Category: Sky Guide

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What to look out, and up, for in May.

Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers:

• The ever-brightening Mars
• Jupiter at opposition on 9th May
• Venus in the evening sky
• The Lyrid meteor shower

Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year.

• Ralph – The plethora of summer objects in Sagittarius
• Paul – Globular Cluster, Messier 5, in Serpens
• Jen – M57, The Ring Nebula, in Lyra

And we finish this sky guide with May’s moon phases.

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What to look out, and up, for in December.

Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers:

• The features visible on Mars
• Jupiter visible in the morning sky
• Venus in the evening sky
• The Lyrid meteor shower

Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year.

• Ralph – The Beehive and King Cobra open clusters in Cancer
• Jen – M82, The Cigar Galaxy, and M81, a starburst galaxy in Ursa Major
• Paul – A tour of the Virgo cluster of galaxies and Markarian’s Chain

And we finish this sky guide with April’s moon phases.

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What to look out, and up, for in March.

Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers:

• Prepare for this year’s Mars opposition as it increases in brightness
• Jupiter at 21 degrees in the pre-dawn sky
• Bright Venus, Mercury and the moon in conjunction on 18th March
• Comet 2016 R2 PANSTARRS in Perseus
• A lunar conjunction with the Hyades Cluster and occultation of Aldebaran.

Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:

• Ralph – Messier 81 & 82, Bode’s Galaxy & The Cigar Galaxy in Ursa Major
• Jen – Messier 3, globular cluster in Canes Venatici
• Paul – The Leo 1 group of Galaxies in the constellation Leo

And we finish this sky guide with March’s moon phases.

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What to look out, and up, for in February.

Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers:

• Track Mars’ passage through Scorpius & Ophiuchus
• Jupiter in Libra gives us a shadow transit and a look at its Great Red spot
• Dwarf Planet Ceres at opposition on 1st February & Comet Heinze in Pegasus

Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:

• Ralph – Open clusters Messier 67 and the Beehive Cluster in Cancer
• Jen – Messier 101, the Pinwheel Galaxy, in Ursa Major
• Paul – NCG 40, the Bow Tie nebula, in Cepheus

And we finish this sky guide with February’s moon phases.

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What to look out, and up, for in January!

Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers:

• The Red Planet Mars, makes a welcome return to our skies
• The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks on the night of 3rd/4th January
• Dwarf planet Ceres is at opposition on 31st January in Cancer
• Mercury is at greatest wester elongation on 2nd January
• And comet C/2017 T1 Heinze reaches mag 7-9 on 6th January

Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:

• Ralph – Messier 42, the Great Nebula in Orion
• Jen – NGC 2244 and the Rosette Nebula in Monoceros.
• Paul – NCG 2903, Barred Spiral Galaxy in Leo

And we finish this sky guide with January’s moon phases.

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What to look out, and up, for in December.

Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers:

• The Geminid meteor showers peaking on 13/14th December
• Uranus sitting in the constellation Pisces
• Mars & Jupiter lunar conjunctions

Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:

• Ralph – A binary star, a planetary nebula and 4 open clusters in Gemini
• Jen – The Pleiades open cluster in Taurus
• Paul – The Crab Nebula supernova remnant also in Taurus

And we finish this sky guide with December’s moon phases.

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What to look out, and up, for in November.

Ralph, Paul & Jen pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers:

• A last look at Saturn for 2017 in the early evening sky
• A very impressive Jupiter/Venus conjunction on the 13th of November
• The Taurid meteor showers peaking on the 5th and 21st November and the Leonids on the 18th November
• Comet 2017 O1 ASASSN1 for binocular and telescope observers

Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:

• Ralph – Messier 42, the Orion Nebula in the constellation Orion
• Jen – Messier 13, The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules
• Paul – NCG 404, Mirach’s Ghost in the constellation Andromeda

And we finish this sky guide with November’s moon phases.

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What to look out, and up, for in October.

Jeni, Paul & Ralph pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers:

• Blue/green ice giant Uranus
• The Orionids meteor shower brings us the debris from Comet Halley
• Saturn, recently liberated from the perpetual gaze of Cassini
• A not-to-be-missed conjunction of Venus and Mars on 5th October.
• Finally, a couple of comets that may be visible

Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:

• Paul – Spiral Galaxy NGC772 in Aries.
• Jeni – Brocchi’s Cluster or The Coathanger Cluster in Vulpecula
• Ralph – The Triangulum Galaxy in Triangulum

And we finish this sky guide with October’s moon phases.

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What to look out, and up, for in September.What to look out, and up, for in September.

Ralph, Paul & Jeni pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers:

• Saturn and its ring system in the evening
• Mercury at greatest western elongation in 12th September
• Neptune at opposition on 5th September in Aquarius.

Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:

• Ralph – The Saturn Nebula in Aquarius
• Jeni – The Andromeda Galaxy and its satellites
• Paul – NCG 7479 barred spiral Seyfert galaxy

And we finish this sky guide with September’s moon phases.

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What to look out, and up, for in August.

Ralph & Paul pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the solar system objects on offer to observers and imagers:

• Dwarf Planet Ceres for small telescopes in the constellation Gemini
• Saturn in the evening, Venus at dawn and Uranus high up in Pisces
• The long anticipated total solar eclipse for observers in the United States
• The Perseid meteor shower peaking on the night of 12/13th August.

Next up, we take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:

• Ralph – Globular Cluster Messier 56 between Lyra & Cygnus
• Paul – Peculiar Galaxy NGC7727 in Aquarius.

And we finish this sky guide with August’s moon phases.