Basic astronomy and night sky information
Articles about how to understand, find, and see celestial objects including stars, galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters with binoculars, telescopes, and the naked eye.
Within the Summer Triangle, in the constellation Vulpecula, the Fox, lies a fairly new star cluster NGC 6823 embedded within the glowing gas cloud of its birthplace, the nebula NGC 6820. The image above by astrophotographer Jeff Johnson of New Mexico shows cluster and emission nebula along with a dark nebula within the brighter emission nebula that shrouds yet another round of star formation [Read more…] about A View of New Star Cluster and Nebula
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Thanks to gravity, most galaxies clump together in groups or clusters, so a neighboring galaxy is usually never far away. But the galaxy NGC 6503 has found itself in a lonely position, perched at the edge of a strangely empty patch of space called the Local Void. The galaxy is near enough and bright enough to spot with a small telescope in the northern constellation Draco, the Dragon [Read more…] about NGC 6503, the Lost-in-Space Galaxy
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Today, let’s look at the spiral galaxy M83, a lovely cosmic lotus blossom and one of the showpieces in the southern deep sky.
Barely visible from northern latitudes, M83 lies roughly 15 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra. It’s one of the 25 brightest galaxies in the sky, and one of the closest and brightest barred spiral galaxies. At magnitude 7.6, it’s easily visible with binoculars and small telescopes about 18° due south of the bright star Spica, in Virgo, and just north of the star Menkent in the constellation Centaurus [Read more…] about The Southern Pinwheel – M83
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Northern stargazers in spring look out of the plane of the Milky Way in the night sky before midnight, so there are few bright stars and star clusters visible, and even fewer bright nebula. But there is a little gem under the bowl of the Big Dipper, the famous Owl Nebula, also known as M97. A young planetary nebula, M97 is a speeding cloud of glowing gas ejected by a small dying star. In a small telescope under dark sky, the nebula resembles the eyes of wise old barn owl gazing out of the interstellar darkness [Read more…] about The Owl Nebula
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While it may take a little practise to see the subtle differences in each of these balls of ancient stars, and despite claims of many beginning stargazers, all globular clusters do not look the same. The images above show four of the brightest globular clusters visible in a telescope this time of year. Each has a distinctive appearance, pattern, and brightness gradient. All images were taken with the same exposure and filter and with the same 6″ RC telescope so you can get an idea of their comparative appearance [Read more…] about From the Observer’s Log: Four Great Globs
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