Tag: Night Sky Network

3 Min Read September’s Night Sky Notes: Marvelous Moons Jupiter’s largest moons, from left to right: Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto. Credits: NASA by Kat Troche of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific September brings the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn back into view, along with their satellites. And while we organize celebrations to observe our own Moon this month, be sure to grab a telescope or binoculars to see other moons within our Solar System! We recommend observing these moons (and planets!) when they are at their highest in the…

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3 Min Read July’s Night Sky Notes: A Hero, a Crown, and Possibly a Nova! Like shiny flakes sparkling in a snow globe, over 100,000 stars whirl within the globular cluster M13, one of the brightest star clusters visible from the Northern Hemisphere. Located 25,000 light-years from Earth with an apparent magnitude of 5.8, this glittering metropolis of stars in the constellation Hercules can be spotted with a pair of binoculars most easily in July. Credits: NASA by Vivan White of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific High in the…

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3 min read January’s Night Sky Notes: Connecting the ‘Dots’ with Asterisms by Kat Troche of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific In our December Night Sky Notes, we mentioned that the Orion constellation has a distinct hourglass shape that makes it easy to spot in the night sky. But what if we told you that this is not the complete constellation, but rather, an asterism? An asterism is a pattern of stars in the night sky, forming shapes that make picking out constellations easy. Cultures throughout history have created…

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