Special to CosmicTribune.com, October 7, 2024 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. The low-riding waxing crescent Moon of early fall passes Venus, then Antares in the fading afterglow of sunset. Venus is plotted here at its position on October 5th (for North America), when it’s just 0.9° lower left of Alpha Librae, magnitude 2.8. Every day Venus moves […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, September 29, 2024 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 ■ Face south and look high these evenings after dark. The brightest star there is Altair, the southernmost point of the Summer Triangle. The other two are Deneb and Vega more nearly overhead. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 ■ The starry W of Cassiopeia stands high […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, September 22, 2024 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 ■ Goodbye to summer — at last! Today is equinox day. Earth passes the September equinox point in its orbit at 8:44 a.m. EDT (12:44 UT). This is when the Sun, in its six-month journey south, crosses the celestial equator — and equivalently, […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, August 25, 2024 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. SUNDAY, AUGUST 25 ■ The last-quarter Moon rises late, around 11 p.m. (It’s exactly last quarter at 5:26 a.m. Monday morning.) Spot the Pleiades a few degrees to the Moon’s upper right. Once it rises high it shines above much else in Taurus, as shown below. […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, August 5, 2024 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. SUNDAY, AUGUST 4 ■ New Moon (exact at 7:13 a.m. on this date EDT). ■ The T Cor Bor Watch continues. Have you been checking Corona Borealis overhead these clear evenings? The recurrent nova T Coronae Borealis could erupt to 2nd magnitude anytime this summer. Or fall. […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, July 29, 2024 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. SATURDAY, JULY 27 ■ Last-quarter Moon (exact at 10:52 p.m. EDT). The Moon, in Pisces, rises around 11 or midnight tonight below the head of Andromeda and the Great Square of Pegasus. SUNDAY, JULY 28 ■ Starry Scorpius is sometimes called “the Orion of Summer” — […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, July 22, 2024 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. SUNDAY, JULY 21 ■ This evening you’ll find that the low Moon forms a huge, nearly vertical line with Altair about three fists above it and Vega the same distance above Altair, near the zenith. ■ Look a finger-width at arm’s length above Altair for its […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, June 30, 2024 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. SATURDAY, JUNE 29 ■ Right at nightfall, look for the Big Dipper hanging straight down in the northwest. Its bottom two stars, the Pointers, point to the right toward modest Polaris, the end of the Little Dipper’s handle, due north. SUNDAY, JUNE 30 If you […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, June 24, 2024 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. MONDAY, JUNE 24 ■ After dark look south for orange Antares, “the Betelgeuse of summer,” nearing the meridian. (Both are 1st-magnitude “red” supergiants). Around and upper right of Antares are the other, whiter stars of upper Scorpius, forming their distinctive pattern. ■ Also right after dark, spot […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, April 6, 2024 Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report. FRIDAY, APRIL 5 ■ Shortly after nightfall around this time of year, Arcturus, the bright Spring Star climbing in the east, stands just as high as Sirius, the brighter Winter Star descending in the southwest (for skywatchers at mid-northern latitudes). These are the two brightest stars in […]
