Special to CosmicTribune.com, September 18, 2023, 2023 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17 ■ Look very low in the west-southwest in early twilight for the waxing crescent Moon. Can you see Spica twinkling 3° or 4° lower right of it? Use binoculars. Then look due west, about 25° to the right of the Moon, for Comet Nishimura at […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, September 11, 2023 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 ■ You can see in the stars that the season is changing: We’ve reached the time of year when, just as the stars come out, Cassiopeia has climbed as high in the northeast as the Big Dipper has sunk in the northwest. Cas stands […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, September 4, 2023 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 ■ Jupiter’s four bright Galilean moons are roughly the size of our own Moon, but at 1,800 times the distance, they appear in a telescope as hardly more than pinpoints. Jupiter’s Great Red Spot should transit the planet’s central meridian tonight around 1 a.m. […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, August 27, 2023, 2023 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. MONDAY, AUGUST 28 ■ Different people have an easier or harder time seeing star colors, especially subtle ones. To me, the tints of bright stars stand out a little better in a sky that’s the deep blue of late twilight. For instance, the two brightest […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, August 21, 2023, 2023 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. MONDAY, AUGUST 21 ■ Different people have an easier or harder time seeing star colors, especially subtle ones. To me, the tints of bright stars stand out a little better in a sky that’s the deep blue of late twilight. For instance, the two brightest […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, August 15, 2023 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. MONDAY, AUGUST 14 A winter preview: Step out before the first light of dawn this week, and the sky displays the same starry panorama it does after dusk around Christmas. Orion is striding up in the southeast, with Aldebaran and then the Pleiades high above it. […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, August 10, 2023 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. SUNDAY, AUGUST 6 ■ The Big Dipper hangs diagonally in the northwest after dark. From its midpoint, look to the right to find Polaris (not very bright) glimmering due north as always. MONDAY, AUGUST 7 ■ A few Perseids trickle in starting in late July, then they […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, July 17, 2023 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. SUNDAY, JULY 16 ■ The tail of Scorpius is low due south after dark, to the lower right of the Sagittarius Teapot. Look for the two stars especially close together in Scorpius’s tail. These are Lambda and fainter Upsilon Scorpii, known as the Cat’s Eyes. […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, June 15, 2023 Mercury brightens this week but remains lost in the glow of sunrise. It is best seen 30 or 40 minutes before sunrise, well to the lower left of brighter Jupiter. Venus is the brilliant “Evening Star” in the west from twilight into late evening. It’s not as high in […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, June 8, 2023 SATURDAY, JUNE 3 ■ Full Moon (exact at 11:43 p.m. EDT). Look for orange Antares just 3° or 4° to the Moon’s upper right this evening. SUNDAY, JUNE 4 ■ Vega is the brightest star in the east-northeast after dark. MONDAY, JUNE 5 ■ Bright Arcturus shines pale yellow-orange […]