night sky

This month offers some spectacular sky gazing opportunities, including throughout the whole of April the planets Mars and Saturn being seen low in the south-southeastern sky in the constellation of Sagittarius, and later joined by […]

Northern hemisphere observers will no doubt be overjoyed by the fact that the Vernal Equinox (spring equinox) occurs on March 20, which heralds the advent of spring in the northern hemisphere, the current severe weather […]

Constellations that are prominent in the northern sky (other than the circumpolar constellations) at this time include Cancer, Leo, Hydra, and rather surprisingly, the little, and rather faint constellation Sextans (the Sextant), squeezed in between […]

Happy 2018! January presents a perfect opportunity to view some of the winter sky’s most conspicuous constellations, including Orion accompanied by his two hunting dogs Canis Major and Canis Minor. The giant hunter from Greek […]

With December comes colder temperatures and the shortest day of the year in which the North Pole is tilted furthest away from the Sun. At least after December 21st, the days will begin to lengthen, […]

In November, the “Summer Triangle” can be seen rising in the early evening sky before making its way westwards, with the Milky Way passing through two of the stars in this huge asterism. These are […]

Prominent northern hemisphere constellations during October include Cassiopeia almost overhead, and Cetus, Pisces, Aries, and Triangulum towards the south, while to the south-west is Andromeda, which is attached to Pegasus, the most conspicuous constellation associated with […]

Astronomers use the dates of solstices and equinoxes to delineate the start and end of seasons in a year, and in the Northern Hemisphere, autumn begins with the start of the September equinox, whose dates […]

The Summer Triangle, whose brightest stars mark out the constellations of Cygnus, Aquila, and Lyra, continues to dominate the night sky in August, and in the northern hemisphere appears virtually overhead near midnight, with an […]

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 […]