Celestial Events

November has fallen fast upon us. That’s good news for southern-hemisphere stargazers who now enjoy warmer nights. But it’s also good for northern stargazers who enjoy earlier sunsets and longer stargazing sessions. For deep-sky observers, there are plenty of open star clusters in Cassiopeia and Perseus, and lots of galaxies in Pegasus, Sculptor, and elsewhere. There are congregations of bright planets in the morning sky, and a few planetary stragglers in the evening sky as well. Not to mention two overlapping meteor showers that offer a chance for you to see a few bright, slow-moving fireballs, and two occultations by the Moon of first-magnitude stars. Here’s what to see in the night sky this month…
[Read more…] about The Sky This Month – November 2017

If the weather holds, October is a lovely month for stargazing. The Milky Way still lingers in the west along with stars that were prominent in the northern summer. The autumn stars  dominate overhead, and the northern winter stars are starting to poke above the eastern horizon. Best of all, you can get in a good night of stargazing without staying up too late. Early this month, there’s a wonderful pairing of planets in the eastern sky before sunrise, two meteor showers, a dramatic occultation of a bright star, another chance to see the ‘False Dawn, and your best chance of the year to see an ‘ice giant’ in the the outer solar system. Here’s what to see in the night sky this month…
[Read more…] about The Sky This Month – October 2017

The month of September affords stargazers a last chance to see the Milky Way and all its attendant splendors. The rich constellations of Scorpius and Sagittarius are setting for the year, moving a little westward each night, but the lengthening nights keep these stars accessible for a little longer, at least for observers in the northern hemisphere. Southern observers still enjoy the thickest part of the Milky Way almost overhead. In the east, the relatively star-poor constellations of Pegasus, Capricornus, and Piscis Austrinus are moving into view. Observers with very dark sky get the chance this month to see the zodiacal light, a faint wedge of white sunlight reflected from fine dust in the inner solar system.  Also this month, low in the southwestern sky at sunset, Jupiter slowly fades from view while Saturn still hangs on, its rings casting dramatic shadows on the disk of the planet. Mercury makes its best showing of the year in the eastern sky before dawn. And the Sun crosses the celestial equator heading south, marking a change of seasons.  Here’s what to see in the night sky this month…

4 Sept. Neptune reaches opposition today. This blue-green ice giant, the most distance major planet from the Sun in our solar system, shines at magnitude 7.8 and spans an apparent diameter of 2.4″. Its tiny disk is visible in the constellation Aquarius less than 1º east-southeast of the orange 4th magnitude star Hydor (λ Aquarii). While the planet is plenty bright enough to see with a telescope, or even binoculars, resolving its disk requires some magnification, at least 75x to 100x. The planet’s disk gets larger with more magnification while the images of the stars do not. Visually, the planet has a very pale blue-green color [Read more…] about The Sky This Month – September 2017

2 August. Look for sand-colored Saturn to the south and west of the waxing gibbous Moon, and north and east of the red-orange star Antares. Well past opposition, the planet is still a dazzling sight in a small telescope all month. Its rings are tilted near maximum, about 27º, the greatest in 15 years, and the planet’s disk is still a respectable 18″ across. If you’ve got a telescope, make some time to see Saturn this month. It’s a beautiful sight [Read more…] about The Sky This Month – August 2017

1 July. First Quarter Moon, 00:51 UT

1 July. The first quarter Moon joins Jupiter and the bright star Spica in the southwestern sky. Jupiter is west of Spica and much brighter. This is more or less the last month to get a good view of the planet as it continues to fade, grow smaller, and appear lower in the southern or southwestern sky during July. It’s still brighter than any star and a beautiful sight in a small telescope.

3 July. Earth reaches aphelion, its furthest point from the Sun in its orbit. Today the planet lies 152,092,504 km (94,505,901 miles) from the Sun [Read more…] about The Sky This Month – July 2017