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Rich in cyclic phenomena, astronomy has always been fertile ground for metaphors. Lunar occultations are a good example. When the Moon temporarily hides and then reveals a star, death and resurrection might come to mind. Or something less profound like a game of peekaboo. Both fit. It’s one of my favorite facets of the hobby […]
The Vitals Official name Algol Other designations Beta Persei, HIP 14576, HD 19356, HR 936 Nickname Demon Star Apparent magnitude 2.12 (variable; fades to 3.4) Distance from Earth 90 light-years Type B8, main sequence Color Blue-white Mass 3.5 solar masses Radius 2.9 solar radii Constellation Perseus Right ascension 03h 08m 10s Declination +40° 57’ 20” […]
Artist’s impression of a quasar showing the accretion disk where matter is heated as it spirals down the black hole, the tiny dark dot at center. Also shown are beams of particles and radiation focused by the disk’s powerful magnetic field. PG 1634+706, named for the Palomar-Green (PG) Bright Quasar Survey, is the most distant […]
The coma glows green from diatomic carbon (C2) emission, while the blue ion and white dust tails nearly overlap on October 19th. Image details: ASA Astrograph 12-inch, f/3.6 and ZWO ASI 6200MM Pro camera Gerald Rhemann Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS has been wonderful. I’ve rarely seen so much interest in a comet, with first-time skywatchers getting such […]
This spectacular close-up of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS was made on Sept. 30th from Namibia with an ASA 12″ f/3.6 Astrograph. The comet exhibits a prominent dust tail, a blue gas tail, and what appears to be the beginnings of an anti-tail (at top).Gerald Rhemann, Michael Jäger & Denis Möller I’m mostly a nighttime observer, but Comet […]