Eyes to the Sky April 19 – May 2, 2021 Wildly twinkling stars Astrophotographer’s statement “I threw Sirius out of focus and took this series of short exposures (1/25-second) with a 150mm telephoto lens on a Canon 5D Mark IV earlier this month [January, 2021]. The images are raw right out of the camera and […]

Eyes to the Sky March 22 – April 4, 2021 Turn-of-the-season dazzle: brightest stars, vivid constellations, and rusty-gold Mars The calendar in the night sky marks Spring Equinox evenings with the rising of golden Arcturus, the second brightest star in our sky. Sunset is at 7:11 this evening and about a minute later each day […]

Eyes to the Sky January 25 – February 7, 2020 Sirius, The Big Dog and Thor’s Helmet Above: Thor’s Helmet, NGC2359 Emissions nebula. Astrophotography by Mario Motta, MD. All Rights Reserved Below: The constellation Canis Major contains Sirius, the brightest star. The constellation suggests the outline of a dog, sometimes fancied to be the dog […]

Eyes to the Sky January 4 – 17, 2021 Early nightfall and late sunup beckon to stargazers before days lengthen The last of the longest nights of the year are bookended by planet Venus taking final bows in early morning twilight in the southeast and planets Jupiter and Saturn poised at the edge of the […]

Eyes to the Sky Jupiter and Saturn closest meeting in centuries on the 21st: get ready! Artist’s concept of Jupiter and Saturn in December of 2020, as viewed from a space-based perspective. Their conjunction will be December 21. See the moon in this drawing? It’ll be along our line of sight to the planets around […]

EYES TO THE SKY November 30 – December 13, 2020 Full Snow Moon rises this afternoon, winter stars follow, planets delight November 30, 2020 at 7:25pm. Orion rises earlier every night going forward, e.g. 6pm on the 13th. Red arc represents the Milky Way. Image: Judy Isacoff/StarryNight The Full Snow Moon rises above the east-northeast […]

Eyes to the Sky November 2 – 15, 2020 Big sky, long night Evening sky circa 7pm. November 2, 2020. See gibbous moon rise first, then Taurus the Bull’s brightest star, Aldebaran. Constellations and planets approximate positions November 2 – 15. Moonrise later every night. Illustration: Judy Isacoff/Starry Night Night is fast overtaking day. During […]

Eyes to the Sky October 6 – 18, 2020 Planet Mars Will Surprise You A rusty-gold star-like celestial body shines suspended above the eastern skyline at nightfall. It is heaven’s celebrity of the month. Even though I knew that planet Mars is predicted to be at that location after sunset, a rush of surprise overcame […]

EYES TO THE SKY September 8 – 20, 2020 Planets shine all night – brilliant morning planets SUN, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune Artist’s rendition of our solar system. (Not to scale.) (Image: © NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Caltech) In the evening sky, planets Jupiter and Saturn shine side by side in the south. […]

Jupiter and Saturn all night, Venus daybreak Astrophotographer Mihail Minkov’s Star Catcher placed first in the International Dark Sky Association’s “Connecting to the Dark” category of IDA’s first annual photography competition, “Capture the Dark”. Minkov accompanied the photograph with this statement: “I have a four-year-old daughter. She is fascinated by the planets, stars and the Milky Way. […]