Solar System Observing

Articles about how to understand, find and see solar system objects including planets, the Moon, the Sun, asteroids, meteors, and comets with binoculars, telescopes, and the naked eye.

The Full Moon Occults Mars at Opposition

November 30, 2022 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Solar System

Mars approaches a grazing lunar occultation on September 5, 2020. Image courtesy of Delberson Tiago de Souza at Astrobin under the Creative Commons License.

Set a reminder – and hope for clear sky – on the night of December 7-8 as a remarkable event takes place – a full December ‘Cold Moon’ passing in front of Mars just two hours before the planet reaches opposition. The event is visible through parts of western Europe, Canada, and the U.S. except for the eastern seaboard, the southeast, and Alaska. You can see the event without optics, with binoculars, or the telescope of your choice. It will be an astronomical event to remember [Read more…] about The Full Moon Occults Mars at Opposition

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Guide to Observing Mars in 2022

October 25, 2022 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Solar System

An image of Mars captured by Damian Peach in June 2018.

The planet Mars is one of the most interesting planets to observe with a small telescope, but also one of the most difficult. The planet only gets close enough to Earth to give up much detail just once every 780 days (about two years and two months), and when it does make an apparition, it still appears relatively small compared to Jupiter or Saturn. But observing Mars is worth the effort. It’s the only planet to reveal an appreciable amount of surface detail in a small telescope, and it also features occasional surprises such as dust storms and local fogs and cloud banks.

Seeing Mars takes a little practice, however, as well as the right tools for the job. This guide will help you understand what you can see on the surface of Mars, especially during the time before and after the opposition of December 8, 2022. And it will help you get the best view of this remarkable world with a telescope and a few essential accessories [Read more…] about Guide to Observing Mars in 2022

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Waning October Moon and Autumn Leaves

October 12, 2022 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Solar System

The waning Moon on October 12, 2022 just three days past the full “Hunter’s Moon”. The fall colors linger as the trees slowly shut down their chlorophyll production, revealing the orange and yellow carotenes in their aging leaves. At the next full “Beaver Moon” on November 8, these trees will very likely find themselves covered with snow. This image was captured on Kodak Ektar 100 film with an old Nikon FE camera and Nikon Series E 75-150mm zoom lens, both circa 1980. There’s no school like the old school.

Autumn wind clear
Autumn moon bright,

Fallen leaves gather in piles then scatter,
And crows settling in, cold, startle away.

Will we ever see, ever even think of each other again?
This night, this moment: impossible to feel it all.

Poem by Li Po (c. 701-762 A.D.), translation by David Hinton

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Last Gasp of a Big Solar Prominence

August 30, 2022 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Solar System

Full-disk image of the Sun in H-alpha on August 30, 2022 at 15:57UTC.

The Sun kicked it into high gear this week! A few big prominences emerged, especially a towering tornado-shaped construct on the southern solar limb. I just managed to catch the tail-end of it this morning as the Sun cleared the trees at my observing location. Took a few images of the prom, went for a cup of coffee, came back to the telescope, and – POOF! – it was gone. South is up in this image, captured with a Lunt 60MT H-alpha solar telescope and Player One Apollo-M Mini camera.

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The Sun Awakens

May 27, 2022 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Solar System

An image of the Sun captured with an H-alpha solar telescope on May 22, 2022. Prominences and filaments are visible on the right edge of the solar disk. Sunspot groups are visible in the lower center and lower right part of the image. Image credit: Brian Ventrudo.

Solar observers haven’t had much to see on and around the Sun in the past several years. But that’s starting to change as our home star begins to show signs of activity in the form of increasing sunspot numbers and other dynamic features as a new solar cycle – number 25 – gets underway.

So, what’s a solar cycle? [Read more…] about The Sun Awakens

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