Cosmic Pursuits

Basic astronomy and night sky information

Brian Ventrudo

Chesley Bonestell: Artist, Architect, Visionary

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: History and Famous Astronomers

A painting by Chesley Bonestell for NASA showing Werhner von Braun's concept for a space station.
A painting by Chesley Bonestell for NASA showing Wernher von Braun’s concept for an Earth-orbting space station. Image credit: NASA.

The artist and architect Chesley Bonestell painted scenes of space exploration that inspired an entire generation of astronomers, artists, writers, engineers and visionaries. If you’re over a certain age, you have doubtless seen his work, and if you’re a dedicated stargazer and space enthusiast, you were likely inspired by his vision of space travel. But Bonestell was more than a starry-eyed dreamer. He was an architectural artist, and he also helped the great rocket engineer Wernher von Braun develop his ideas by fleshing out von Braun’s sketches of moon rockets, satellites, and interplanetary spacecraft [Read more…] about Chesley Bonestell: Artist, Architect, Visionary

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Castor and Pollux

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

Gemini is still well overhead, north and east of the constellation Orion, in the evening hours in March.
Gemini is still well overhead, north and east of the constellation Orion, in the evening hours in March. Its brightest stars are Castor and Pollux. Created with SkyX Serious Astronomer edition by Software Bisque.

Along with Taurus, Gemini is one of the two most northerly constellations of the zodiac. It lies just east of Auriga and the bright star Capella, and it’s marked by the two bright stars Castor and Pollux which lie less than 5º apart (a little less than the width of your three middle fingers held at arm’s length). To find the constellation draw an imaginary line diagonally from Rigel past Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion about a distance equal to the separation of these two bright stars. This will land you smack in the middle of Gemini. In March and April, the constellation lies still well above the western horizon in the early evening hours [Read more…] about Castor and Pollux

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The Bluest Star

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

An artist's impression of the outer layers of the star Naos (zeta Puppis). Credit: Wikipedia.
An artist’s impression of the outer layers of the star Naos (zeta Puppis). Credit: Wikipedia.

Scattered in a thick band south of Canis Major lie the stars and star clusters of the constellation Puppis. There are no stars here to visually rival the brilliant stars of the Big Dog or Orion further to the north and west. But visual appearances are deceiving because among the stars of Puppis is one of the most luminous and hottest stars in our part of the galaxy, the star Naos or zeta Puppis [Read more…] about The Bluest Star

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The Sky This Month – March 2017

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Celestial Events

Waiting-for-Darkness-Winter-Star-Party-2017
Waiting for astronomical twilight at the Winter Star Party near Big Pine Key, Florida, on February 24, 2017.

1 March 2017. The Moon returns at the beginning of March in the form of a slender waxing crescent in the western sky after sunset. It’s joined by the fading but still respectably bright planet Mars and the unmistakable silver-white radiance of the planet Venus. Uranus lies 2º west of Mars and reveals itself easily in a pair of binoculars. These three planets are a study in contrasting brightness. Venus shines at magnitude -4.6, Mars at magnitude +1.3, and Uranus at magnitude +5.7. The Moon today has a total magnitude of -9.0. Each full step in magnitude is a factor of 2.512 in brightness [Read more…] about The Sky This Month – March 2017

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A Little Cluster in the Big Dog

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

NGC 2362, the Tau Canis Majoris cluster. Credit: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter, University of Arizona.
NGC 2362, the Tau Canis Majoris cluster. Credit: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter, University of Arizona.

The constellation Canis Majoris, the ‘Big Dog’, is home to many fine open clusters of blue-white stars along the stubby Orion Arm of the Milky Way. There are some real gems here, including the modest but delightful open star cluster NGC 2362, a group that hosts some of the youngest-known stars. Centered on the bright star τ (tau) Canis Majoris, this cluster, in a telescope, looks like a large diamond set among many smaller blue-white gems [Read more…] about A Little Cluster in the Big Dog

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