Catch two great conjunctions: This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher
Mars passes by the Moon on Monday, Feb. 27, while Jupiter and Venus share the sky on Wednesday March 1. The post Catch two great conjunctions: This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher appeared first on...
View ArticleTarget the tiny planet Mercury: This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher
Hi folks, tune in every week of 2023 for the best in astronomy from Astronomy Editor Dave Eicher, brought to you by Celestron. This week, we’ll target the tiny planet Mercury, which is at its finest in...
View ArticleSecret Sky: A Venus challenge
Venus, the brightest planet — and paradoxically one of the greatest visual challenges through any telescope — reaches greatest eastern elongation June 4 at 16h11m UT, 13 hours after the planet achieves...
View ArticleSecret Sky: An inverse black-drop effect
In some planetary observations, imperfect seeing can be a perfect companion. Let me clarify. Some of the most baffling planetary observations over the past century and more have turned out to be...
View ArticleSky This Month: September 2023
Peak viewing season for the giant planets continues. Saturn is visible all night, at its best in the late evening. Jupiter rises later and dominates the early morning. Neptune reaches opposition near a...
View ArticleObserving Basics: Sailing with Saturn
For many observers, their first view of Saturn is one they will never forget. The sixth planet is responsible for recruiting many people to both amateur and professional astronomy with its majestic...
View ArticleNASA needs you to observe Uranus and Neptune this week
The New Horizons spacecraft is perhaps most famous for revealing the icy world Pluto in 2015, flying by the distant dwarf planet and sending back stunning imagery of a dynamic world. But the...
View ArticleSolar eclipse glossary
Altitude and azimuth Astronomy: Roen Kelly The April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse will be visible across much of Mexico, the U.S. and Canada, with plenty of great locations in the path of totality....
View ArticleWhy a solar system like ours might be more common than we think
When planetary scientists look to other stars for planets beyond Earth, they don’t often turn up much that resembles our solar system. Whether it’s because of star size, detection method, or observing...
View ArticleHow to observe planets with a small telescope
With just a small or medium-sized telescope, skygazers can easily observe planets. You’ll be surprised how much of our solar system you can see! And you don’t need a dark sky to view all of our solar...
View ArticleThe Star of Bethlehem: Can science explain what it really was?
Jupiter and Saturn came together in a “Great Conjunction” in 2020 that was unlike any seen in nearly 800 years. The two planets appeared so close together in Earth’s night sky on the winter solstice...
View ArticleJWST detects possible aurora on distant brown dwarf
On an isolated, cold brown dwarf 47 light-years away, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) picked up the signs of methane. But while the gas isn’t unusual on the gigantic worlds, JWST detected...
View ArticleJupiter meets the Moon: This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher
This week, you can catch Jupiter and the Moon in close quarters. The waxing-crescent Moon will slide about 3° north of the gas giant on Feb. 15 at around 8h Universal Time. For observers in the...
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