Sky Tonight—January 18, Moon near Gemini stars Castor and Pollux
Wasat is a rather dim 3rd-magnitude star, yet it is special because it sits almost exactly on the ecliptic
Sky Tonight—January 17, Sun moves toward star Vega in journey around galaxy
Our Milky Way galaxy is a collection of several hundred billion stars. It has an estimated diameter of 100,000 light-years.
Sky Tonight—January 16, Cassiopeia and Big Dipper on opposite sides of North Star
The northern sky’s two most prominent sky patterns – the constellation Cassiopeia the Queen and the Big Dipper – both circle around Polaris, the North Star, once a day
Sky Tonight—January 15, Moon near Aldebaran and the Pleiades
the bright waxing gibbous moon sits right in front of the Bull.
Sky Tonight—January 14, Moon and Pleiades – or Seven Sisters
The moon will leave the evening sky during the last week of January 2011, staging the Pleiades in a dark starry sky.
Sky Tonight—January 13, Moon in front of Aries the Ram
However, Castor and Pollux are considerably brighter than the two brightest stars in Aries.
Sky Tonight—January 12, Moon and stars of Aries point to Phantom galaxy
Practiced stargazers sometimes use three stars of the constellation Aries the Ram to find an elusive galaxy – M74 – also known as the Phantom galaxy
Sky Tonight—January 11,Two stars flag sun’s path through Milky Way
You can use the brilliant star Sirius – and the star Vega – to imagine the direction our sun and solar system are traveling through space.
Sky Tonight—Moon and Jupiter still close
Galileo (1564-1642) proposed using the four major moons of Jupiter to figure longitude at sea. Although this method never proved viable in the rough and tumble seas, it worked like…
Sky Tonight—January 9, Watch moon and Jupiter
The first two celestial objects to pop out at evening dusk are the waxing crescent moon and the dazzling planet Jupiter.