Deep Sky Observing

Articles about how to understand, find, and see celestial objects including stars, galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters with binoculars, telescopes, and the naked eye.

Orion, Above the Belt

December 29, 2017 By Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

NGC 2175, the Monkey Head Nebula. Credit: Paul Hutchinson via Flickr.

Orion is perhaps the most famous of the 88 constellations in the night sky, and it’s likely the easiest to find for stargazers all over the world. And unlike most constellations, Orion looks like its legendary namesake: a mighty hunter with a shield, a raised arm, and a sword hanging from his star-jeweled belt. The constellation harbors some dazzling sights including what may be the most beautiful object in the night sky for a small telescope, the famous Orion Nebula, a bright blister in the nearest star-forming region to our solar system. In this little tour, we’ll have a look at some lesser-known sights in the constellation Orion north of the three bright stars of Orion’s Belt [Read more…] about Orion, Above the Belt

Share This:

Hopping Double Stars in Cassiopeia

October 26, 2017 By Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

White arrows point to the objects in this brief tour of the constellation Cassiopeia. Created with SkyX by Software Bisque.

When time is tight and the weather turns cold, and I grow despondent at the light-polluted skies under which I find myself, I turn to a class of celestial objects that are very forgiving of observing conditions and telescope aperture: double and multiple stars. There are thousands of these objects visible during the year. Many are run-of-the-mill sights. But many more present a lovely appearance in a small telescope, revealing color, brightness contrast, and a jewel-like appearance that appeal to the artistically inclined while also packing plenty of physics and sheer challenge to the observer.

In this installment of Cosmic Pursuits, I share with you three double and multiple stars in and around the throne of the legendary Ethiopian queen (along with a couple of extraordinary ‘bonus objects’). So grab a small telescope and head out to see them for yourself. The map above shows you where to find these relatively bright star systems and ‘bonus objects’… [Read more…] about Hopping Double Stars in Cassiopeia

Share This:

Roaming the October Skies – A Brief Tour of Aquarius

October 13, 2017 By Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

The Helix Nebula is a planetary nebula, a cloud of glowing gas ejected by a dying mid-sized star. (Image by Terry Hancock)

Aquarius is a dim constellation in a barren patch of sky far off the plane of the Milky Way. Just east of Capricorn, it marks the 11th constellation of the zodiac. This dim constellation lies near the other “watery” constellations including Cetus, the Sea Monster (or whale), Pisces, the Fishes, and Eridanus, the River. This ancient constellation was associated with water or water bearers since Babylonian times. Some representations have the water bearer pouring water into a stream that leads to the bright star Fomalhaut, the mouth of the southern fishes Piscis Austrinus. Like Capricorn, Aquarius has far fewer deep-sky sights than Sagittarius. But there are a handful of objects here of enduring interest including the famous Helix Nebula, one of the nearest planetary nebulae to Earth. Let’s take a short tour of some of the finer sights in this zodiacal constellation… [Read more…] about Roaming the October Skies – A Brief Tour of Aquarius

Share This:

Seeing Carbon Stars, Close Up and Far

September 22, 2017 By Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

his ALMA image reveals much finer structure in the U Antliae shell than has previously been possible. Around 2700 years ago, U Antliae went through a short period of rapid mass loss. During this period of only a few hundred years, the material making up the shell seen in the new ALMA data was ejected at high speed. Examination of this shell in further detail also shows some evidence of thin, wispy clouds known as filamentary substructures. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/F. Kerschbaum

Many experienced stargazers are connoisseurs of carbon stars, deep-red and highly evolved stars that are dredging up carbon and other nuclear reactants from their innards on their way to becoming, briefly, planetary nebulae. These striking stars are the most colorful of all celestial sights and they’ve long intrigued astronomers who are trying to fine tune their theories of how stars come to the end of their lives. Carbon stars are too far away to reveal much detail directly, so astronomers study them indirectly by examining their spectra. But a team of researchers at the remarkable ALMA telescope in northern Chile have captured an amazingly beautiful and revealing image of a carbon star in the constellation Antlia. Let’s have a look at what they saw, then set some time aside to go see a carbon star for ourselves with a small telescope or pair of binoculars [Read more…] about Seeing Carbon Stars, Close Up and Far

Share This:

A Stroll Through the Stars of Capricorn

September 15, 2017 By Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

The globular cluster Messier 30 as captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA/HST.

Along the path of the zodiac, just east and a little north of Sagittarius, lies the smile-shaped constellation Capricornus. After the gaudy splendors of Sagittarius and other northern summer constellations, Capricornus isn’t much to look at. It’s the smallest constellation of the zodiac and the second-faintest after Cancer. It has just two stars brighter than 4^th magnitude, so it’s a challenge to see this constellation in the city. But Capricornus offers several splendid alignments of stars that make for excellent viewing with a pair of binoculars on nights in August through October. Let’s have a look… [Read more…] about A Stroll Through the Stars of Capricorn

Share This: