Posts Tagged ‘galaxy’
Sky Tonight—February 18, Moon rises with Leo the
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science Visit EarthSky at www.EarthSky.org About two hours after sunset on February 18, look for the waning gibbous moon and the constellation Leo the Lion shining side by side over the eastern horizon. The fainter stars of Leo might be hard to make out in the lunar glare tonight, but you should be able to spot Regulus, Leo’s brightest star, and one of the brightest stars in our night sky. Tomorrow, the moon will rise more than an hour later than it does ... Full Story
Sky Tonight—February 10, Somber red Betelgeuse
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science Visit EarthSky at www.EarthSky.org At nightfall and early evening, people at mid-northern latitudes see the famous Belt of Orion – three stars in a short, straight row – about halfway between the southern horizon and straight overhead. Later at night, you will find Orion in the southwest. Above Orion’s Belt, you will find one of the sky’s most famous stars, ruddy-hued Betelgeuse. Kids especially like Betelgeuse, because its name sounds ... Full Story
Sky Tonight—January 17, Sun moves toward star Vega
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science Visit EarthSky at www.EarthSky.org An Australia visitor wrote, I seek to find out what speed our sun is traveling at and also how many years does it take to circumnavigate the galaxy? Our Milky Way galaxy is a collection of several hundred billion stars. It has an estimated diameter of 100,000 light-years. Our sun does indeed circumnavigate the Milky Way galaxy. In space, everything moves. There are various estimates for the speed the sun travels ... Full Story
Sky Tonight—January 11,Two stars flag sun’s path
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science Visit EarthSky at www.EarthSky.org You can use the brilliant star Sirius – and the star Vega – to imagine the direction our sun and solar system are traveling through space. The sun in its orbit is traveling away from Sirus and toward the star Vega. Although we could not fit them both on one chart, Vega shines over your northwestern horizon, opposite Sirius, at nightfall at this time of year. If you stand outside in early evening with your back ... Full Story
EarthSky Tonight—Oct 3, Find the Andromeda galaxy
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Find the Andromeda galaxy on these dark autumn nights. The large square pattern on today’s chart is the Great Square in the constellation Pegasus. The constellation Andromeda can be seen as two streams of stars extending from one side of the Square, beginning at the star Alpheratz. I learned to find the Andromeda galaxy by star-hopping from the Great Square to the two stars marked here – first Mirach, then Mu Andromedae. An ... Full Story
EarthSky Tonight—Oct 2, Jupiter is a guide to Great
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org A fixture of the autumn night sky, the Great Square of Pegasus appears to the upper left of the blazing planet Jupiter at early evening. For some idea of the Great Square’s size, extend your hand an arm length from your eye. These stars are far enough apart so that the width of your hand should slip in between any two Great Square stars. By the way, if you are a baseball fan, you might imagine these four stars as a celestial ... Full Story
