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Articles by Chris Pagan
Skywatch for May 23-29: Farewell, winter triangle; hello, summer triangle
Sunday: Winter may seem like it was some time back, but the winter triangle is still in the sky. Spotting it would be trick since two of its stars, Betelgeuse and Sirius, are close to the horizon at 9 p.m. However, as one triangle disappears, a second one soon takes its place. You have to stay up a bit, but at 11 p.m. the summer triangle formed by Deneb in Cygnus, Vega in Lyra, and Altair in Aquila, will be visible.
Skywatch for May 16-22: Watch for the moon visiting the Twins
Skywatch for May 16-22: Watch for the moon visiting the Twins Sunday: Tonight the moon is just below the star Pollux in the constellation of Gemini. Gemini looks like a large rectangle that stretches from the east to west, with the bright stars Castor and Pollux marking the eastern side of the rectangle. Mars currently occupies the center of the rectangle. Monday: The International Space Station makes a bright pass through the sky tonight.
Skywatch for April 4-10: Looking for Lepus, the Rabbit, and Orion, the Hunter
Skywatch for April 4-10: Looking for Lepus, the Rabbit, and Orion, the Hunter Sunday: The moon does not rise until late tonight, so head outside to look for the constellation Lepus, the Rabbit. This constellation is below the feet of Orion, the Hunter, and at 8:30 p.m. is just above the southwestern horizon. The constellation appears as a faint oval of stars representing the rabbit’s body. Monday: The International Space Station make a pair of passes through the constellation of Orion this week.
Skywatch: Daylight saving time a mixed bag for skywatchers
Skywatch: Daylight saving time a mixed bag for skywatchers Sunday: Today is the start of daylight saving time, so if you did not set your clocks forward last night, hopefully you are not late for anything this morning. We now have to wait for an hour longer for the sky to get dark. On the plus side it is easier to see some of the morning objects. Monday: This morning, the planets Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn are low in the eastern sky.
Skywatch: Look for Orion and his dogs
Skywatch: Look for Orion and his dogs Sunday: At 8 p.m. the constellation of Orion the Hunter is high in the southern sky. Trailing Orion are his two hunting dogs, Canis Major and Canis Minor. Canis Major is marked by the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, which marks the dog’s chest. A line of stars trails to the southeast forming the dog’s body and legs. The brightest star in Canis Minor is Procyon, the seventh-brightest star in the sky, located to the upper left of Orion.
Skywatch: Look for the zodiac light this week
Skywatch: Look for the zodiac light this week Sunday: For the next week, the zodiac light will be visible in the west in the evening twilight. Zodiac light is caused by the sun’s light reflected off dust particles located along the plane of the solar system. The zodiac light will look like a faint band of light extending upward from the horizon. Moonlight and light pollution completely mask this phenomenon, so find somewhere nice and dark.
Skywatch: Even brightest star in our sky, Sirius, has a companion
Skywatch: Even brightest star in our sky, Sirius, has a companion Sunday: Many of the bright stars in the sky are not single stars, but are part of multi-star systems. Sirius, the brightest star in our sky, is no exception. It is almost due south at 8 p.m. Sirius has a small fainter companion star, Sirius B, that can be observed with a telescope, but it takes some effort. The difficultly with observing the companion star is it size.
Skywatch: Seeing red in the night sky
Skywatch: Seeing red in the night sky Sunday: The evening sky is full of red tonight (if you could see it). In the western sky is the red planet Mars, which has faded since fall, but this has deepened its red appearance. The red giant star Aldebaran, marking the eye of Tarsus the bull is due south at 7:30 p.m. Finally, the brightest of them all is Betelgeuse in the shoulder of Orion, a star so large it would engulf all the planets in our solar system out to Jupiter.
Skywatch: Look for Mercury
Skywatch: Look for Mercury Sunday: The planet Mercury is quickly moving back toward the sun and soon will no longer be visible in the evening sky. At 6:30 p.m. today, about 40 minutes after sunset, Mercury is 5 degrees above the west-southwest horizon. The planet has quickly decreased in brightness as it moved closer to the sun, so binoculars will help if you have difficulty locating the planet. Monday: Tonight the planet Mars is in the constellation of Aries. Aries is not the god of war, but a ram.
Skywatch: Watch for the arrival of Procyon
Skywatch: Watch for the arrival of Procyon Sunday: In the eastern sky tonight is a star known as Procyon, which is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Minor, the Little Dog. The name Procyon means “before the dog,” because this star would rise before the “Dog Star,” Sirius. Procyon and Sirius were of particular importance to the ancient Egyptians, since the timing of the appearance of Sirius was an indication of the approach of the flood season on the Nile.
Skywatch: Watch for three bright passes of the ISS early this week
Skywatch: Watch for three bright passes of the ISS early this week The International Space Station photographed by Expedition 56 crew members from a Soyuz spacecraft after undocking. NASA Chris Pagan Sunday: This evening the International Space Station is visible traveling through the southern half of the sky. The spacecraft first appears in the south-southwest at 6:36 p.m., 10 degrees above the horizon.
Skywatch for Jan. 10-16
Skywatch for Jan. 10-16 Sunday: The trio of planets, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn, are still in the southwestern sky, but are becoming more of a challenge to locate. A half hour after sunset the planets are less than five degrees above the horizon, so a clear flat horizon is a must. Saturn is by far the most challenging to see, and binoculars will really help in locating the planets through the glow of sunset.
Skywatch for Dec. 27 - Jan. 2: Look for the winter triangle Sunday night
Skywatch for Dec. 27 - Jan. 2: Look for the winter triangle Sunday night Sunday: The winter triangle is low in the eastern sky tonight. At 8 p.m. the brightest star in the triangle, Sirius, is 5 degrees above the east-southeast horizon. The faintest star is Procyon, which is 26 degrees to the left of Sirius. The final corner of the triangles is formed by the red star Betelgeuse, 27 degrees above and to the left of Sirius.
Skywatch for Nov. 29 - Dec. 5: Full moon arrives early Monday
Skywatch for Nov. 29 - Dec. 5: Full moon arrives early Monday Sunday: The nearly full moon tonight sits between the bright star Aldebaran to the East and the Pleiades star cluster to the west. At 6:15 p.m. the moon is slightly closer to Aldebaran than the Pleiades. As the night progresses the moon moves closer to Aldebaran, as all three objects move from east to west. Monday: The full moon occurs early this morning at 3:29 a.m. The November full moon is known as the Beaver Moon.
Skywatch for Nov. 1-7: End of DST means more evening star viewing time
Skywatch for Nov. 1-7: End of DST means more evening star viewing time Sunday: Daylight saving time ended this morning, so your clocks should be turned back by now. The nice part of the clocks being set back an hour is it gets darker sooner allowing for more time to observe the sky before having to call it a night. Monday: Tonight the moon is near the bright star Aldebaran. The waning gibbous moon rises shortly before Aldebaran and both are low in the eastern sky.
Skywatch: Look for a kite and find the herdsman, Bootes
Skywatch: Look for a kite and find the herdsman, Bootes Return to homepage × Please subscribe to keep reading. You can cancel at any time. Already a subscriber? Log in or Activate your account. Loading&hellp; × Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Sunday: Summer ends soon and another sign of that seasonal change is the constellation of Bootes.
Skywatch - Sept. 14-Sept. 19, 2020
Skywatch - Sept. 14-Sept. 19, 2020 Monday: This morning the planet Venus and the thin crescent moon are near each other in the sky. The two brightest objects in the morning sky are a little more than six degrees apart in the eastern sky. The pair also happens to be close to the Beehive Cluster. About two-and-half degree to the upper left of Venus or two-and-a-half degrees to the upper right of the moon is the star cluster. Binoculars will easily reveal a large number of stars.
Skywatch for the week Sept 13-19, 2020
Skywatch for the week Sept 13-19, 2020 Sunday: Similar to Jupiter, the moons of Saturn are visible through a telescope. Since Saturn is about twice far from us as Jupiter the moons are fainter. However, Saturn’s largest moon — Titan — is usually easy to pick out. Tonight Titan is on the western side of the Saturn. There is also another moon on the western side, about a quarter of the Saturn-Titan distance and there are a few just south of the planet.
Skywatch: Sept. 6-Sept. 12, 2020
Skywatch: Sept. 6-Sept. 12, 2020 Sunday: Without the light of the moon early tonight sky a star cluster and a nebula are visible near the planet Saturn. About a half a degree to the lower right of Saturn is the Trifid Nebula. With binoculars or a telescope, the cloud of gas and dust will appear as a faint glow. Even closer to Saturn and to its upper right is the star cluster M21. Through binoculars a few stars are visible and even more can be seen with a telescope.
Skywatch for the week of Aug. 30-Sept. 5
Skywatch for the week of Aug. 30-Sept. 5 Sunday: The planet Venus is currently the brightest object in the morning sky. The next brightest object is the star Sirius which is twelve time fainter. Not even the nearby twin stars Castor and Pollux can compare. If you know where to look, Venus can even be seen in the daytime. Monday: The planet Mars has joined Jupiter and Saturn in the evening sky without the need for staying up very late.
Skywatch for Aug. 23-29
Sunday: This month saw the peak of the Perseids meteor shower, named for the constellation Perseus. The Hero’s horse, Pegasus, is not far from Perseus, is just over the eastern horizon. Pegasus was born out of the ocean and when the constellation is near the horizon it appears as if the winged horse emerges from the sea. The head of the horse extends from the southern end of the square and the front legs from the northern corner of the square.
Skywatch for the week of Aug. 2-8
Sunday: Tonight the International Space Station makes a high pass through the sky. The space station starts off in the northwest at 10 p.m. As the spacecraft moves higher, it passes just beyond the handle of the Big Dipper before reaching a height of 81 degrees in the southwest at 10:04 p.m. The ISS is only visible for another minute before it disappears, 55 degrees above the southeast horizon. Monday: The full moon occurs today at 10:58 a.m. The August full moon is known as the Sturgeon Moon.
Skywatch: The comet Neowise is beginning to fade from view
Sunday: The comet NEOWISE is still in the sky, but is fading quickly. To see the comet, binoculars or a telescope are required. The comet is still located between the Big Dipper and Leo. To locate the comet, draw an imaginary line between the northwestern most star in the bowl of the Big Dipper, Dubhe, and the tail star of Leo, Denebola. The comet is located about halfway between these two bright stars, 33 degrees above the west-northwest horizon.
Skywatch for the week of July 19-25, 2020
Sunday: Tonight the International Space Station makes a long path across the sky. The ISS is 10 degrees above the west-northwest horizon at 9:50 p.m. It takes about two minutes to climb an additional four degrees into the north-northwest sky. By 9:54 p.m., the it is again 10 degrees above the north horizon. Monday: Almost a week after Jupiter, Saturn today reaches opposition with the sun. Saturn will rise just as the sun sets and will be about at its brightest.
Skywatch: Find globular cluster M13
Sunday: One of the most prominent globular clusters, M13, is high in the eastern sky. To find it, locate the group of four stars in Hercules that form a trapezoid, about 50 degrees above the horizon at 10 p.m. The westernmost stars of the trapezoid are Zeta (left) and Eta Hercules (right). M13 is 2½ degrees from Eta Hercules, along the line that connects Eta and Zeta. M13 is barely visible to the unaided eye under dark skies; through binoculars, it looks like a fuzzy patch of light.
Skywatch: Earth reaches it's farthest distance from the sun early Saturday
Sunday: Close to overhead at 10 p.m. you can find the constellation Hercules. Hercules resembles the constellation Orion but only has two stars along the belt rather than three. Hercules is not as bright as Orion, but still recognizable. In the constellation, there is a double star known as Rasalgethi, located above his head. The star appears reddish orange, but through a telescope with magnification of at least one hundred times, a companion star is visible.
Skywatch
Sunday: Mercury is beginning to sink lower in the sky after dark. A few weeks ago the planet was fairly bright, but at 9:30 p.m. it looks like an ordinary star low in the west-northwest. The innermost planet will remain visible for about another week. Monday: The start of summer is just around the corner and a great way to beat the heat is with an ice cream cone. Tonight, you can spot one in the sky as well. High in the eastern sky for the bright gold star known as Arcturus.
Skywatch: May 31, 2020 - June 6, 2020
Sunday: Tonight in the east-northeast to find an interesting multiple star system. First, locate Vega, the brightest star in the east, 30 degrees above the horizon at 10 p.m. One and a half degrees to the lower left of Vega is Epsilon Lyra. Epsilon Lyra looks like an ordinary star, but if you look with a pair of binoculars, two stars will appear. With a telescope with at least 100 times magnification, the stars double again.
Skywatch: May 24-May 30
Sunday: Tonight, the moon, Mercury and Venus form a small line in the western sky. At 9 p.m., Venus is just under 10 degrees above the west-northwest horizon. The moon is a little southeast of Venus and about 10 degrees away. Mercury, the faintest of the trio, lies halfway between the moon and Venus. Monday: Winter may seem like a memory, but the Winter Triangle is still in the sky. At 9 p.m., two of its stars, Betelgeuse and Sirius, are close to the horizon, making it tricky to spot them.
Skywatch for May 10-16
Sunday: Tonight the planet Venus is less than 2 degrees from one of the stars that marks the tip of Taurus’s horns. This star is known as Elnath and is one of only two stars that belong to two different constellations. Elnath is part of Taurus to the south and west and Auriga, the Charioteer, to the north and east. Monday: Tonight after twilight, try your luck at one of the more challenging double stars, Iota Cancri, in the constellation Cancer the Crab.
Skywatch for May 4-10: Look for our future north star
Sunday: Over in the northeast this evening is our future north star, Vega. Though we think of Polaris as being a constant location in the north it will not always be. Like a spinning top that begins to wobble as it slows down, Earth has a slight wobble to its rotation. This wobble or precession takes 26,000 years to complete one turn. Our north pole will point closest to Polaris in about 80 years, but you would have to wait about 10,000 years to spot Vega as our north star.
Skywatch
Sunday: Uranus reaches conjunction with the sun today. The faintest naked-eye planet will not be visible today, but will emerge in the morning sky in a few weeks. Monday: This morning the International Space Station makes a bright pass through the northern sky. The space station exits Earth’s shadow at 6:03 a.m., low in the western sky. Three minutes later it reaches its apex of 30 degrees in the northwest. By 6:09 a.m., the spacecraft has sunk to a height of 10 degrees in the north-northeast.
Skywatch: Look for Lepus, the Rabbit, near Orion
Sunday: The Moon does not rise until late, so look for the constellation Lepus, the Rabbit. This constellation is below the feet of Orion, the Hunter, and at 8:30 p.m. is just above the southwestern horizon. The constellation appears as a faint oval representing the rabbit’s body. Monday: Mercury continues to hang low in the eastern sky before sunrise. Spotting the planet is a challenge since it is only a few degrees above the horizon at 6:30.
Skywatch for March 29 to April 4
Sunday: The wide crescent moon is near the eye of Taurus the bull, Aldebaran. Aldebaran is a star on the back half of its evolutionary life cycle. The star has become much larger now than when it was a younger star. It would extend halfway to Mercury if it was part of our solar system. Monday: The planet Venus is quickly approaching the Pleiades star cluster in the western sky. Tonight the planet is 4 degrees below the cluster.
Skywatch: Watch for the ISS at 7:57 Sunday night
Sunday: Tonight the International Space Station makes a bright pass through the northern portion sky. The space station starts off 10 degrees above the west-southwest horizon at 7:57 p.m. At 8 p.m., the spacecraft reaches its apex in the middle of the constellation Cassiopeia, 34 degrees above the northwest horizon. By 8:03 p.m. the ISS lies 10 degrees above the north-northeast horizon.
Skywatch for March 15-21: Look for the zodiac light
Sunday: For the next week, the zodiac light will be visible in the west in the evening twilight. Zodiac light is caused by the sun’s light reflected off dust particles located along the plane of the solar system. The zodiac light will look like a faint band of light extending upward from the horizon. Moonlight and light pollution completely mask this phenomenon, so find somewhere nice and dark. Monday: This morning, Mercury continues to hang out low in the east.
Skywatch: Brightest, faintest planets visible Sunday night
Sunday: Tonight the brightest planet in the sky and the faintest that can be seen without binoculars or a telescope are visible in the west. Two degrees to the right of Venus is the planet Uranus. The large difference in brightness, Venus is 10,000 times brighter, might make Uranus hard to distinguish. However, binoculars will allow you to see Uranus much more easily and both planets will be in the same field of view.
Skywatch: Look for Venus alone in the evening sky
Sunday: Venus is the lone planet in the evening sky and will remain so all month. The brightest planet is currently moving through the portion of the zodiac with relatively few bright stars, easily seen in the west. Monday: The first quarter moon occurs today at 1:57 p.m. Tonight, the moon will be visible between the horns of Taurus the bull, about halfway from the bull’s eye, Aldebaran, to the west and the two stars at the tips of the horns to the east.
Skywatch
Sunday: Mercury is in the west this evening. At 6:45 p.m., the planet is about 5 degrees above the horizon. A clear flat horizon and binoculars will help you find the planet because Mercury is fainter than it was a week ago. Monday: At 6:38 a.m., the International Space Station is 10 degrees above the south-southeast horizon. About a minute later, it has climbed to a height of 12 degrees, but passes less than a degree above Saturn in the southeast.
Skywatch
Sunday: At 8:30 p.m., Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, is visible in the southeast. Four degrees to the lower right of Sirius is a faint star cluster known as the Little Beehive Cluster, visible to the unaided eye under dark skies. Light pollution will require the use of binoculars to observe the cluster. The Little Beehive will present seven or more resolved stars surrounded by a faint glow of light.
Skywatch
Sunday: Three nights in a row this week the International Space Station is visible. This evening the space station starts off in the southern sky at 6:20 p.m. Two minutes later at its apex, it reaches a height of 23 degrees in the southeast. The spacecraft then passes through the constellation Orion and at 6:24 p.m. it disappears into Earth’s shadow, 14 degrees above the eastern horizon. Monday: The International Space Station appears near the planet Venus.
Skywatch
Sunday: The wide gibbous moon is near the star Regulus tonight. At 9 p.m., the moon and the star Regulus are in the east, separated by 6 degrees. As the pair moves move across the sky the distance between them will not change much; by 6 a.m. the two are 4½ degrees apart. Monday: The planet Saturn reaches conjunction with the sun today. Saturn has not been visible lately, and it will remain hidden in the glow of the sun for another few weeks. In early February, Saturn will emerge in the morning sky.
Skywatch
Sunday: At 9 p.m., the bright star Capella is almost directly overhead. This star is actually a double binary. In one pair, each star is each about 2½ times the size of our sun and orbit each other about every 100 days. The second pair includes small stars that orbit significantly farther away from the larger pair. Capella, which is moving away from our solar system, was once likely the brightest star in our sky. Monday: Tomorrow morning, the International Space Station is visible in the north.
Skywatch for the week of Dec. 29
Sunday: The Winter Triangle is visible low in the eastern sky tonight. At 8 p.m., the brightest star in the triangle, Sirius, is located only 5 degrees above the east-southeast horizon. The faintest star is Procyon, located 26 degrees to the left of Sirius. The final corner of the triangle is formed by the red star Betelgeuse, 27 degrees above and to the left of Sirius.
Skywatch: A new moon ushers in Christmas Day
Sunday: In the east tomorrow the crescent moon is near the planet Mars. At 6 a.m., the moon is 23 degrees above the eastern horizon. Eight degrees to the lower right of the moon is Mars Monday: Tomorrow morning the International Space Station passes 32 degrees above the west-northwest horizon at 6:17 a.m., near the bright stars Castor and Pollux. One minute later it reaches its apex 40 degrees in the northwest.
Skywatch: Winter solstice on Saturday is shortest day of the year
Sunday: Last week Venus and Saturn had a close approach in the western sky, but now Venus is rapidly moving east from Saturn. Tonight the pair are separated by 7 degrees, and this distance will increase by about a degree per day. Monday: Forty-five minutes before sunrise today the planet Mars is near the bright star Antares. Both objects are low in the southeastern sky, so a clear flat horizon is essential.
Skywatch
Sunday: Summer may feel like its was a long time ago, but the Summer Triangle is still visible in the northwestern sky. The triangle is composed of the bright stars Altair, Deneb, and Vega. Vega is the brightest of the trio and the furthest north. At 7 p.m. Vega is located 25 degrees above the northwest horizon, and is the brightest star in this region of the sky.
Skywatch
Sunday: The International Space Station starts off 10 degrees above the west-southwest horizon at 6:23 p.m. The ISS takes three minutes to reaches its highest point, 37 degrees above the northwest horizon. It passes below the North Star and disappears into Earth’s shadow 20 degree above the northeast horizon at 6:28 p.m. Monday: Not long after sunset the International Space Station returns.
Skywatch
Sunday: The peak of the Leonids meteor shower occurs tomorrow morning. The radiant, or the point from which the meteors originate, is located in the head of Leo the lion. The backwards question mark that forms the head is 20 degrees above the eastern horizon at 1:30 a.m. The moon this year is not far from the radiant and it will hinder the number of meteors visible. Monday: This morning the thin gibbous moon is near the Beehive star cluster.
Skywatch: End of daylight saving time gives skywatchers a bonus
Sunday: Daylight saving time ends today — which is great news for sky watchers. With it darker one hour earlier, you don’t have to stay up as long to observe and the extra hour extends the watching window. Monday: The first quarter moon occurs at 4:23 a.m. When the moon is visible, it will be located in the constellation Capricornus, the the seagoat, with the front half a goat and the back half a fish. Tuesday: Jupiter is low in the southwest this evening.
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