Night Sky 3
Night Sky

The Night Sky This Month: July 2017

June 28, 2017 James Miller 0

The first real dark skies for the northern hemisphere occur only after about the 11th of July, which offers a perfect opportunity to view the Summer Triangle, an asterism made up of the bright stars […]

Dubhe in Ursa Major
Stars

Star Facts: Dubhe

June 25, 2017 James Miller 0

Despite its “alpha” designation, the orange giant star Dubhe (Alpha Ursae Majoris) with an apparent magnitude of +1.79 is the second-most luminous star in the constellation Ursa Major. It is also the 36th most luminous […]

Deep-Sky Objects: Messier 90
Deep-Sky Objects

Deep-Sky Objects: Messier 90

June 24, 2017 James Miller 0

M90 (NGC 4569) is an intermediate spiral galaxy that contains around a trillion stars, and hosts roughly 1,000 globular clusters, making it one of the biggest members of the 2,000-strong group of galaxies called the […]

Beta Cancri
Stars

Star Facts: Al Tarf

June 23, 2017 James Miller 0

Despite its “beta” designation the giant star Al Tarf (Beta Cancri) is the most luminous star in the zodiacal constellation of Cancer, although with an apparent magnitude of just +3.5 it is still a challenging […]

Deep-Sky Objects: Messier 80
Deep-Sky Objects

Deep-Sky Objects: Messier 80

June 17, 2017 James Miller 0

M80 is a massive globular cluster located about 32,600 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius. As globular clusters go, it has been described as being the northern hemisphere’s equivalent of Omega Centauri (NGC 5139), the […]

Messier 4
Deep-Sky Objects

Deep-Sky Objects: Messier 4

June 16, 2017 James Miller 0

Messier 4 (NGC 6121) is a massive globular cluster in Scorpius that is found in the night sky close to M80, another globular cluster in the same constellation. M4 was discovered by Philippe Loys de […]

Star Facts: Eta Piscium
Stars

Star Facts: Eta Piscium

June 16, 2017 James Miller 0

Eta Piscium, also known as KULLAT NUNU, is a white to yellow giant star located 294 light years from Earth in the zodiacal constellation of Pisces. At magnitude +3.26, it is the brightest star in […]

Sadalsuud Star
Stars

Star Facts: Sadalsuud

June 16, 2017 James Miller 0

Despite its “beta” designation, the star Sadalsuud, also known as Beta Aquarii, is the most luminous star in the constellation Aquarius with an apparent visual magnitude of +2.78. Interestingly, Sadalsuud, and two other intermediate mass […]

1 2