Cosmic Pursuits

Basic astronomy and night sky information

Brian Ventrudo

The Beehive Cluster

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

The Beehive Star Cluster (Messier 44) in the constellation Cancer. Credit: Marc Van Norden - Flickr)
The Beehive Star Cluster (Messier 44) in the constellation Cancer. Credit: Marc Van Norden – Flickr/CC License)

The constellation Cancer is the faintest of the twelve constellations of the zodiac, and many casual stargazers pass it by when looking from bright Gemini to the striking group Leo to the east. In city skies, the constellation is hard to see at all. But there are some excellent sights in Cancer within reach of a telescope, including the superb star cluster M44, the Beehive Cluster, which is one of the finest objects for a wide-field telescope or a pair of binoculars [Read more…] about The Beehive Cluster

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The Sky This Month – April 2017

by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Celestial Events

The planet Jupiter (credit: NASA)
The planet Jupiter (credit: NASA)

1 April. Mercury reaches its greatest eastern elongation at 19° from the Sun. In the northern hemisphere, the speedy little planet is at its highest altitude of the year. Look for Mercury low over the western horizon about half an hour after sunset. The planet shines at a respectably bright magnitude -0.2 and, in a telescope, reveals a half-lit disk. Slightly fainter and much redder Mars lies about a fist’s-width above Mercury. Over the next week, you will see Mercury plunge back towards the horizon as it quickly makes its way around the Sun [Read more…] about The Sky This Month – April 2017

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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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