Category: Sky Guide

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

July is here and the summer solstice is just behind us, meaning we’re on the glide slope to every lengthening nights. So the team’s here to pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the planets on offer to observers and imagers:

• Ralph – Saturn shows off its moons and favourably tilted rings
• Jeni – Mercury is low in the sky but nicely placed to observe this July
• Paul – Comets C/2015 er61 Panstarrs and C/2015 V2 Johnson

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

• Ralph – The Eagle Nebula in the constellation Serpens
• Jeni – Colourful binary star Albireo in Cygnus
• Paul – Messier 8, The Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius

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

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

Jeni returns from astronomy research in South Africa so the gang’s back together to pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the planets on offer to observers and imagers:

• Ralph – Saturn reaches opposition this month and coincides with a nearby meteor shower
• Jeni – Jupiter in prime viewing conditions with some lovely Galilean transits
• Paul – We still have comet C/2015 V2 Johnson in the skies for a nice alternative distraction

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

• Ralph – The Double Double binary Alpha Lyrae
• Jeni – The Whirlpool Galaxy Messier 51
• Paul – Globular Clusters Messiers 10 & 12 in Ophiuchus

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

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

Jeni’s abandoned us this month in favour of research-grade instrumentation so only Paul and Ralph pick their highlights for this month’s skies; starting with the planets on offer to observers and imagers:

• The planets Jupiter in the evening and Saturn in the morning
• Three meteor showers peaking this month
• A pair of comets to observe with amateur telescopes or binoculars

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

• Ralph – The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules
• Paul – The Globular Cluster Messier 5 in the constellation Serpens

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

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

Our highlights of this month’s skies with the planets on offer to observers and imagers:

• A pair of comets to observe with amateur telescopes or binoculars
• The planets Mercury and Jupiter in the evening
• The Lyrid meteor shower

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

• Ralph – Pinwheel Galaxy in Ursa Major
• Paul – The Black Eye Galaxy in Coma Berenices
• Jen – The Ring Nebula in Lyra

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

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

Our highlights of this month’s skies with the planets on offer to observers and imagers:

• The moon, Mercury and Mars close together on the 29th
• The King of Planets returns to our skies
• 4 comets to observe with amateur telescopes or the naked eye

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

• Jen – The Owl Nebula in Ursa Major
• Paul – The Virgo Supercluster and Markarian’s Chain of galaxies
• Ralph – Messier 67 and the Beehive Cluster in Cancer

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

Our highlights of this month’s skies with the planets on offer to observers and imagers:

• A last chance look at Mercury in the morning sky
• Mars a few degrees from Venus
• Jupiter in Virgo
• Saturn in the early morning sky

Next up is the return of a couple of comets to our observing tick list:

• Comet 45P at its best on the 11th February in Hercules
• Comet 2P Encke returns to our skies in the constellation Pisces

Then we each take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:

• Ralph – the Rosette Nebula and open cluster NGC2244 in the constellation Monoceros
• Paul – open cluster M93 in Pupis
• Jeni – supernova remnant, Messier 1 – the Crab Nebula – in Taurus

And we finish this sky guide with February’s moon phases, a conjunction with the Hyades Cluster on the 5th and a penumbral eclipse on 10th/11th February.

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

Our highlights of this month’s skies with the planets on offer to observers and imagers:

• Venus at greatest eastern elongation
• Mars a few degrees from Venus
• Jupiter in Virgo
• Saturn & Mercury in the morning sky
• Next up is the other solar system wonders of note in January:
• The Quadrantids meteor shower peaking on 3-4th January with a ZHR of around 40
• The largest asteroid, Vesta, at opposition passing through Cancer into Gemini

Then we each take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:

• Jen – M33, spiral galaxy in the constellation Triangulum
• Paul – NGC 2903, barred spiral galaxy in Leo
• Ralph – Messier 35, open cluster in Gemini

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

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

Our highlights of this month’s skies with the planet on offer to observers and imagers:

• Venus shining brilliantly in the evening sky
• Mercury at greatest elongation on 11th December
• Jupiter returns to our late night skies

Next up is the meteor showers and December brings us the greatest of them all:

• The Geminids peaking on the night of 13/14th December

Then we each take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:

• Jeni – IC 1396 – The Elephant Trunk Nebula in Cepheus
• Paul – M78 – a reflection nebula in Orion
• Ralph – NGC 246 the Skull Nebula in Cetus

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

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

Our highlights of this month’s skies with the planet on offers to observers and imagers:

• A last chance to enjoy views of Mars for 2016
• The return of the King of Planets: Jupiter
• A Saturn and Venus conjunction

And we each take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:

• Ralph – Colourful binary star Almaak in Andromeda
• Jeni – The magnificent constellation of Orion and the Orion Nebula
• Paul – NGC 404, Mirach’s Ghost in 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.

Our highlights of this month’s skies with the planet on offer to observers and imagers:

• Venus & Saturn in the late evening with a nice conjunction of the pair.
• Uranus as it reaches opposition on the 16th.

Next up is the meteor showers and October brings us:

• The Draconids peaking on 7th October
• The Orionids peaking on 20th/21st October

Then we each take a deep sky pick from our list of favourites for this time of year:

• Ralph – Algol, the Demon Star & The Double Cluster in Perseus
• Paul – The Auriga open clusters: M36, M37 & M38
• Jeni – and the Owl Cluster in Cassiopeia

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