Reprinted from the Island Free Press 

June turned out to be a very poor month for astrophotography. High winds and low visibility made things very challenging. My primary targets for the month were Jupiter and Saturn, but you can’t always get what you want.

M57, or the Ring Nebula, was discovered in 1779 by Antoine Darquier de Pellepoix. Charles Messier documented it a few days later.

The nebula’s ring is believed to be the outer layers of a dying red giant star. The tiny white dwarf star in the center of the ring is what remains of the core of the star. The M57 has a visual magnitude of +8.8, and like NGC 7023, is estimated to be 1,400 light years away.

What to Look for in July

Jupiter starts the month fairly high in the sky toward the south-southwest.

Saturn will start the month in the southeast.

Venus will be visible near the eastern horizon in the early morning hours. Throughout the month, it will rise just after 3 a.m. Venus is very bright, with a visual magnitude of -4, and a gem to see with the unaided eye. Venus’ atmosphere is basically a cloud of carbon dioxide. The cloud reflects the sunlight and obscures all of the planet’s features, so it looks like a white sphere through a telescope. The carbon dioxide atmosphere also causes a greenhouse effect on Venus, resulting in an 850-degree Fahrenheit surface temperature.

Mercury will be visible near the western horizon just after sundown for most of the month.

Neptune will rise in the east just before midnight on July 1. With a visual magnitude of +7.9, you need a telescope to view this blue gas giant planet. Neptune is about four times the diameter of the Earth. It has 13 moons and takes about 165 years to orbit the sun.

Pluto will be in the night skies for all of July, too, but don’t expect to see it. With a visual magnitude of +14, you need a powerful telescope to get a glimpse of this dwarf planet.

The Delta Aquarids meteor shower will be at its peak on the morning of July 30. The shooting stars will appear to originate from the constellation Aquarius, which will be high in the southern sky at 1:30 a.m. on the 30^th.

Moon Phases

• First quarter: June 30
• Full Moon: July 9
• Third quarter: July 16
• New moon: July 23

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. You can read other stories about Hatteras and Ocracoke here.

Reprinted from the Island Free Press

May was a difficult month to stargaze, with several high-wind thunderstorms and lots of rainy nights.  I was able, however, to get a few shots on still, clear evenings.

Messier 88 is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices. Coma Berenices means the hair of Berenice.  Berenice was an Egyptian queen who had her hair cut off as a religious offering. M88 has a visual magnitude of +9.5 and is 36 million light years away. It was discovered on March 18, 1781, by Charles Messier.

This is Messier 13, the Hercules Cluster. With a visual magnitude of +5.8, it can be viewed with the unaided eye on very clear, dark nights. If you take the time to head up on the beach or get away from light pollution by driving to Ramp 27, you will have a better chance of spotting it. You can locate it by mentally drawing a line from Arcturus towards a very bright star to the northeast, Vega. The Hercules Cluster is about two-thirds the length of that line. It will be difficult to see without binoculars or a telescope, but if you have the option of viewing M13 through binoculars or a telescope, you will be amazed at how spectacular it is.

What to Look for in June

Jupiter and Saturn offer great viewing throughout June.  Jupiter starts the month fairly high in the sky towards the southeast. To the unaided eye, it’s the brightest “star” in the sky. You can use binoculars or a telescope to get a closer look at this massive planet. Its diameter is 11 times larger than Earth’s, making Jupiter the second-largest object in the solar system – a distant second to the sun, which is 10 times brighter. Jupiter’s orbit is about 484 million miles from the sun. That’s more than five times as far from the sun, as we are 93 million miles away.

Saturn will rise just after 9 on the night of June 1. With a magnitude of +0.1, it’s pretty bright, but don’t confuse it with nearby red supergiant star, Antares. Antares is higher in the sky than Saturn and will be visible just after sunset. Like Jupiter, Saturn is fun to explore with the unaided eye, then with a good pair of binoculars, and then with a telescope. It appears to be a bright star to the unaided eye, but through very good binoculars you can distinguish an oblong shape that is caused by its rings. When you view Saturn through a telescope, its famous rings offer one of the most outstanding sights in the night sky. Saturn is nine times larger than Earth and almost nine times farther from the sun than Earth, 888 million miles. It’s the third-largest object in our solar system. Saturn will be at opposition to the Earth on June 15. That means it’s the closest to us it ever gets, about 746 million miles, and it will be visible all night long.

Mars will be visible near the western horizon just after sundown. Venus will be visible near the eastern horizon just before sunrise.

Moon Phases

• First quarter: June 1
• Full: June 9
• Third quarter: June 17
• New Moon: June 23

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. You can read other stories about Hatteras and Ocracoke here.

The evening skies of May begin with the star Arcturus just above the eastern horizon.

With a visual magnitude of 0, Arcturus is the brightest star is the northern hemisphere and the fourth-brightest star in the night skies. South of Arcturus, you will see two bright objects:  Jupiter is the brighter of the two with a magnitude -2.4 and higher in the sky, and Spica has a visual magnitude of +1.05 so it seems rather dim compared to Arcturus and Jupiter but it’s the 15^th– brightest star in the night skies.

Jupiter was visible all night long on May 1 and will continue to be throughout most of May. Jupiter is a great target for viewing with the unaided eye, a pair of binoculars or a telescope. To the unaided eye, Jupiter looks like a very bright star. Add a good pair of binoculars and suddenly there is a disk that is easy to identify as a planet. If your binoculars are powerful enough, you might see the four Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. They are easy to see through a 5-inch telescope. Galileo discovered them in 1610, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy re-discovering them for yourself.

Saturn will also be visible through much of May.  On May 1, it rose about 11:15 p.m. and was visible for the rest of the night. By the end of the month, it will rise just after 9 p.m. Saturn is easy to spot with the unaided eye. With a visual magnitude of +0.1, it’s almost as bright as Arcturus.

If you want to see somebody get interested in the night sky, point out Saturn, then hand them a good set of binoculars or, better yet, let them look at the planet through a small telescope. Almost everyone smiles when they see those rings.

Mars will be visible near the western horizon just after sundown this month. Venus will be visible near the eastern horizon just before sunrise.

On the nights of May 5 and 6, this year’s Eta Aquarids meteor shower will be at its peak. The meteors will appear to originate near the eastern horizon. Peak viewing will be in the early morning.

The Hercules Cluster, or M13, can be observed just about every night this month. With a visual magnitude of +5.8, it can be viewed with the unaided eye on very clear, dark nights. If you take the time to head up on the beach or get away from city light pollution by driving to Ramp 27 on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, about 4.5 miles south of Salvo, you will have a better chance of spotting it.    You can locate the cluster by mentally drawing a line from Arcturus towards a very bright star to the northeast called Vega. The Hercules Cluster is about two-thirds the length of that line. It will be difficult to see without binoculars or a telescope. If you have the option of viewing M13 with binoculars or a telescope, you will be amazed at how spectacular it is.

Highlights for April

Messier 83, or M83, is also known as the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy. M83 is a relatively close, barred spiral galaxy. It’s only 16 million light-years away. With a visual magnitude of +7.15, you cannot see it with the unaided eye, but you can spot it with binoculars. The “bar” is the bright stripe of stars that goes across the center of the galaxy.

M83 was discovered in 1752 by Nicholas Louis de Lacaille. It was the third galaxy discovered. M31, or the Andromeda Galaxy, and its satellite, M32, were the only other galaxies known to man. Scientists estimate there are 40 billion stars in M83.

M94, like M83, is relatively close to Earth, too.  M94 is only 14 million light-years away and, like M83, is believed to contain 40 billion stars. With a visual magnitude of +7.96, you can probably spot it using a good pair of binoculars, but you really need a telescope to define its unique structure.

M94 has a very bright core surrounded by an inner ring that some observers call the “starburst ring.” The starburst ring is believed to be an area of star formation.  Surrounding the starburst ring is a second ring of young, blue star clusters.  And finally, beyond that ring is a faint field of older, yellow stars.

For anyone who is curious about the “bright stars” that appear in the image of M94, they are more distant elliptical galaxies. The brighter one above and to the right of M94 is PGC 2180382. It’s a +16.3 magnitude galaxy that is 630 million light-years away. The fainter one just below and to the right of M94 is PGC 2177103. Its magnitude is +17.75 and it’s believed to be a billion light-years away.

Moon Phases

• First quarter: May 3
• Full moon: May 10
• Third quarter: May 19
• New moon: May 25

Reprinted from the Island Free Press 

M51, or the Whirlpool Galaxy, is a classic spiral that interacts with another, smaller galaxy. The larger galaxy is M51A and the smaller is M51B. They are about 23 million light-years away and have a visual magnitude of 8.4. M51A contains more than 100 billion stars.

Messier 101, the Pinwheel Galaxy, is about 21 million light-years away and has a visual magnitude of 7.7. It is estimated that M101 has a trillion stars.

Messier 63, the Sunflower Galaxy is 27 million light-years away. It has a visual magnitude of 9.3. M63 has more than 400 billion stars.

What to Look for in April

If you are an early riser, you will be able to see Venus with an apparent magnitude of -4 in the morning, near the eastern horizon, throughout April.

At the beginning of April, Venus rose just before sunrise, but by the end of the month, it will be coming up at 4:21 a.m. Venus will be at its brightest point of the year on April 30.

Mercury and Mars were visible on April 1 near the western horizon, just after sundown.  Mercury will fade into the sunset by April 9 but re-emerge as a morning star on April 29.

On April 7, Jupiter will be at opposition with the Earth and sun. That means you can draw a line through the three, with Earth in the middle. It also means Jupiter is the closest it gets to us this year.  So, that makes Friday a great opportunity for viewing and taking pictures. Jupiter is the very bright object that will be visible just above the eastern horizon at dusk. Best viewing will be around midnight.

The two very bright stars in the eastern evening skies this month are Arcturus, which is the fourth-brightest star in the night sky, and Vega, which is the fifth-brightest star.

Arcturus will rise in the east just after sundown. It is the closest red giant star to Earth, at a distance of about 37 light-years, and is estimated to be 7 billion years old.

Vega will rise about three hours later. It has a visual magnitude of +0.2 and is 25 light-years away. Vega is a blue-white star that’s about twice the size of the sun. It is believed to be about 400 million years old.

If you have a telescope or good pair of binoculars, you can use these two stars to help find the globular cluster M13, the Hercules Cluster. Mentally draw a line between the two and then look about a third of the distance from Vega to Arcturus. With a little patience, you should be able to find the cluster.

M13, the Hercules Cluster, is about 22 thousand light years away. It has a visual magnitude of 5.8. M13 contains about 300,000 stars.

The Lyrid Meteor Shower will take place between April 16 and 25. It should peak on the night of April 22. The meteors will seem to originate from the star Vega.

Vega is the very bright star that rises in the northeast at about 9 p.m. You can expect about 18 meteors per hour throughout the night.

Moon phases:

• First Quarter: April 3
• Full moon: April 11
• Last Quarter: April 19
• New moon: April 26

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. You can read other stories about Hatteras and Ocracoke here.

Reprinted from the Island Free Press

NASA recently announced the discovery of seven Earth-size exoplanets orbiting TRAPPIST-1, which is a star and planetary system initially discovered using the TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope.

Scientists think all seven are rocky planets, based upon their measured densities. Scientists believe it is possible that all of them could have liquid water, but three are in the habitable “Goldilocks Zone.” That means the orbits are in a range that’s not too hot and not too cold for liquid water. Liquid water is considered essential for the development of life as we know it.

TRAPPIST-1 is about 40 light-years from Earth. That means a spacecraft traveling at 52,000 mph would take more than 500,000 years to reach the exoplanet orbiting it.

I recently had a neat experience.  At about 9:15, I stepped out of the observatory for a minute. As I opened the door, I saw the shooting star of a lifetime – a fireball that streaked down toward the western horizon burning out after two or three seconds. The fireball itself was brighter than Venus.

I reported the occurrence to the American Meteor Society and found out I wasn’t the only person who saw it.

Distant Galaxies

February also offered some very good opportunities to observe distant galaxies. My favorite image is this one of Messier 63, the Sunflower Galaxy.

The Sunflower Galaxy is 37 million light-years away. It’s a member of the M51 Group and has a visual magnitude of +9.3.

What to Look for in March

The sun set at 5:57 p.m. on March 1, with the moon, Mars, Venus and Uranus all just above the western horizon at sunset. With a magnitude of -4.6, Venus is very easy to spot. The moon is the only other object in the night sky that is brighter and it will be about 8 degrees above Venus. Mars and Uranus will appear very close to the moon. Mars is the red object you can see with the unaided eye and Uranus is the blue object you can’t see unless you’ve got a good pair of binoculars or a telescope.

Mars and Uranus will stay close to the western horizon throughout the month. Mars will seem to appear in the same area of the evening sky each night. Uranus will get closer and closer to the horizon with each passing day. By the end of the month, you will probably not be able to see Uranus, because the brightness of the setting sun will obscure the planet.

Venus will appear closer to the evening horizon with each passing day. Then, starting on March 20, you will be able to see Venus in both the evening and morning. Venus will set at 7:56 p.m.; the sun sets at 7:13 p.m. and rises at 6:45 a.m., just before sunrise at 7:03. This dual role as evening and morning star will be short-lived. Don’t expect to see Venus in the evening skies after March 24.

Mercury will start to be visible in the western skies starting around the middle of the month. It will appear higher above the western horizon each evening until early April. This makes the end of March an excellent opportunity to observe this small planet.

Jupiter rose in the east at 9:04 p.m. on March 1. Spica rises right after it, slightly to the south. The pair will continue to appear together throughout the month.

Saturn began the month rising at 2:14 a.m. By the end of the month, it will rise at 1:21 a.m.

If the skies are very clear and very calm, you might be able to see Canopus, the second-brightest star in the night sky, during the first part of the month. It will appear near the southern horizon almost directly beneath Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. If you have never heard of Canopus, try reading “Dune” by Frank Herbert. Arrakis, also known as “Dune,” is the third planet orbiting Canopus. If you don’t have time to read the book, you might like the movie. I have not found any evidence of any exoplanets orbiting this star.

Moon phases:

• First Quarter: March 5
• Full moon: March 12
• Last Quarter: March 20
• New moon: March 27

Learn More

• TRAPPIST-1
• TRAPPIST Telescope Network
• Hubble Sees a Galactic Sunflower

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. You can read other stories about Hatteras and Ocracoke here.

Reprinted from the Island Free Press

Mars and Venus will be visible in the southwest sky at sunset during all of February.

Uranus began the month slightly higher in the skies but you will probably need a good pair of binoculars to see it. Throughout most of the month, it will appear to get closer and closer to Mars.  On Feb. 26, you might be able to see both planets at the same time.

Jupiter began the month rising in the east at 11 p.m. Right behind it and slightly to the south, another bright object is rising. Don’t mistake it for a planet. That’s Spica, the 15^th brightest star in the night sky.

The bright star in the east at sundown is Procyon. It’s the eighth brightest star in the night sky with a visual magnitude of +0.4. If you look closely with a telescope, you will see it’s a binary system, but Procyon’s companion is much dimmer, with a visual magnitude of +10.80.

Procyon is an ancient Greek word for “before the dog.” It got this name because Sirius, the dog star, rises just after Procyon. Procyon, Sirius, and Betelgeuse, the eastern shoulder star in Orion, are the corner stars of the “Winter Triangle.”

January Highlights

The above image offers four nebulae for the price of one. The Horsehead Nebula is displayed on the right of the page and the Flame Nebula is on the left. In between and below them are two small reflection nebulae, NGC 2023 and HD 38087, surrounding the double star. Although the image makes all four appear close to each other, they are quite far apart. The Horsehead Nebula is 1,500 light years away while the Flame Nebula is only about 1,350 light years away. When you think about 150 light years, it might not sound like a great distance, but that’s 900 billion miles between the two – not the kind of distance you want to drive for the weekend. HD 38087 is relatively close to us at 180 light years but that means it is not even close to the Horsehead Nebula. NGC 2023 is, astronomically speaking, very close to the Horsehead; it’s about 1,470 light years away, which means it could be within 30 light years of the Horsehead – about 180 billion miles.

I couldn’t help but notice that NGC 2023 and HD 38087 don’t appear to have any common names associated with them. For some reason they remind me of Nags Head and Buxton. Maybe the pair should be called the Outer Banks Nebula.

If these vast distances make you uncomfortable, don’t feel alone. When I started putting these figures together, I had to pause a couple of times to consider them. The following anecdote might make them a little bit more understandable:

Recently, an Earth-size planet was discovered orbiting Proxima Centuri, the closest star to Earth not counting the sun. It’s only 4.37 light years away. You probably remember the great images of Pluto that came from the New Horizons spacecraft in 2015. It took  New Horizons 9.5 years to reach Pluto.  Traveling at the same speed, 52,000 mph, a similar vessel could get to Proxima Centuri in about 54,000 years. If you have the time and money and could build a spaceship using the same technology, you could reach the Horsehead Nebula in about 6 million years.

Moon Phases:

• First Quarter: Feb. 3
• Full moon: Feb. 10
• Last Quarter: Feb. 18
• New moon: Feb. 26

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. You can read other stories about Hatteras and Ocracoke here.

Reprinted from the Island Free Press

As January starts, the constellation Orion will be visible near the eastern horizon as the skies get dark.  This is a good opportunity to look for M42, the Orion Nebula, with no telescope required.

At magnitude +4, the Orion Nebula is pretty easy to see on a clear winter’s night. The nebula will appear as a fuzzy area around the second star in the sword of Orion.

After you spot it with the unaided eye, try locating it through a pair of binoculars. You’ll be amazed at how much detail will stand out. Now go one step further and view it through a telescope. This sky gem just gets better and better.

January also begins with Mars and Venus visible in the southwest at sunset. If the skies are clear and you have access to a telescope or binoculars, you should be able to see Neptune and Mars simultaneously. The two are in conjunction on Jan. 1, 2017.

If you stay up – and can stand up – after your New Year’s Eve celebration, you will be able to see Jupiter rise in the east around 1:15 a.m. Saturn will rise at 6:02 in the morning, so drink a lot of coffee and you might get a good view of it, too.

The Quadrantids meteor shower will be visible on the morning of Jan. 4. The peak action is scheduled for 9 a.m. on the East Coast, but you might see as many as 20 to 30 shooting stars per hour if you are up an hour or two before dawn. On the West Coast and in Hawaii, skywatchers might see as many as 120 to 130 per hour.

The shooting stars will originate from the constellation Bootes. You can find Bootes by looking for the Big Dipper and then following the arc of its handle to the bright, red giant star Arcturus. It’s the brightest star in Bootes.

December Highlights

In my October article, I mentioned the Pleiades, or M45. It’s a tight cluster of stars you can use to check your vision. There are six prominent stars that are readily visible with the unaided eye. Under very dark, good conditions, you might be able to spot more. Johann Kepler reported 14 in the 17^th century.

M45 is a fairly small constellation to the unaided eye, but it’s pretty big through a telescope.  When using my big scope, I can only get one or two of the brighter stars in the frame at a time. So, I learned a new technique for creating this image. It’s a mosaic of 16 overlapping tiles. Sounds straightforward, but it took three attempts to get the right spacing for the individual tiles.  Each tile is composed of 15 20-second exposures, for a grand total of 240 images requiring about 80 minutes of exposure time.

You might notice that the nebulosity around the star is blue where the predominant color in most nebulae is red. That’s because M45 is a reflection nebula. Clouds of interstellar dust reflect the light from nearby stars, and blue light just happens to reflect better than red light.

Moon Phases

• First Quarter: Jan. 5
• Full moon: Jan. 12
• Last Quarter: Jan.19
• New moon: Jan. 27

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. You can read other stories about Hatteras and Ocracoke here.

Reprinted from the Island Free Press

The evening of Tuesday, Dec. 13, will feature the last supermoon 2016.

A supermoon happens when a full moon, or a new moon, coincides with the moon making its closest approach to the Earth in its elliptical orbit. This supermoon will not be quite as spectacular as November’s full moon, but it will still be bright.  December’s full moon will have a visual magnitude of -12.5 – bright enough to throw shadows.

The brighter an object appears, the lower its magnitude value. The sun’s magnitude is -27.

Unfortunately, the supermoon will also make it super hard to get a look at the Geminids meteor shower. The Geminids peak on the morning of Dec. 14. Normally, an observer might see 120 shooting stars per hour, but the full moon will probably reduce this year’s visible meteors to about 10 to 20 per hour.

The supermoon will not interfere with the Ursid meteor shower. It will peak in the early morning hours of Dec. 22 and feature about 10 meteors per hour. The shower appears to originate from Ursa Minor.  Ursa Minor – the Little Bear – contains the Little Dipper and the first star in the handle of the Little Dipper is Polaris, the North Star, so it’s pretty easy to get a handle on where to look for this meteor shower.

Another nice feature of the Ursid shower is it ends on Dec. 23 so it won’t interfere with any children (or parents) who want to keep an open eye out for flying sleighs on Christmas Eve.

December began with Mercury, Venus and Mars visible in the evening skies. Mercury will be closest to the western horizon early this month and disappear from view shortly after dusk. Venus begins the month fairly high and bright in the southwest sky with Mars appearing higher and more to the south-southwest. Neptune and Uranus are also present in the night skies, but you need a telescope to get a good view of them.

Jupiter will be visible in the pre-dawn skies near the eastern horizon.  It rises in the east about 2:27 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 6.

The bright star Capella will be visible slightly above the northeast horizon as soon as the skies begin to darken. Capella is the sixth brightest star in the night skies. Capella is a Latin word that means “the little she-goat.”  If you look slightly south of Capella, you should be able to spot a group of three fainter stars.  They are called the “kids.”

November Highlights

The biggest sight in November’s night sky was the supermoon of Nov. 14. This was the closest the full moon had been to the Earth since 1948. We will not see another comparable super moon until 2034.

The clear skies of November also gave me a unique astrophotography opportunity. I was able to get a decent image of the Bubble Nebula. This faint emission nebula is 1,400 light years away and has a visual magnitude of +11. It is located in the constellation Cassiopeia.

I also got a fairly good shot of the Pacman Nebula. For those of us who were around in the ’80s, the reasoning behind the name is pretty obvious. If you’re too young to remember the video game, you might want to try Googling “Pac Man.” The Pacman Nebula is 4,000 light years away and has a visual magnitude of +7.4. Like the Bubble Nebula, it is found in the constellation, Cassiopeia.

Since I have been focusing on Cassiopeia, here is another object from that area of the sky, the Owl Cluster. The Owl Cluster has a visual magnitude of +6.4. It’s 7,900 light years away.

Moon Phases

• First Quarter: Dec. 7
• Full moon: Dec. 13
• Last Quarter: Dec. 20
• New moon: Dec. 29

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. You can read other stories about Hatteras and Ocracoke here.

Reprinted from the Island Free Press

Although the Orionids meteor shower peaked in October, it is still active until Nov. 7. Expect 20 to 25 meteorites per hour. The shooting stars can appear in any part of the sky but they will seem to originate from the constellation, Orion. Look for the Orionids between midnight and dawn.

Similarly, the Southern Taurids meteor shower also peaked in October, but there are predictions of high activity on the nights of Nov. 4 and 5. This is a minor shower, but it has a good record of producing fireballs, or very bright meteors. Peak viewing will be around 12:30 a.m.

The Northern Taurids will peak on the night of Nov. 11. Like the Southern Taurids, this is a minor shower that has a reputation for producing fireballs. Peak viewing is around midnight.

Like the Orionids, the shooting stars — and fireballs — from the Taurids can appear anywhere in the night sky, but they will appear to emanate from the constellation Taurus. If you’re a stickler for finding the source of the Taurids, try locating the Pleiades, M45. It’s just about in the center of the constellation.

The Pleiades rise in the east about 6:45 p.m. this week. It’s a tight cluster of stars you can use to check your vision. There are six prominent stars that are readily visible with the unaided eye. Under very dark good conditions, you might be able to spot more.

The Leonids meteor shower will peak just before dawn on the morning of Nov. 17. These shooting stars will appear to originate almost directly overhead from the constellation Leo.

November began with Venus and Saturn in the southwest at dusk.  Mars started the month about 30 degrees above the south-southwest horizon. For those of you with a telescope, Neptune and Uranus will both be in the southeast skies.

Jupiter will be visible in the pre-dawn skies near the eastern horizon.

October Highlights

The second half of October brought clear skies and long, dark nights, which allowed me to focus on my favorite nebula, NGC 7293, the Helix Nebula.  Sometimes called “the Eye of God” or the “Eye of Sauron” (for all or you Tolkien fans), the Helix Nebula is fairly close to us; it’s only 900 light years away. The Helix Nebula is very large, but it’s not very easy to see through a telescope.

If the nebula appears to look like a pipe, you’re right.  We are looking into the end of a trillion-mile-long tunnel. Imagine getting stuck in that at rush hour.

Another nebula I was able to capture is the Wizard Nebula, NGC 7389. At magnitude +11, the Wizard Nebula is difficult to photograph. It’s a star-forming region that’s about 7,200 light years away. The Wizard Nebula was discovered in 1787 by Caroline Hershel.

At first I had a difficult time seeing the Wizard, but now the image brings up memories from Disney’s Fantasia. In truth, I’m not sure if I’m seeing a wizard or a dancing broom.

Moon Phases

• First Quarter: Nov. 7
• Full moon: Nov. 14
• Last Quarter: Nov. 21
• New moon: Nov. 29

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. You can read other stories about Hatteras and Ocracoke here.

Reprinted from the Island Free Press

Expect the annual Orionids and Taurids meteor showers to put on shows this month.

The Orionids meteor shower will be active from Oct. 4 through the end of the month — and into November. It peaks on the night of Oct. 21. Expect 20 to 25 meteors per hour. The shooting stars can appear in any part of the skies, but they will seem to originate from the constellation Orion. Look for the Orionids between midnight and dawn.

The Southern Taurids meteor shower will peak on Oct. 9. This is a minor shower, but it has a good record of producing fireballs, or exceptionally bright meteors. The Southern Taurids are visible every night in October, with peak viewing around 2 a.m.

The Northern Taurids begin on Oct. 19 and are active until December. As with the Southern Taurids, this is a minor shower that has a reputation for producing fireballs. Peak viewing is around midnight.

Also like the Orionids, the shooting stars and fireballs from the Taurids can appear anywhere in the night skies, but they will appear to emanate from the constellation Taurus. If you’re a stickler for finding the source of the Taurids, try locating the Pleiades. It’s just about in the center of the constellation.

The Pleiades, also known as Messier 45 or M45, began to rise in the east at about 9 p.m. on Oct. 1. It’s a tight cluster of stars you can use to check your vision. There are six prominent stars that are readily visible with the unaided eye. Under very dark good conditions, you might be able to spot more. Johann Kepler reported 14 in the 17^th century. The last time I checked, I could only see five stars — getting old is tough.

Planet Viewing in October

October began with Venus visible near the west-southwest horizon. It’s visible just after sundown. Mars shows up almost directly above the southern horizon, and Saturn is visible between Mars and Venus. For those of you with a telescope, Neptune began the month near the eastern horizon.

Mercury became visible near the eastern horizon just before dawn on Oct. 1. Jupiter will start showing up near the eastern horizon early this month. On the morning of Oct. 11, the two planets will appear to be almost on top of each other. This is their conjunction.

October should be a great month for locating deep-space objects with binoculars. The Andromeda Galaxy is still a good starting point. But you might want to try to find the three objects I highlighted during September in next part of this article.

M51, a spiral galaxy about 30 million light years away, began the month in the northwest, just below Alkaid, the first star in the handle of the Big Dipper.

M27, also known as the Dumbbell Nebula, is almost directly overhead early this month. You can also turn your binoculars towards the Pleiades. There’s quite a bit of nebulosity surrounding the stars in that group and you might be able to see some of it.

September Highlights

September had two new moons. The first was on Sept. 1, and the second was on Sept. 30. A second appearance of a new moon during a calendar month is called a black moon. A new moon is the best time of month to look at deep-space objects and September didn’t disappoint me. The first new moon offered some very good nights for viewing the stars.

NGC 253, the Sculptor Galaxy, left, is also called the Silver Coin Galaxy and the Dusty Island Universe. NGC 253 is about 11 million light years away from us and roughly the same size as the Milky Way. It’s the third-brightest galaxy in the night sky. Only the Andromeda Galaxy, or M31, and Sombrero Galaxy, or M104, are brighter. You can’t see it with the unaided eye but you can see it through a good pair of binoculars or a small telescope.

M27, the Dumbbell Nebula, right, is one of my favorite nebulae. I’ve shown images of it before, but I think this is probably the best one I’ve ever taken. It’s about 1,300 light years away, and yes, like the Sculptor Galaxy, you can see it through binoculars.

I added this image of M51, below, for three reasons. First, it’s a fairly good image, particularly since it was the very first deep-space object I photographed with my high-speed, high-sensitivity ZWO astronomy camera. Second, you can spot M51 with binoculars, as with M27 and NGC 253. And, finally, I shot all three of these images on the same night. I usually consider it a pretty good night if I get one decent shot, so getting these three in what seemed like rapid sequence was pretty special.

Moon Phases

• First Quarter: Oct. 9
• Full moon: Oct. 16
• Last Quarter: Oct. 27
• New moon: Oct. 30

Learn More

• NASA composite animation of a fireball
• Tips for enjoying meteor showers

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. You can read other stories about Hatteras and Ocracoke here.

Reprinted from the Island Free Press

September is good month to view the Andromeda galaxy, which I got a good photograph of during August.

The galaxy is about 2.5 million light years away from us. Scientists estimate that the galaxy, known as M31, contains a trillion stars. If that number is meaningless, think of it this way: A trillion pennies is $10 billion dollars. By comparison, the Milky Way, our home galaxy, contains about 300 billion stars.

The apparent magnitude of M31 is 3.4. Under clear, dark skies, it should be visible to the unaided eye. That also makes it an easy target for binoculars. M31 can be found in the northeast evening skies throughout September.

Look to the western horizon for the triangle formed by Venus, Jupiter and Mercury just after sunset. Mercury is the very small “star” nearest to the horizon, followed by Jupiter and finally Venus. You might still be able to see all three, but Mercury will be very close to the horizon after Sept. 4 and the setting sun.  Both Venus and Jupiter will be visible at dusk until the Sept. 14. Venus will continue to be visible near the western horizon through the rest of the month. Then, it will appear to creep farther south as September progresses.

Another triangle that is easy to locate is the one formed by Saturn, Mars and Antares. September begins with it in the south-southwest. As the month progresses, Mars will appear to lag behind Saturn and Antares as they begin the evening closer and closer to the southwest horizon.

Neptune began September just above the eastern horizon at dusk. Uranus followed it, rising at 9:17 p.m. on Sept. 1. You might be able to spot Uranus with the unaided eye, but it’s easier to use binoculars or a telescope for viewing these two planets.

Pluto will be in the southern skies for all of September.

Highlights from August

August was a great month for both observational astronomy and astrophotography. We had a lot of dark, clear nights with relatively low humidity.

This is the M31, the Andromeda Galaxy.

And below is NGC 6357. It’s a star-forming area in the constellation Scorpius. NGC6357 is 8,000 light years away and has an apparent magnitude of +10.

Moon Phases

New moon: Sept. 1
First quarter: Sept. 9
Full moon: Sept. 16
Last quarter: Sept. 23

To Learn More

• How to find the Andromeda Galaxy
• Hubble photos of Andromeda Galaxy

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. You can read other stories about Hatteras and Ocracoke here.

Reprinted from the Island Free Press

The Perseid meteor shower is visible from July 17 to Aug. 24 but will peak between Aug. 9 and 14. The Perseid is renowned for producing up to 60 meteors an hour, but some experts think this might be an exceptional year with double the rate of meteors.

They are best viewed after midnight. Shooting stars can appear anywhere in the sky, but these meteors will appear to come from the constellation Perseus, which will rise in the northeast just after 10 p.m. on Aug. 9.

August will begin with Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Venus and Mercury visible in the evening skies.

Look for Mercury and Venus near the western horizon just after sunset. Venus is the brighter of the two and will be a little closer to the horizon. Mercury will be a little higher and farther south — to your left.

Don’t confuse Mercury with the fainter star, Regulus. Regulus is the 21st brightest star in the night skies. It’s the brightest star in the constellation Leo and has been called the “Heart of the Lion.” Regulus appeared last night between Venus and Mercury. The three will appeared to form a line that points up to Jupiter.

If you haven’t taken the time to view Jupiter this year, now’s your last chance until October. It will get closer to the horizon every evening. By the end of August, Jupiter will not be visible in the evening skies.

The prominent triangle formed by Mars, Saturn and Antares will be due south at dusk. Mars will be on the western side of the meridian and Saturn and Antares on the eastern side. The meridian is the great imaginary line that extends from the north pole to the south pole and splits the sky in half.

Neptune will rise in the east at about 9:30 p.m., followed by Uranus at 11:20 p.m. These two planets are almost identical in size, but Neptune is 2.7 billion miles away from us while Uranus is a mere 1.9 billion miles away. The change in distance has a profound effect on how bright the two planets appear.

Neptune has a visual magnitude of +7.9, making it invisible to the unaided eye. But you can view it through a good pair of binoculars. It will appear to be a very bright star. Uranus on the other hand has a visual magnitude of +5.9. That means on a very clear dark night, you might be able to see it without binoculars or a telescope. Pick a place far from light sources.

July Highlights

July offered several good nights for astrophotography. The southern part of the skies offered views of several nebulae, including M8, the Lagoon Nebula, left.

The Lagoon Nebula is about 4.3 thousand light years away. Its visual magnitude is +6. That makes it very difficult to see with the unaided eye. M8 can be found with a pair of binoculars or a telescope in our southern skies throughout July.

Moon Phases

• New moon: Aug. 2
• First Quarter: Aug. 10
• Full moon: Aug. 18
• Last Quarter: Aug. 24

To Learn More

• How to best view the Perseid meteor shower
• Lagoon Nebula

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. You can read other stories about Hatteras and Ocracoke here.

Reprinted from the Island Free Press

July will begin with Jupiter, Mars and Saturn all prominent in the evening skies. Jupiter is the brightest object in the southwest. The prominent triangle formed by Mars, Saturn and Antares will be almost due south at dusk.

Neptune will rise at about 11:30 p.m., followed by Uranus at 1:20 a.m. Both will rise near the eastern horizon. These two planets are almost identical in size, but Neptune is 2.7 billion miles away from us while Uranus is a mere 1.9 billion miles away. The change in distance has a profound effect on how brightly the two planets appear.

Neptune has a visual magnitude of +7.9, making it invisible to the unaided eye, but you can view it through a good pair of binoculars. It will appear to be a very bright star. Uranus on the other hand has a visual magnitude of +5.9. That means on a very clear dark night you might be able to see it with your unaided eye. If you decide to do this, you can increase your odds by picking a location as far away from lights as possible.

July 28 and 29 will be the peak of Delta Aquarids meteor shower. The Delta Aquarids run from July 12 to Aug. 23, but the most activity is predicted for the night of July 28. The best viewing will be after midnight. You can expect about 20 meteors an hour. They can appear almost anywhere in the night sky but will appear to originate from the constellation Aquarius. Aquarius will rise in the southeast at about 9:30 p.m.

The Perseids meteor shower will also be visible from July 17 to Aug. 24. Its peak activity is in August, and the Perseids are renowned for producing up to 60 meteors an hour. Like the Delta Aquarids, the Perseids are best viewed after midnight. Similarly, the shooting stars can appear anywhere in the sky, but these meteors will appear to come from the constellation Perseus. Perseus will rise in the northeast just before 11 p.m.

June Highlights

M20

Sunspot

Messier 84

June offered several good nights for astrophotography. The southern part of the skies offered views of several nebulae including the Trifid Nebula and Lagoon Nebula.

That is M20, the Trifid Nebula, on the top. It’s about 5,000 light years away. Its visual magnitude is +6.3. That puts it out of sight for the unaided eye, but M20 is a good target for a pair of binoculars or a telescope. The Trifid Nebula can be found in our southern skies throughout July.

I took this image of a sunspot, center, on a bright afternoon when the moon was full, so I wasn’t thinking about doing any nighttime observations.

The sun is a pretty easy target to find in a telescope, but you need to take some serious precautions: Never look directly at the sun; don’t try to use your finder scope to “center the sun;” and make sure you have a solar filter on your telescope before viewing the sun.

I use a solar filter and camera to view the sun. That way I never have to look directly at the sun. If something goes wrong when viewing the sun, you could damage your eyes or even suffer blindness.

The last photo is Messier 84, center,and Messier 86, center bottom. They are the two bright galaxies in this shot. On their left are NGC 4386 and NGC 4387. NGC 4402 is on the right. There are four more galaxies near the top of the page, from left to right: NGC 4413, NGC 4425, and the Eyes (NGC 4435 and NGC 4438). Together, they all form part of Markarian’s Chain of Galaxies. Markarian’s Chain is in the constellation Virgo.

Moon Phases

New moon: July 4
First Quarter: July 11
Full moon: July 19
Last Quarter: July 26

Astronomy Talk

Sunspots are cool areas that appear on the surface of the sun. They can last from a few days to several months.

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. You can read other stories about Hatteras and Ocracoke here.

Reprinted from the Island Free Press

The triangle formed by Mars, Saturn and Antares will continue to parade across the southern sky this month. It was visible near the southeast horizon at “nautical” dusk yesterday. Mars is the bright red lead star and Saturn is the trailing star. Antares, which is also red, is not as bright as the two planets and can be found between them, but a little closer to the southern horizon.

Saturn will be at opposition on Friday. That means it will be the brightest it gets. This is your best chance to get a look at the ringed planet and its moons. Saturn will be visible all night and, as usual, can be viewed with binoculars. Sometimes, you can make out the biggest moon, Titan, through binoculars, but it’s difficult.

Mercury will be at its highest point above the eastern horizon on Sunday morning. This makes it a great time to get up early and view the planet. Mercury will rise at 4:38 a.m. and probably stay visible until about 5:30 a.m.

Jupiter will start June a little to the south of the zenith. It will be visible until it sets in the west at about 1:50 a.m. It will follow this same pattern throughout the month, appearing a little bit more to the west at dusk and setting about two minutes earlier each night.

The summer solstice will be on June 20. That means the days will start getting shorter, but, on the plus side, the nights will get longer and give us more time to look at the stars.

May Highlights

May did not offer a lot of clear nights, so I tried to make the most of the few that came along. Surprisingly, the southern skies offered the best views because of the prevailing winds.

[su_carousel source=”media: 14654,14655,14653″ width=”640″ height=”620″ items=”1″]

Moon Phases

New moon: Saturday
First Quarter: June 12
Full moon: June 20
Last Quarter: June 27

Astronomy Talk

Civil dusk is when the center of the sun is six degrees below the horizon in the evening. There are a few stars and planets visible at this point, but the sky in the background is still bright through a telescope.

Nautical dusk is when the center of the sun goes 12 degrees below the horizon in the evening. There is still a bit of sky glow from the sun, but it’s usually dark enough to start doing some observing particularly in the eastern side of the sky.

Astronomical dusk is when the center of the sun is at 18 degrees below the horizon. That’s the time when the sun doesn’t add any sky glow.

Currently, civil dusk is about 40 minutes before nautical dusk. Astronomical dusk follows about 40 minutes later. In the winter, there is about 30 minutes between civil dusk and nautical dusk. Similarly, there is about 30 minutes between nautical dusk and astronomical dusk at that time of year.

A planet is said to be in opposition when it is on the opposite site of the Earth from the sun.

Active galaxies are galaxies that have a small core of emission embedded in an otherwise typical galaxy. Models of active galaxies concentrate on the possibility of a supermassive black hole, which lies at the center of the galaxy.

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. You can read other stories about Hatteras and Ocracoke here.

Reprinted from the Island Free Press

Mars will be at opposition on May 22.  Opposition occurs when the sun and Mars are on opposite sides of the Earth.  That means Mars will be the brightest it’s been in 11 years, with a magnitude of -2.1.  This is the great opportunity to observe the “red planet.”

Jupiter will be well above the horizon at dusk in the beginning of May. It will set just before 4 a.m. Mars will rise around 9:46 p.m., followed by Antares at 10:06 and Saturn at 10:13 p.m. This small triangle is easy to spot, making it easy to find the two planets.

Mercury sets at 8:40 p.m. beginning on May 1. It is very close to the sun, so don’t look for it before the sun has set. Even at dusk, the sun can be bright enough to cause eye damage. Mercury will set about seven minutes earlier each night during the month. Each night it will get closer to the setting sun.

On May 9, Mercury will transit across the face of the sun. Do not try to watch this event with the unaided eye or sunglasses — you will damage your eyes.  If you want to view this event, you will need a telescope equipped with a very good solar filter. The next transit of Mercury will be in 2019.

Pluto rose about 12:40 a.m. on May 1.

Neptune and Uranus will not offer good viewing in May.

The Eta Aquarids meteor shower will peak at about 4 a.m. on May 6.  The Eta Aquarids usually offer about 60 shooting stars an hour. This meteor shower will appear to originate in the eastern sky.

Vega, the fifth brightest star in the sky, rises just after sunset in the northeast. Vega is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra. Vega was the first star — not counting the sun — to be photographed, which happened in 1850.  You could consider that the first step in deep space astrophotography.

April Highlights

I want to express my gratitude to the Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative for improving the night skies of Hatteras Island. Replacing the old high-pressure sodium vapor streetlight fixtures with the new directional LED fixtures have made our night skies much darker. I hope our local businesses and homeowners will follow suit and reduce their use of outside lighting.

My wife and I were in Hawaii during most of April. When we were on the big island, we took the tour of Mauna Kea, a 13,800-foot, dormant volcano. Most of the time, the mountaintop is blessed with clear, dry skies because it is above the top of the clouds. Mauna Kea is home to several of the most advanced observatories in the world, including the 8.2-meter Subaru Telescope and the twin 10-meter telescopes at the Keck Observatory.

This was probably the only time in my life that I have had the pleasure to experience a Class 1 sky, as measured on the Bortle light pollution scale.  Amateur astronomer John E. Bortle created the scale for the February 2001 edition of Sky & Telescope magazine to help other amateurs evaluate and compare the darkness of observing sites. Class 1 is the darkest sky available on Earth, whereas Class 9 represents a brilliantly lit inner-city sky.

Even though we were only allowed to view the big “working” observatories from the outside, I did get a chance to discuss several items of interest with local astronomers that will hopefully improve my observations and photography in future articles.

Moon Phases

• New moon: May 6
• First quarter: May 13
• Full moon: May 21
• Last quarter: May 29

Astronomy Talk

A planet is said to be in “opposition” when it is on the opposite site of the earth from the sun.

A planet is said to “transit” the sun when it crosses between the earth and the sun.  Obviously, only Mercury and Venus can transit the sun.

Learn More

• Mars facts
• Antares: Red star at the end of its life
• Everything you need to know about Eta Aquarid

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. You can read other stories about Hatteras and Ocracoke here.

Reprinted from the Island Free Press

April will start with Jupiter (magnitude -2.6) well above the eastern horizon at sunset.  You should be able to spot it just after sundown. If you view it with a pair of binoculars or a telescope, you should be able to see its bands. On a good night, you might spot several of its larger moons.  Jupiter will be visible for most of the night, setting in the west just before dawn.

Mars will rise around 11:40 p.m., followed by Saturn at 12:24 a.m.  The two planets and the red star, Antares, will form a triangle that will move across the night sky throughout April.  If you are having trouble distinguishing Mars and Antares, remember that Mars is the brighter of the two red objects–and it appears a little higher in the skies than Antares.

Pluto rose at about 2:30 a.m. on the morning of April 2.  Neptune will rise at 5:40 a.m., just before dawn.  With visual magnitudes of +14 and +8, neither will be visible to the unaided eye.

Mercury will be very close to the western horizon at dusk.  As April progresses, Mercury will set a little later each night, so your chances of seeing it increase each evening.  It will be at its highest point above the horizon on the evening of April 18. At this point, Mercury will be at its brightest, with a visual magnitude of +0.3.     For the rest of the month, it will set a little closer to the horizon each night until it is lost in the glow of the sunset.  Don’t look for Mercury before the sun has set.  Even at dusk, the sun can be bright enough to cause eye damage.

The Lyrid meteor shower will peak on the night of April 22.  The Lyrids usually offer about 10 to 20 shooting stars an hour, but sometimes you might see a fireball or two.  The best viewing times will be after 10 p.m. on Friday.  The full moon will make conditions less than ideal. The Lyrids seem to originate from the constellation Lyra.  The prominent star in that constellation is Vega. You can find it by looking for the very bright star in the north-northeast.

Orion (the hunter) starts April as the most prominent constellation in the southwestern evening skies.  But don’t overlook the Pleiades (M45). M45 will be between Orion and the horizon. It is often called the Seven Sisters because most people can easily make out five to seven of its stars with the unaided eye.  If you look at it with binoculars, you will see much more.  There are literally hundreds of stars in the Pleiades and lots of bright swirls of nebulosity.

Arcturus rises just after sunset in the northeast.  It’s a bright double star that happens to be the brightest star in the northern hemisphere. It’s also very close to us – only 37 light years away.  Its light was used to open the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago.  At that time, measurements put Arcturus 40 light years away.  Chicago had hosted the 1893 World’s Fair, so it seemed fitting to open the 1933 World’s Fair with starlight that had started its journey to Earth during the previous event. This was accomplished by using several telescopes to collect the light of Arcturus, focus it on solar cells, and then use it to switch on the current for the floodlights of the fair.

March Highlights

In my last article, I presented this image of Jupiter, left, and told you this is a work in progress.

I think I made a little progress. On March 1, I started using a Canon DSLR camera for planetary imaging.  This branch of astrophotography is very different than the approach I use for “deep space objects” like galaxies and nebula.  The planets and moon are all relatively bright objects, so instead of taking multiple long exposure images, I’ve been using the DSLR as a high-quality video camera. The procedure consists of focusing on the planet, capturing a sequence of 500 to 2,000 frames, and then processing the frames with special software that selects the best 200 or 300, aligns them, and then helps pick out the details.

In theory, it sounds pretty simple, but it gets difficult real fast.  Atmospheric conditions are a major obstacle.  At times, Jupiter was jumping around so fast on the monitor I could only guess at the right focus.

Here are a couple of shots, right, that showed major improvements over last month’s image.  I included both because the second one shows the famous red spot of Jupiter.  That’s a massive storm that’s been observed for the past 300 years.

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun.  It’s roughly 420 million miles from Earth and has a visual magnitude of -2.4. With a diameter of 88,846 miles, Jupiter is more than 11 times larger than Earth.  It takes Jupiter 11.86 years to orbit the sun, and the planet has 67 moons.

I also got fairly good shots of Mars, top, and Saturn.

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun.  Mars takes 687 days to orbit the sun. Mars’ closest approach to the Earth is about 22 million miles.  Its furthest distance from Earth is close to 155 million miles. Because of its small size — 4,220 miles, about half the diameter of Earth — the magnitude of Mars varies from -2.9 to +1.7.  Mars will be at its closest approach to Earth in the beginning of May. It has two moons.

Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun.  It’s about 893 million miles from Earth with a visual magnitude of +0.3.  Saturn’s diameter is 74,897 miles which is about nine times that of the Earth.  Saturn takes 29.4 years to orbit the sun.  It has 62 moons.

I didn’t entirely abandon deep space object photography either.  I also got this nice image of M3, which is a globular cluster in the constellation Canes Venatici.  With a visual magnitude of +6.2, it is not visible to the naked eye!  M3 is about 33,000 light years away.

Moon Phases

New moon: April 7
First Quarter: April 13
Full moon: April 22
Last Quarter: April 29

Astronomy Talk

DSLR is an acronym for digital single lens reflex camera.  All of the images in this month’s article were taken using a Canon T5 DSLR mounted on my Celestron telescope.   I had to purchase a special adapter called a T-ring to mount the camera on the telescope.  Once you have the camera on the scope, focusing and operating the shutter become major issues.  Luckily, there is good cheap software available that can help solve both issues.

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. You can read other stories about Hatteras and Ocracoke here.

Reprinted from the Island Free Press

Venus (magnitude -4) will continue to be the bright morning star close to the eastern horizon during March. With a little luck, you’ll be able to see Mercury between Venus and the rising sun.  Look for both planets around 6 a.m.

If you’re up that early, you can also look for Saturn and Mars flanking the moon. Saturn will be on the left of the moon, and Mars is the reddish object on the right. Don’t confuse Mars with the red star Antares that is between the moon and the horizon.

Mars (+0.3) is brighter than Antares (+1.0), but they’re still easy to get confused.  Apparently, ancient astronomers had some problems confusing the two — Antares means “rival of Mars.”

Jupiter will rise about 6:30 p.m., starting yesterday.  At magnitude -2.5, it looks like a very bright star on the eastern horizon. If you view it with a pair of binoculars or a telescope, you should be able to see its bands. On a good night, you might spot several of its larger moons.

The large white disk, left, is an over-exposed Jupiter.  The smaller ones are four of Jupiter’s moons — Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto (in the lower right corner). They are called the Galilean satellites to honor Galileo who first observed them in 1610.

March 9 will be the best night of the year to view or photograph Jupiter.  It will be at its closest point to the Earth and fully illuminated by the sun. Its famous red spot will be visible after 1:30 a.m.

Orion, the hunter, continues to be the most prominent constellation in the southern skies. M42, the Orion Nebula, surrounds the second star in the sword.  That’s not the only nebula in the Orion Constellation. The first star in his belt is surrounded by two other famous nebulae, the Flame Nebula and the Horse Head Nebula. Neither one is visible by the unaided eye. They are both difficult to view through a telescope, but I find it extremely rewarding to get a good glimpse of them.

If you have access to a good telescope on a computer guided mount, you might want to try and do a Messier Marathon on March 12.  There are 110 deep sky objects in the Messier catalog, and you might be able to see all of them that night.  To pull this trick off, you need to start as early as possible with objects nearest the western horizon. Then, progress through the list when M30 will rise in the east just after 6 a.m.

February Highlights

I started the month getting this great shot of the Orion Nebula (M42). Some people think I’m fixated on photographing M42, and I guess they’re right.  In my defense, M42 simply is one of the best deep space objects out there for viewing or photographing over and over. Located in the sword of the constellation Orion, it’s very easy to find. M42 is bright enough that you can see it without a telescope or binoculars. I’ve probably taken more than 100 shots of it, and I still know there’s room for improvement.  I love the delicate, wispy details that I can make out in this shot. Hopefully, the next image I take will show even more detail.

I spent a fair amount of time imaging Jupiter, and getting a great shot has turned out to be a real learning experience. The turbulence of the earth’s atmosphere is one of my biggest problems when imaging planets. Some nights, the image literally dances around on the screen.  To compensate for that, you shoot a long series of very short exposures and then process them using computer software.  This is one of the best shots I’ve gotten to date.

This is still a work in progress, so I hope to have some better images in the near future.

Moon Phases

New moon: March 8

First quarter: March 15

Full moon: March 23

Last quarter: March 31

Astronomy Talk

The magnitude of an object is a scale of how bright an object appears in the sky. At -26.75, the sun is the brightest object in the sky. The full moon has a magnitude of -13.  Intuitively, you might see something wrong with the scale. First, it seems to go backwards, since brighter objects have smaller negative magnitudes, and the sun is about 400,000 times as bright as the moon but only double its magnitude.

Those problems stem from the original system that tried to classify the apparent size of stars. The system was created by the ancient Greeks. It consisted of six classes of stars, based upon the apparent size of the stars. So the biggest and brightest stars were first class and the smallest, dimmest were sixth class. The sun and moon were not included in the system.

In 1856, Norman Pogson modernized the system to its current logarithmic scale that is based upon the brightness of the star. To compute the magnitude of any star, you need to compare its brightness against a baseline star. Vega is that baseline star, and its magnitude is defined as 0.  Using Vega as the baseline gave Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, a magnitude -1.46.  When the sun and moon were included in this modern scale, they kind of fell off the chart and ended up in the negative range.

The human eye can see objects out to about magnitude 6.0 in very dark, clear skies. If you are viewing the stars from your backyard or porch anywhere along the coast, the odds are you are not experiencing “very dark skies.” The house lights, security lights and business lights are all forms of light pollution that reduce the splendor of the night skies, so you are probably limited to seeing magnitude 4.

Find a dark spot along the beach. Cape Lookout National Seashore is one good spot. On Hatteras Island, you can make a short trip to Ramp 27 or 30, between Salvo and Avon, and get away from much of the light pollution of the villages.  If you give your eyes about 15 to 20 minutes to adjust to the darkness, you will be amazed at how bright the night skies can be.

March 8 will be a new moon so it will be your best chance to go out and appreciate the stars.

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. You can read other stories about Hatteras and Ocracoke here.

Reprinted from the Island Free Press

February evenings begin with Uranus high in the southwest sky. Neptune is closer to the west-southwest horizon. With a visual magnitude of +8, Neptune cannot be seen with the unaided eye. You might be able to spot Uranus — visual magnitude +5.9 — on a very clear night. But most people use a telescope or binoculars.

The five planets that will be visible to the unaided eye will be in the skies simultaneously for most of February. Jupiter starts the month rising in the East at about 8:30 p.m.  Mars will follow at 1 a.m., Saturn at 3:06 a.m., Venus at 5:09 a.m. and Mercury at 5:30 a.m. Astronomical dawn is four minutes later, so all five planets are visible in the sky before daylight begins to make it difficult to view them.

Remember the five planets will not be clustered near the horizon. Venus and Mercury will be very close to the eastern horizon. Saturn will be farther up in the eastern sky. Mars will be just short of overhead. And Jupiter will be in the western part of the sky.

This phenomenon will continue until Feb. 20.

On Friday and Saturday, Feb. 12 and 13, the Hatteras Village Civic Association, with the support of the Outer Banks Visitor Bureau, is having a Starry Nights on Hatteras Island program in the village. The Morehead Planetarium at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will set up a mobile planetarium at the fire station.

The weekend begins at 5:30 p.m. with registration, along with refreshments, at the Hatteras Village Civic Center. The program begins at 7 p.m. The discussion of the night sky over Hatteras with viewing opportunities will be led by Nick Eakes, science education specialist at the Morehead Planetarium.

On Feb. 13, a mobile planetarium will be set up at the fire station. It looks like a big, domed tent and can fit about 12 to 20 folks inside, depending on how big they are. Once inside, the sky-watchers can get comfy on cushions for the program.

There will be a program for children on Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. While children take their turn in the planetarium, the others will take part in a program by Rhana Parks of the N.C. Aquarium on Roanoke Island.

Eakes will lead a program for adults in the planetarium at 2 p.m.

At 7 p.m., he will lead another outdoor program on viewing the night skies over Hatteras Island. Depending on wind and weather, the organizers hope to have the program on the beach, at the Sandy Bay parking area north of Hatteras village or in the village park.

Starry Nights will go on rain or (star) shine, but the organizers have their fingers crossed for a couple of those crystal clear nights.

The weekend will end with a special Valentine’s Dance, “Romance Under the Stars,” beginning at 8 p.m. at the Civic Center.

The cost for the Starry Nights program is $20 a person, though the children’s program on Saturday morning is free for the kids. The cost of the dance is $20 a person and $35 per couple.

For information, go to the events page on Facebook. There is information on the page about accommodations and restaurants. You can also message the organizers through Facebook or call 252-986-2109.

Moon Phases

New Moon: Feb. 8
First Quarter: Feb. 15
Full Moon: Feb. 22
Last Quarter: March 1

Astronomy Talk

Astronomical dawn is the time when the geometric center of the sun is at 18 degrees below the horizon. The eastern horizon starts to lighten at the astronomical dawn.

Astronomical dusk is the instant when the geographical center of the sun is at 18 degrees below the horizon. That’s when the sky becomes completely dark.

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. You can read other stories about Hatteras and Ocracoke here.

This story is part of a monthly series about astronomical events along the N.C. coast. It is reprinted from the Island Free Press.

Highlights of December 2015.

In the November column, I included a picture that featured M81 and M82 together in the same image.  Here are close-ups of the two galaxies I took on Dec. 15. Both are about 12 million light years away.

What to Look for in January 2016

Look for the Quadrantids  meteor shower the first five nights of January. The peak was predicted for the night of Jan. 3 with as many as 40 meteors per hour. The meteors will appear to originate in the constellation Bootes. Bootes will rise in the northeast at about 12:30 a.m. each night for the first week of January. You can find it by looking at the handle of the Big Dipper. The first two stars, Alkaid and Mizar, in the handle point directly to Bootes. The center of the constellation is about three times the distance between those two stars.

In addition to the Quadrantids, Bootes also starts the month off with a comet that might be visible to the naked eye. If you follow the curve formed by the handle of the Big Dipper, about  five times the distance between Mizar and Alkaid, it will lead you to a very bright star, Arcturus. If you watched it rise on New Year’s morning, you may have seen the comet Catalina. Some of my sources say Catalina will only reach a magnitude of +6, which means you would need binoculars or a telescope to view it. Other sources say it will reach a magnitude of +4.2.  If that’s the case, you might be able to see Catalina with the naked eye.

Comet Catalina will be in the night skies all of January. It will reach its closest approach to Earth on Jan. 17. On that night, it will appear to be in the proximity of Mizar and Alkaid, in the handle of the Big Dipper. At a distance of 110 million kilometers and a visual magnitude of +5, it should be a great target for night viewing.

Mercury, Neptune and Uranus will be in the western skies in the evening. Look for Mercury near the western horizon between 5:30 and 6: 20 p.m. It begins the month setting at 6:30 and gets lower in the skies every evening. By Jan. 12, it will be setting at 5:30 p.m., making it difficult to spot. Neptune will begin the month fairly high in the western part of the night skies. It will set about 9:30 p.m. Uranus will begin the month almost directly overhead on the Ecliptic, or the path the Sun appears to take around the Earth. The planets all appear to stay close to this same path through the skies.

Jupiter will begin the month rising in the east at 10:40 p.m. It will be followed by Mars at 1:30 a.m., Venus at 4:20 a.m. and Saturn at 4:55 a.m.

Moon Phases

Last Quarter: Jan. 2

New Moon: Jan. 9

First Quarter: Jan. 16

Full Moon: Jan. 23

Last Quarter: Jan. 31

This story is part of a monthly series about astronomical events along the N.C. coast. It is reprinted from the Island Free Press.

First, kudos to the Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative on its recent announcement of a new initiative to reduce light pollution.

According to Susan Flythe, executive vice president and general manager,  the cooperative board of directors voted on Nov. 19 to approve  the replacement of the 100-watt and 250-watt high-pressure sodium security lights with LEDs beginning in 2016.

“The opportunity to be responsive to dark sky issues combined with maintenance cost savings and REPS compliance were compelling arguments for changing the lights,” Flythe told me in an e-mail.

The co-op provides outdoor security lights to its customers who are changed a monthly rate for them.

The most important feature of the new LED fixtures is that the shades direct the light down to the ground.  This initiative should definitely help improve our night skies.

November Highlights

NGC7293, the Helix Nebula, is often called the “Eye of God” or “Eye of Sauron” Nebula — if you’re a fan of The Lord of the Rings. Two years ago, I got a very poor shot of NGC 7293 that took about two hours to capture.  It is only visible through a telescope for a short time each year. When visible, it is fairly close to the southern horizon and is obscured by the any lights from southern cities or towns.

This image is the result of “stacking” 40 images together to get enough information to reveal the nebula. Each individual image took 75 seconds to collect on the telescope. I took about 80 exposures and used the best ones for the final product. After stacking, I had to perform some very detailed image processing to get to the final result. So, this image took two years of waiting for a clear, calm night at the proper time of year, about three hours of intense telescope time and 10 hours of image processing.

December Skywatching

The Geminids meteor shower will peak on the nights of Dec. 13-14 and 14-15. You can expect to see as many as 100 meteors per hour. The best viewing will start about 9 p.m. and run through the night until dawn. The meteors will appear to originate from the constellation Gemini, the twins. Gemini is easy find — at 9 p.m., it will be the two bright stars close together in the east-northeast sky.

Neptune and Uranus will be in the night skies. On an exceptionally clear night, you might be able to see Uranus with the naked eye, but you need strong binoculars or a telescope to see Neptune.

Mercury will be visible near the southwest horizon right after sundown for the second half of December.

Jupiter, Mars, and Venus will all be visible near the eastern horizon in the early morning hours.

The constellation Orion will be one of the dominant sights of the night skies in December. In the beginning of the month, it will rise in the east around 7:30 p.m. By the end of the month, it will be rising at sundown. M42, the Orion Nebula, is visible to the naked eye. It is located around the second star in the sword of Orion. If you have trouble making it out, grab a pair of binoculars. I am sure you will enjoy the sight.

Moon Phases

Last Quarter: Dec. 3
New Moon: Dec. 11
First Quarter: Dec. 18
Full Moon: Dec. 25

Astronomy Talk

“Stacking” is a technique used in astrophotography to reduce the signal-to-noise ratio when processing images of deep-space objects. The basic theory is the signal from an object is constant, while noise is random. Stacking programs analyze a series of images to find and remove the random noise.

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. You can read other stories about Hatteras and Ocracoke here.

Reprinted from the Island Free Press.

Last month’s meteor shower was a disappointment, but several this month hold promise.

The Draconid meteor shower on Oct. 8 proved to be less than spectacular. I spotted three faint shooting stars. On the other hand, in the early morning of Oct. 23, I saw a very bright meteorite shoot across the body of the Orion Constellation. On the same morning, the light show of Venus, Jupiter and Mars was spectacular. Venus was so bright that it almost looked like a flare.

I also managed a couple of good images during October.

This is the Andromeda Galaxy is about 2.5 million light years away. It contains about 300 billion stars. It also has 14 known satellite galaxies. Several of them are visible in the picture. M110 is visible in the upper right-hand.  M32 is just below and to the left of M31.

The Andromeda Galaxy is supposed to be the most distant object visible to the unaided eye. During October, I was unable to spot it without the aid of binoculars or a telescope. Sky Map for Android and Star Walk for Apple are two good apps that will help you to find Andromeda with you smartphone. Point the phone skyward and locate the W-shape of the constellation Cassiopeia. Then I use the bottom two star’s larger “V” in Cassiopeia to point towards the bright star Alpheratz in the bottom corner of the great square of the Pegasus constellation. M31 is about halfway from Cassiopeia to Pegasus. On a very dark, clear night, it should appear as a faint, cloudy object. With binoculars, I can see quite a bit of detail. The visibility of M31 is used as a reference point for the Bortle Light Pollution Scale. The scale runs from 1 to 9, with 1 being the best and 9 the worst. Not being able to see the Andromeda Galaxy puts Waves somewhere around a 7.

Another fun fact about M31 is that it’s on a collision course with the Milky Way. You can expect to feel the effects in about five billion years, so there’s no need to sell the house and move to a safer galaxy just yet.

Another good shot I got in October is this shot of M81 — Bode’s Galaxy — on the right and M82 — Bode’s Nebula.

M81 and M82 were both discovered by Johann Bode in 1774. They are about 12 million light years away. On a clear night, you can view them using a good pair of binoculars. To find them, take that phone and first locate the bowl of the big dipper. Try to imagine a line going from the lower corner (below the handle) diagonally through the star that forms the upper corner (furthest away from the handle). Now double the length of that line.  That’s where you will find M81 and M82. M81 is very faint with an apparent star magnitude of +6.9. M82’s magnitude is even dimmer at +8.4 so you won’t be able to see either one without some visual aid.

November Sky Watching

The Orionids meteor shower is still active the first week of November. Viewing is best from midnight until dawn. The meteors will appear to originate from the constellation Orion, but they might appear anywhere in the sky. At midnight, Orion will be visible just above the eastern horizon.

The Taurid meteor showers continue through November with two distinct peaks. The first was last night and is called the South Taurids. The second, on Nov. 12, is known as the North Taurids. Both peaks take place from midnight until dawn. For the most part, the Taurids offer about seven meteors an hour. But the Taurids also offer a very good chance of seeing a “fireball” streak across the sky. A fireball is a huge shooting star that’s rarely seen. Often, they are brighter than Venus.

The Leonids meteor shower will peak in the early morning hours of Nov. 17. The Leonids are expected to produce up to 15 meteor and fireballs an hour. They will appear to start in the constellation Leo. Leo will be high in the southeast skies on the morning of Nov. 17.

Neptune and Uranus will be in the night skies. On an exceptionally clear night, you might be able to see Uranus with the unaided eye but you need strong binoculars or a telescope to see Neptune.

Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Mercury will all be visible near the eastern horizon in the early morning hours.

One of my favorite Messier objects — M45, the Pleiades — is prominent throughout November. It starts the month rising in the east-northeast shortly after sunset and remains visible all night. Throughout November, it will rise earlier each night. By the end of the month, it will be visible as soon as the sun sets.

The Pleiades is also called the “Seven Sisters.” For most people, six of the stars are visible with the unaided eye. On very clear nights, as many as 14 stars are reported in the cluster. If you add binoculars or a small telescope, you will be able to see some of the nebulosity surrounding many of the stars. With a large scope, you can zero in on the brighter stars and study each one like a diamond collector.

I took this picture of the Pleiades in October. It really doesn’t do justice to the beauty of this star cluster.

November Moon Phases

Third Quarter: Nov. 3
New Moon: Nov. 11
First Quarter: Nov. 19
Full Moon: Nov. 25

Learn More

• Sky Map app
• Star Walk app
• Sky charts
• Bortie Dark-Sky Scale

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. You can read other stories about Hatteras and Ocracoke here.