Brian Ventrudo

The Sky This Month – August 2016

August 1, 2016 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Celestial Events

perseid In many ways, August is the best month for stargazing. For northern-hemisphere observers, the weather is still warm but much of the unsettled and humid summer air dissipates and skies become, on average, drier and clearer. Observers in the southern hemisphere enjoy warmer weather as winter nears an end, and the center of the Milky Way, the starriest part of the night sky, still lies just past overhead. And of course, the Perseid meteor shower peaks this month, with some reports suggesting it could be spectacular this year. There are also plenty of planets to see in the evening sky. Here’s what’s going on in the night sky this month:

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Going Deep in the Snake’s Head

July 24, 2016 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

Sketch of Messier 5. Credit: Vedran Vrhovac at Flickr.com. Click to enlarge.

The constellation Serpens Caput, the Snake’s Head, lies well off the band of the Milky Way and holds relatively few deep-sky sights. But it’s not completely barren. Let’s have a look at three targets in this ancient constellation for stargazers equipped with modest optics and an urge to see something good [Read more…] about Going Deep in the Snake’s Head

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The Constellation Serpens Caput, the ‘Snake’s Head’

July 16, 2016 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

The region of Ophiuchus and Serpens in a map circa 1825.

In last month’s constellation tour, we examined the dazzling stars of the constellation Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown. This month, we move due south to the northern section of the constellation Serpens, the only constellation split into two parts. These are the stars of Serpens Caput, the ‘head of the snake’, which zigzags vertically along the celestial sphere, just north of the celestial equator, and just west of the much larger constellation Ophiuchus, the ‘serpent bearer’. The stars of Serpens Caput are visible in the northern and southern hemispheres [Read more…] about The Constellation Serpens Caput, the ‘Snake’s Head’

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Finder Scopes

July 12, 2016 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Astronomy Equipment, Astronomy for Beginners

A magnifying finder scope mounted to a telescope.

When you look through a telescope, you look at a very small slice of sky. That makes it almost impossible to point your telescope directly at your target. Sometimes, it’s even hard to find the Moon directly with the main tube of a telescope, even at lowest magnification. That’s why most telescopes come with a finder, a small telescope or range finder to help you easily locate objects in the night sky. There are two main types of finders: magnifying finders and non-magnifying finders [Read more…] about Finder Scopes

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Farewell to Jupiter, and Hello

July 8, 2016 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Science

Artist's concept of Juno at Jupiter (credit: NASA) — Artist’s concept of Juno at Jupiter (credit: NASA)

If you’ve been following the news this week, you know that Jupiter has a new moon, a man-made moon called Juno. The NASA spacecraft, bejeweled with solar cells and as big as a basketball court, entered an elongated orbit around the big planet on July 4 as it began a 20-month study of the structure of Jupiter. While Jupiter may be fading in the western sky after sunset, still visible but soon to be lost to our telescopes, it will continue to reveal many secrets to Juno during the coming months [Read more…] about Farewell to Jupiter, and Hello

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