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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 constellation Grus, which means Crane in Latin (of the bird variety), is often overlooked and I’m not really sure why. Maybe it’s simply due to other surrounding constellations being loaded with deep-sky targets, such as Sculptor with its gaggle of galaxies. Grus’s relative obscurity is unfortunate, as it contains a variety of pleasing sights […]
Listen to this episode on Sky & Telescope’s YouTube channel. Once again, the Moon’s phases are in sync with the calendar this month, starting with a new Moon on November 1st. That leaves the evening sky relatively Moon-free for the first days and last half of November — great opportunities to get out under the […]
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 […]
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (C/2023 A3) was a beautiful naked-eye and binocular sight at dusk on October 13th from near McGregor, Minnesota, about 90 minutes after sundown. The tail extended 7° in binoculars and 5° with the naked eye — even in bright moonlight! A faint segment of the antitail glows pink below and right of the […]