Skywatching Archives - Universe Today

Amazing New Views of Betelgeuse Courtesy of ALMA

27 Jun , 2017 by David Dickinson

An angry monster lurks in the shoulder of the Hunter. We’re talking about the Red Giant star Betelgeuse, Alpha Orionis in the constellation Orion. Recently, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) gave us an amazing view of Betelgeuse, one of the very few stars resolved as anything more than a point of light.

Saturn Rides Bareback On The Galactic Dark Horse

22 Jun , 2017 by Bob King

Yippy-ki-yay! Saturn rides the back of a prancing pony across the evening sky. See it the next clear night.

Comet V2 Johnson Takes Center Stage

18 May , 2017 by David Dickinson

Had your fill of binocular comets? Turns out, 2017 may have saved the best for last. The past few months has seen a steady stream of dirty snowball visitations to the inner solar system, both short term periodic and long term hyperbolic. First let’s run through the cometary roll call for the first part of the year: 41P Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák, 2P/Encke, 45P Honda-Markov-Padjudašáková, C/2015 ER61 PanSTARRS and finally, the latecomer to the party, C/2017 E4 Lovejoy.

Next up is a comet with a much easier to pronounce (and type) name, at least to the English-speaking tongue: C/2015 V2 Johnson.

See Comet C/2015 ER61 PanSTARRS at its Best

9 May , 2017 by David Dickinson

Have you been following the Springtime parade of bright comets? Thus far, the Oort cloud has offered up several fine binocular comets, including Comet 2/P Encke, 41/P Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak, 45/P Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova, C/2016 U1 NEOWISE and C/2017 E4 Lovejoy. Now, another comet joins the dawn ranks, as it brightens up ahead of expectations: 2015 ER61 PanSTARRS.

Comet Halley Plays Bit Part In Weekend Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower

2 May , 2017 by Bob King

Enjoy the wonder of seeing bits of Halley’s Comet rain down as the Eta Aquariid meteors Saturday morning.

Meet Steve, A Most Peculiar Aurora

25 Apr , 2017 by Bob King

A Canadian photographer captures a hot river of glowing gas so peculiar that no one knew at first what it was, so they called it Steve.

By Jove: Jupiter at Opposition 2017

6 Apr , 2017 by David Dickinson

Been missing the evening planets? Currently, Saturn and Venus rule the dawn, and Mars is sinking into the dusk as it recedes towards the farside of the Sun. That’s been changing for one planet, however, as Jupiter reaches opposition this week.

Surprise: Comet E4 Lovejoy Brightens

3 Apr , 2017 by David Dickinson

Had your fill of binocular comets yet? Thus far this year, we’ve had periodic comets 2P/Encke, 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková and 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák all reach binocular visibility above +10th magnitude as forecasted. Now, we’d like to point out a surprise interloper in the dawn sky that you’re not watching, but should be: Comet C/2017 E4 Lovejoy.

Watch Rotating Horns of Venus at Dawn

29 Mar , 2017 by David Dickinson

An old friend greeted us on our morning run yesterday, as we spied Venus in the dawn, 3 days after inferior conjunction on March 25th.

See Mercury At Dusk, New Comet Lovejoy At Dawn

26 Mar , 2017 by Bob King

There are so many cool astronomical sights to see in late March including Mercury and a brand new comet!

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