2020 January 2 The Fainting of Betelgeuse Image Credit & Copyright: Jimmy Westlake (Colorado Mountain College) Explanation: Begirt with many a blazing star, Orion the Hunter is one of the most recognizable constellations. In this night skyscape the Hunter’s stars rise in the northern hemis […]
2020 January 1 Betelgeuse Imagined Illustration Credit: ESO, L. Calcada Explanation: Why is Betelgeuse fading? No one knows. Betelgeuse, one of the brightest and most recognized stars in the night sky, is only half as bright as it used to be only five months ago. Such variability is likely just norm
2019 December 31 M33: The Triangulum Galaxy Image Credit & Copyright: Rui Liao Explanation: The small, northern constellation Triangulum harbors this magnificent face-on spiral galaxy, M33. Its popular names include the Pinwheel Galaxy or just the Triangulum Galaxy. M33 is over 50,000 light-yea
2019 December 30 Messier 20 and 21 Image Credit & Copyright: Stanislav Volskiy, Chilescope Team Explanation: The beautiful Trifid Nebula, also known as Messier 20, is easy to find with a small telescope in the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. About 5,000 light-years away, the colorful stud
2019 December 29 Cassini Spacecraft Crosses Saturn’s Ring Plane Image Credit: NASA, ESA, JPL, ISS, Cassini Imaging Team; Processing: Fernando Garcia Navarro Explanation: If this is Saturn, where are the rings? When Saturn’s “appendages” disappeared in 1612, Galileo did not un
2019 December 28 A Distorted Sunrise Eclipse Image Credit & Copyright: Elias Chasiotis Explanation: Yes, but have you ever seen a sunrise like this? Here, after initial cloudiness, the Sun appeared to rise in two pieces and during partial eclipse, causing the photographer to describe it as the m
2019 December 27 A Partial Solar Eclipse Sequence Reflected Image Credit & Copyright: Majid Ghohroodi Explanation: What’s happened to the Sun? Yesterday, if you were in the right place at the right time, you could see the Sun rise partially eclipsed by the Moon. The unusual sight was captu
2019 December 26 The Northern Winter Hexagon Image Credit & Copyright: Petr Horálek Explanation: December’s New Moon brought a solar eclipse to some for the holiday season. It also gave beautiful dark night skies to skygazers around the globe, like this moonless northern winter night. In t
2019 December 25 An Annular Solar Eclipse over New Mexico Image Credit & Copyright: Colleen Pinski Explanation: What is this person doing? In 2012 an annular eclipse of the Sun was visible over a narrow path that crossed the northern Pacific Ocean and several western US states. In an annular sol
2019 December 24 A Northern Winter Sky Panorama Image Credit & Copyright: Tomas Slovinsky Explanation: What stars shine in Earth’s northern hemisphere during winter? The featured image highlights a number of bright stars visible earlier this month. The image is a 360-degree horizontal-comp
