Special to CosmicTribune.com, August 16, 2026 Excerpts from weekly Sky & Telescope.com report. SUNDAY, AUGUST 16 ■ Now the Moon shines about 10° left of Venus in twilight. Look too for Spica. ■ Check the sky low in the northwest or north at the end of these long summer twilights. Would you recognize shiny, ripply noctilucent clouds if […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, July 5, 2026 Excerpts from weekly Sky & Telescope.com report. SUNDAY, JULY 5 ■ And while you’re doing globulars, here’s a rather different one. Explore the area around Antares using Matt’s column and chart in the June 2026 Sky & Telescope, page 43. In Antares’s binocular field is M4, bigger and closer to us but […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, June 28, 2026 Excerpts from weekly Astronomy.com report. Special to CosmicTribune.com, June 21, 2026 Sunday, June 28 The Moon reaches apogee, the farthest point from Earth in its orbit, at 3:11 A.M. EDT. At that time, our satellite will be 252,441 miles (406,264 kilometers) away. The planet Mercury stands stationary tonight at 10 […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, January 18, 2026 Excerpts from weekly Astronomy.com report. Sunday, January 18 New Moon occurs at 2:52 P.M. EST. The moonless sky this week is the perfect time to enjoy deep-sky observing; tonight our target is the open cluster NGC 7789. It is also called Caroline’s Rose for its discoverer, Caroline Herschel, who first […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, August 18, 2025 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. MONDAY, AUGUST 18 ■ Titan casts its shadow on Saturn tonight. Every 15 years, Saturn’s largest moon repeatedly crosses Saturn’s face from Earth’s viewpoint — and, more visibly, casts its very tiny black shadow onto Saturn’ face. A series of these events is now under way. They will […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, July 21, 2025 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. The waning crescent Moon in the dawn passes Venus, then Jupiter. Look before or during early dawn, while the sky is still pretty dark, to spot the horntips of Taurus a well as the rest of Taurus off the frame to the upper right. MONDAY, JULY […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, July 14, 2025 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. SUNDAY JULY 13 ■ Scorpius is sometimes called “the Orion of Summer” for its brightness, its 1st-magnitude red supergiant star, and its many blue-white giants. But Scorpius passes a lot lower across the southern sky than Orion does. So for those of us at mid-northern latitudes […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, March 10, 2025 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. MONDAY, MARCH 10 ■ Mars, Pollux, and Castor in Gemini pass nearly overhead soon after nightfall this week, if you live in the world’s mid-northern latitudes. Mars is still the brightest. Pollux and Castor go smack overhead if you’re near latitude 30° north. Those “twin” heads of […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, February 10, 2025 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10 ■ After dinnertime Sirius the Dog Star blazes in the southeast, the brightest star of Canis Major. Look below Orion. Every February, the Moon is full or nearly so when it crosses Gemini. This February Mars greets it there. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11 ■ Full Moon […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, January 27, 2025 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. MONDAY, JANUARY 27 ■ While the evenings are still dark and moonless, use big binoculars or a telescope to hunt down the 8th-magnitude globular cluster M79 in Lepus below the feet of Orion. Summer is the season for most globular clusters, but here we have a rare […]
