Mars will be at opposition on May 22. Opposition occurs when the sun and Mars are on opposite sides of the earth. That means Mars will be the brightest it’s been in 11 years, with a magnitude of -2.1. This is the great opportunity to observe the “red planet.” Jupiter will be well above the […]
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April will start with Jupiter (magnitude -2.6) well above the eastern horizon at sunset. You should be able to spot it just after sundown. If you view it with a pair of binoculars or a telescope, you should be able to see its bands. On a good night, you might spot several of its larger […]
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Venus (magnitude -4) will continue to be the bright morning star close to the eastern horizon during March. With a little luck, you’ll be able to see Mercury between Venus and the rising sun. Look for both planets around 6 a.m. If you’re up that early, you can also look for Saturn and Mars […]
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By GERRY LEBING The five planets that are visible to the naked eye will be in the skies simultaneously for most of February. Jupiter starts the month rising in the East at about 8:30 p.m. Mars will follow at 1 a.m., Saturn at 3:06 a.m., Venus at 5:09 a.m., and Mercury at 5:30 a.m.. Astronomical […]
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By GERRY LEBING Recently, my wife and I spent some time with my son in Washington, D.C. We were at the Kennedy Center waiting for a late show to start, and knowing it was the peak of the Geminids Meteor Shower, we decided to step out into the clear night skies and enjoy the celestial […]
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The Draconid meteor shower on Oct. 8 proved to be less than spectacular. I spotted three faint shooting stars. On the other hand, in the early morning of Oct. 23, I saw a very bright meteorite shoot across the body of the Orion Constellation! On the same morning, the light show of Venus, Jupiter, and […]
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September started off well, and I was able to take this image of the Lagoon Nebula (M8). M8 is about 6,500 light years away. It is located in the constellation Sagittarius, which can be found slightly above the southern horizon. The last week of September was plagued by high winds, clouds, and rain. The weather […]
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Far and away the most notable astronomical event of July was the New Horizons fly-by of Pluto on the 14th. This was the first reconnaissance of Pluto, and the 10-year wait from launch to rendezvous has proven worthwhile. The New Horizons has discovered a hazy world of flowing ice on Pluto. If you haven’t visited […]
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June had its ups and downs for observing the stars. Some very clear nights were plagued by three problems — wind, high humidity, and light pollution. It’s pretty easy to use a telescope when the wind is blowing less than 10 mph. It’s a whole different story trying to make observations in a 25 mph […]
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May provided some very fine nights for studying the stars. Overall, it proved to be a great month for viewing globular clusters. Globular Clusters are densely-packed groups of stars that form a sphere. Small clusters may have a thousand stars, but some of the larger ones may have close to a million stars. When you […]
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