November 2020 - Cosmic Pursuits

Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, over a snow-covered spruce tree in December 2019. Image credit: Brian Ventrudo.

O star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

The Christmas Star – it may be the most famous “star” in history. But was it real? Mentioned just once in the gospel of Matthew, the “Star of Bethlehem”, or the “Christmas Star”, may have guided three wise men from the East in search of a newborn king. A few words written on a scroll two thousand years ago isn’t much to go on, but astronomers have a few ideas that may explain the apparition of a star near the time of the birth of Jesus [Read more…] about Was the Christmas Star Real?

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The North America Nebula (on its side) and above it the Pelican Nebula in the constellation Cygnus.

Like many constellations along the arc of the Milky Way, the constellation Cygnus harbors an embarrassment of celestial riches. There’s everything here: emission nebula, supernova remnants, open star clusters, star clouds, and dark nebulae that reach like intertwined fingers over the bright and unresolved star clouds in this part of the sky. In dark sky, with a pair of binoculars or wide-field telescope, a contemplative stargazer can spend many happy hours hopping from object to object, wondering why more people turn their eyes skyward more often.

Which is what I was doing on a cool northern autumn night as I toured the celestial Swan, looking for a handful of pretty emission nebulae that radiate a deep red light and stand out along the rich star field in this part of the sky. These nebulae make ideal targets for urban stargazers like me because their contrast is readily enhanced with a good light pollution filter which passes their emission while reducing the effect of urban light pollution. The nebula doesn’t appear brighter, but it does have better contrast against fish-grey urban and suburban skies [Read more…] about Nebula Hopping in the Constellation Cygnus

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Archives for November 2020