Category Archives: constellations

Ceres Gets Buzzed

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   Tuesday morning October 17th the Dwarf Planet Ceres will be within about 3o from M-44, the open star cluster commonly known as the Beehive Cluster. Both will easily fit within the field of view of binoculars and with some careful observation Ceres at 8th magnitude might be identified just to the left from M-44 which appears as a 4th magnitude ‘smudge’ of light.

   
   
   

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.

Moon in Conjunction With Mars

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   Tuesday morning October 17th the thin 27.25-day old waning crescent Moon will be about 2o from the planet Mars and about 5o from the inner planet Venus. All three will fit within the field of view of 7×50 binoculars and should make for an interesting view.

   
   
   

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.

Moon – Regulus Conjunction

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   Sunday morning October 15th the 25-day old waning crescent Moon will be less than 0.5o from the star Regulus in Leo the Lion. This should make for a great view with binoculars or a low-power telescope eyepiece.

   
   
   

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.

Venus – Mars Conjunction

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   Thursday morning October 5th the inner planet Venus will be within about 0.5o from the planet Mars. With either a telescope or through binoculars the two planets will make for a great view.

   
   
   

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.

September Moon at Apogee

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   Our Moon reaches apogee, (greatest distance from Earth), on Wednesday September 27th. At that time the Moon will more or less be at a distance of 31.70 Earth diameters (404,308 km or 251,225 miles) from the Earth.

   Does our Moon actually go around the Earth as this graphic shows? From our perspective on the Earth the Moon appears to circle around the Earth. However, in reality, the Moon orbits the Sun together with the Earth*

   On the day of the apogee the 7.5-day old first quarter Moon rises at mid-day and is about 10o to the east from Saturn and is just above M-8, the Lagoon Nebula. Unfortunately the reflected light from the Moon will brighten the sky enough to make seeing the Milky Way all but impossible. However with binoculars or a telescope M-8 may be seen – but not as well as when the Moon’s light is not interfering.

*Click here to read my 2006 Scope on the Sky column “The Real Shape of the Moon’s Orbit”. (PDF)

Read this very informative article about the Earth-Moon system and their orbital motions, written by Joe Hanson. “Do We Orbit the Moon?”

   
   
   

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to go to bobs-spaces.

Moon-Saturn Conjunction

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   Tuesday evening September 26th the 6.5-day old waxing crescent Moon will be within about 2o from the planet Saturn.
   The two will make for an interesting view with binoculars but unfortunately the reflected light from the near first-quarter Moon will brighten the sky enough so that the glow from the Milky Way, just to the east, will be hard if not impossible to see.

   
   
   

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.

Orion Rising, but Not Before Me!

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   So what do most people do if they wake up at 2:30 am on a Sunday morning and can’t get back to sleep? Since this is a day off for many it means making an effort to get back to sleep for more time sleeping or staying in bed.
   What did I do?
   I gave up, got up, and let the dogs out (yeah, that answers that question!), and while they were out doing their morning business, albeit much earlier then they normally do, I checked the skies to see if they were clear. They were so then I thought if the skies are clear and I am already up, what can I see or what could I do?
   The result this morning are two versions of using images taken during a time-lapse sequence. The two pictures below are based on a taking 1 picture every minute (3:50 am CDT to 4:52 am CDT) for 61-minutes.
   The star trails picture is of the stars of Orion, and the general area surrounding Orion, rising above the treeline on the southeast side of my backyard. In making the star trails image I purposely skipped a couple of the pictures after the first one. This makes the stars of Orion more distinctive and easier to see. Not sure about the red streak as that was only in one picture.
   As I was aiming the camera and trying settings I happened to catch a few shots of a passing airplane. It’s flashing lights and the ‘always on’ lights make a distinctive pattern. Since these images were taken sort of at the same time, or at least within a a few seconds, it was possible to stack them without showing star trails.
   Camera particulars: Canon Rebel T7i; 18mm; f/4; 4 sec.; ISO-1600

   
   
   

Click here to go to the Qué tal in the Current Skies web site for monthly observing information, or here to return to bobs-spaces.