a gas-strewn patch of the Milky Way. The shock wave from the explosion collided with clouds of interstellar gas and set them aglow to produced the intricate lacework of nebulosity that makes up the nebula. Most of the glowing gas is hydrogen, but there are also traces of light from ionized oxygen, sulfur, and other elements.
[Read more…] about The Sound of the Jellyfish Nebula

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The Flaming Star Nebula

February 27, 2024 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

The Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405 or Caldwell 31) makes the must-see lists of many visual stargazers and astronomical imagers this time of year. This showpiece nebula in the northern constellation Auriga gains its energy from the star AE Aurigae, a 6^th-magnitude massive blue-white star about 1,500 light years away. This brilliant star, which outshines our Sun by some 30,000 times, blasts out ultraviolet light that ionizes the cloud of hydrogen gas around the star. As the hydrogen atoms reassemble, they emit light at visible wavelengths that make these nebulae so beautiful. IC 405 features a remarkably complex structure with knots of glowing gas that do indeed resemble starry flames frozen into the dark background sky.
[Read more…] about The Flaming Star Nebula

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Star Factories in Cepheus

January 28, 2024 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

A deep-field H-alpha image of a small region in Cepheus, about 7 degrees on each edge, showing the nebula IC 1396 surrounding the star cluster Trumpler 37 at lower right and the ‘Flying Bat’ nebula, Sh2-129, at the upper left of the image.

This month we turn our gaze to a field of view about 7^o square in the crooked-house of the constellation Cepheus. The field is a little smaller than your closed fist held at arm’s length. In the image above, captured in H-alpha with a small monochrome astronomy camera and a 90 mm lens, you see in this field a pair of spectacular emission nebulae, an embedded star cluster, half-dozen dark nebulae hiding regions of new star formation, and a blazing late-stage star on the verge of blowing itself to bits. [Read more…] about Star Factories in Cepheus

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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.

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