Celestial Events

Happenings in the night sky and information about astronomical events.

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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Auroral Activity Kicks Into High Gear

November 16, 2021 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Celestial Events, Stargazing

An early-morning auroral display as seen from Calgary, Canada on Nov. 4, 2021

The sunrise comes late this time of year, especially for those who like me wake at 5 a.m. But on November 4, the man on the morning radio show announced, along with the standard traffic and weather reports, that a brilliant display of aurora borealis was underway and was visible from nearly anywhere in the city. So, despite a temperature well below freezing, I grabbed camera and tripod to head behind the house to see what all the fuss was about [Read more…] about Auroral Activity Kicks Into High Gear

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Galaxies and Comet C/2017 T2 (PanSTARRS)

May 28, 2020 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Celestial Events

Comet C/2017 T2 PanSTARRS Passes by Galaxies M81 and M82. Imaged at Grand Mesa Observatory by Terry Hancock and Tom Masterson (Credit and Copyright: Terry Hancock and Tom Masterson).

While a couple of promising comets have fizzled out this spring, the slow and steady Comet C/2017 T2 (PanSTARRS) is keeping astrophotographers happy as it moves through the northern constellation Ursa Major. On May 24, the comet passed the lovely pair spiral galaxies M81 and M82 near the bowl of the Big Dipper. The event was framed spectacularly in the above image by Terry Hancock and Tom Masterson using the Takahashi E-180 Astrograph at Grand Mesa Observatory in Colorado. This image is a testament to a high level of expertise and it shows how astrophotography at the hands of skilled and talented practitioners can approach high art [Read more…] about Galaxies and Comet C/2017 T2 (PanSTARRS)

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Supernova in Messier 61

May 20, 2020 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Celestial Events

The Type II supernova SN2020jfo in the face-on spiral galaxy Messier 61 in the constellation Virgo. Captured on May 19, 2020 with a TV85 refractor, TRF-2008 0.8x focal reducer, and ASI290MM camera. Stack of 20x10s images.

The galaxy M61 has done it again: it’s produced another supernova, the eighth such event since 1926. That makes this lovely face-on spiral galaxy in the Virgo cluster one of the most prolific supernova producers of the past century.

The supernova, cataloged as SN2020jfo, was discovered on May 6, 2020 at the Zwicky Transient Facility at Palomar Observatory near San Diego. Upon discovery, the exploding star was magnitude 14.7. It’s since brightened to about 14.3. To see it visually requires at least a 10″ telescope, but it is relatively easy to take a snapshot with an astronomy camera and a much smaller scope. I took the 20x10s stack of images at the top with an 85mm Tele Vue refractor, an 0.8x focal reducer, and an inexpensive ZWO ASI290MM camera.

One of the more prominent members of the Virgo cluster, Messier 61 is a lovely barred spiral with winding arms knotted with star-forming nebula and clouds of blue-white stars. It’s a starburst galaxy, one wracked with prodigious star formation which explains why so many supernovae have been seen here. With lots of massive, fast-burning young stars forming, it’s inevitable that they reach their spectacular end as a Type II supernova during which the star, as it runs out of fuel, collapses and snaps back in a spectacular explosion. It releases as much energy in a few weeks as our Sun releases in its entire 10 billion year life span.

The face-on spiral galaxy Messier 61 in the constellation Virgo. Image courtesy of the European Southern Observatory (ESO).

M61 is about the same size as our Milky Way and lies about 52 million light years away, so the progenitor star detonated when Earth was in the Eocene period back when Australia and Antarctica were still connected and most of the planet was covered in lush forest.

And since astronomy is not just a matter of contemplating space but also time, keep in mind that the light from thousands more supernovae from M61 are on the way to us now, events to be detected by generations of Earth-bound astronomers yet to be born.

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A ‘Christmas Star’

December 22, 2019 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Celestial Events

Brilliant Sirius over a snow-covered spruce tree in the wee hours of an icy morning looks a lot like the Christmas Star. Let’s all enjoy a fine holiday and a happy new year!

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