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Articles by Mark Armstrong
Hot chocolate: pre-warming chocolate agar improves correct organism identification from choc drop by 16.1%
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Messier 67: Observe an ancient open cluster
Messier 67 in Cancer is somewhat of an anomaly for an open cluster, having formed billions of years ago, well beyond average lifespans of the vast majority of open clusters. When observing Cancer, the Crab, most telescope are understandably turned to the magnificent Beehive open cluster (M44), but don’t overlook Messier 67 (NGC 2682), the Crab’s other Messier-designated open cluster, which is remarkable object in its own right.
Belt up for a journey to the heart of Orion and the Horsehead Nebula
Orion’s three, evenly spaced central ‘Belt’ stars are easy to spot and lead the way to the iconic Horsehead Nebula. Along with Betelgeuse and Rigel Orion’s three, evenly spaced central ‘Belt’ stars are the easy to spot, placed in a roughly three degree line orientated lower-left to upper-right (south–east to north–west) within Orion’s famous bright star pattern.
Brilliant Jupiter rides high in Taurus
Jupiter reaches its long-awaited opposition on 7 December when it lies in Taurus with a declination of just over 22 degrees, which places it about as high in the northern sky as it ever gets. It’s been 12 years since Jupiter was this well-placed. Jupiter’s next opposition, on 10 January 2026 (there’s no opposition in 2025) in Gemini, is equally favourable.
Venus is a dazzling evening ‘star’
Venus makes welcome progress in post-sunset visibly this month, after being mired in the thick and light-polluted atmosphere at the sunset horizon since reappearing in the evening sky at mid-July. At the start of December, the second planet, shining at magnitude –4.16, lies 12° up in the west-southwest at 4.33pm GMT, 40 minutes after sunset in London. It’s a beautiful sight, hanging low in the south-southwestern sky soon after sunset.
Messier 103: one of Cassiopeia’s rich retinue of clusters
Messier 103 (NGC 581) is Cassiopeia’s second Messier-designated open cluster, after Messier 52. As such it’s an impressive-looking object, though it’s usually overlooked in favour of the aforementioned M52 and the marvellous ET Cluster (NGC 457) and Caroline’s Rose (NGC 7789). Nevertheless, observers slewing its way will be delighted by what they see.
A trio of elusive Local Group galaxies
Galaxies are everywhere, including within the unlikely Winter Milky Way territory of Cassiopeia. There are three well known though rather elusive Local Group galaxies found here. NGC 147 and 185 are satellites of the mighty Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31), the Local Group’s dominant force. Though IC10 is not gravitationally bound to Messier 31, it appears to be part of the Andromeda subgroup, along with Messier 33, the Triangulum Galaxy.
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) emerges bright in UK’s evening sky
Following month’s of speculation as to how bright Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) might become, and indeed whether it would survive last month’s perihelion (on 27 September), the comet has emerged into the UK’s evening sky as a bright comet in the afterglow of the setting Sun. Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is now climbing steeply away from the western sunset horizon.
South America’s annular ‘Ring of Fire’ eclipse
On 2 October one of the most spectacular events in nature takes place. A annular eclipse, popularly described as a ‘Ring of Fire’ eclipse, is visible along an east-to-west orientated path in the far south of South America, crossing Chile and Argentina. Unlike at a total eclipse of the Sun, the Moon’s shadow stops just short of Earth’s surface, leaving a thin band of the Sun’s blinding photosphere encircling the Moon’s silhouette.
Don’t miss Saturn at opposition
Saturn is arguably the most popular planet, certainly with children and the public at large. Its wonderful system of rings, well seen through even a small telescope, makes it unique in the Solar System. Unlike Mars and Jupiter, both of which are currently rising high in the Taurus/Gemini area, Saturn lies rather low in the sky from UK shores, among the stars of the largely Southern constellation of Aquarius.
Observe Mercury as its morning best
Mercury is now right at the start of its most favourable morning apparition of the year for observers at mid-northern latitudes. After inferior conjunction on the nearside of the Sun on 19 August, Mercury has sped west of the Sun at across a flat eastern horizon it’s possible to see it until around 18 September (from the south of England). Mercury is often troublesome to locate and difficult to observe, as, outside of observing it in broad daylight, it’s visible only close to dawn or dusk.
Open clusters Messier 29 and 39: Cygnus’ star cities
Amid all the wonderful nebulae that Cygnus has to offer lie Messier 29 and 39, two fine open clusters which are both easily visible through a pair of binoculars against a marvellous Milky Way backdrop as they ride high on late summer nights. The brilliant summer constellation of Cygnus, the Swan, is superbly placed on late-August and September nights.
Moon pesters the Pleiades
Some of the most spectacular observing events tale place when the Moon’s around, most gloriously when it lines us perfectly over the Sun, producing a total eclipse of the Sun. Unfortunately, a repeat the total eclipse of 11 August 1999 is not on the table, but we can watch as the Moon buzzes the wonderful Pleiades open cluster (Messier 45) 25 years on, on 26 August 2024.
Watch as the Moon hides Saturn
Let’s hope for some clear skies on the morning of 21 August, so we can observe the beautiful ringed planet Saturn being occulted by the Moon. Both Saturn’s disappearance and reappearance can be observed from the UK, as Saturn, being just a few weeks away from opposition, is well placed in the morning sky, located between 25° and 20° high in the south-west.
The Perseids: the return of summer’s shooting star spectacular!
The annual Perseid meteor shower has been underway since last month and it predicted to reach its usual eagerly-anticipated maximum early next week, on 12 August between 13h and 16h UT.
Giant moon Titan occulted by Saturn
Presently, there are a number of events taking place involving Saturn’s moons. Saturn’s moons revolve in the plane of Saturn’s equator, so the outline of their orbits matches that of the ring system. This means when the rings are closed up sufficiently we can see Saturn’s moons undergoing ‘Galilean-type’ phenomena. The easiest events to observe are those of Titan, Saturn’s giant moon that’s the second largest natural satellite in the Solar System, and Rhea, the tenth-magnitude second Moon.
Gear up for Mars and Jupiter’s great coming-together
Mars and Jupiter presently lie within a binocular field-of-view, though you’ll need to rise early to catch them lying around 20° high at about 3am BST. Both planets are hosted by the bright stars of the constellation of Taurus, the Bull, which provide a suitably stunning backdrop leading up to and during close approach. Mars lies west of Jupiter, lying around 5° above orange-red Aldebaran (alpha Tauri) on the morning of 7 August.
Head south for a Messier globular duo
The night sky in early summer is packed with so many great globular clusters that it’s hard to know where to look first. Messier 13 and Messier 5 are clear favourites, and the Messier hoards in Ophiuchus beckon, but why not head south for a change to the mighty southern constellation of Scorpius to explore Messier 4 and Messier 80, a pairing that provides interesting and contrasting observing and physical characteristics. Messier 4 (NGC 6121) is the more famous of the two globular clusters.
Set your filtered sights on the Sun
The Sun is our very own special star, which we rely on totally for our continued existence. The long summer days, hopefully blessed with the year’s best weather conditions, when the Sun rides high in the sky, are ideal for becoming better acquainted with our life-giver. When thinking of astronomy, the Sun isn’t the first thing that springs to mind but you would be missing out on glimpsing an extremely dynamic world.
Star power in Boötes
Dominating the short, late-spring nights is Arcturus, the brightest star of the northern hemisphere sky and the sentinel of spring. It’s the brilliant leader of the constellation of Boötes, the Herdsman, or Bear Keeper, an area of the night sky that’s bereft of bright deep-sky objects, including no Messier-designated targets.
NGC 4361: A planetary nebula to crow about
Amidst the myriad spring galaxies lies NGC 4361, a large and bright planetary nebula located in the southern constellation of Corvus, the Crow. Locating it means dipping low towards the murkier skies close to the horizon, but it’s well worth the extra effort to find and observe it.
Line up Markarian’s Chain
The Virgo Cluster of galaxies reigns supreme for galaxy enthusiasts on spring nights. Its teeming galaxy fields centred either side of the boundary between Virgo and Coma Berenices are crammed with any number of outstanding individual galaxy gems, but if you’re wanting more bang for your buck, then track down Markarian’s chain, a string of galaxies that includes Messier 84 and 86 and the interacting pair NGC 4435 and 4438, popularly called ‘The Eyes’.
Chasing lunar shadows
In its 29½-day voyage In around Earth, the Moon makes its first observable appearance as a scimitar of light to the west of the Sun perhaps a day or so past new. Still in the Sun’s proximity, the thickening crescent remains accessible not long after sunset. However, as the Moon steadily puts more sky between itself and the Sun, it sets ever later into the twilight.
M95 & M96: A close galaxy pairing in Leo
Early spring heralds the rise of the galaxies, when over the next three months or so the prime-time night sky is overflowing with a veritable treasure trove of bright and beautiful targets. Leo, the Lion, lies at the vanguard of this spring onslaught, offering as it does five Messier-designated galaxies and a handful of others that would wear the mantle comfortably.
Explore Puppis’ Messier cluster trio
This time of the year is open cluster season for sure, with a whole host of prime examples of the species to choose from. Why not head in the direction of the under-observed southern constellation of Puppis to observe Messier 46 (NGC 2437), Messier 47 (NGC 2422) and Messier 93 (NGC 2447), a superb trio of clusters. M46 and M47 lie under 1.5° apart in a sparkling, star-studded winter Milky Way field, and are great objects to view together through a pair of 10 x 50 binoculars.
Moon close to the Pleiades
There’s a fine astro-photo opportunity on the night of 16/17 February when a first-quarter Moon passes under a degree south of Messier 45, the marvellous Pleiades open cluster in Taurus. As twilight fades, from about 6pm GMT, Taurus’ most westerly extremities, which includes the Pleiades, are very well-placed due south some 60° high. At this time the first-quarter Moon lies around 1.7° to the south-west of Alcyone (eta Tau, magnitude +2.8).
Valleys on the Moon
Among the Moon’s most alluring features are its numerous valleys rilles and faults, many of which can be observed through small- to moderate-aperture telescopes. Highlights include the well-known and spectacular Vallis Alpes (the Alpine Valley), a lunar rift valley that cuts a straight path through the magnificent Montes Alpes (lunar Alps) and Vallis Schröteri (Schröter’s Valley), which meanders across the Aristarchus Plateau.
Go to the edge with NGC 891
NGC 891 comfortably takes its place in the pantheon of those special edge-on galaxies such as the Sombrero (Messier 104) in Virgo and NGC 4565 in Coma Berenices. It’s arguably the finest inclined spiral visible in the autumn sky. This showpiece object has a SA(s)b classification (see below), but its almost fully edge-on presentation makes a definitive designation problematic. Astronomers believe it bears some resemblance to our own Milky Way galaxy.
Look out for the Leonids!
The Leonids, one of the most famous of all meteor showers, is predicted to reach its peak of activity this year at around 06:00 UT on the morning of 18 November. Observed rates seen under good conditions and dark skies should be in the region of just 10 to 15 an hour. Leonids are among the swiftest of meteors, smashing through the upper atmosphere at around 71 kilometres per second, and are often bright and leave persistent trains or trails across the sky.
Uranus at its best for the year
Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun, comes to opposition on 13 November at 17h UT, located among the stars of Aries. At its vast distance of 2.8 billion kilometres (18.74 astronomical units), more than twice as far away as Saturn and between four and five times Jupiter’s distance, sunlight reflected from the ice-giant planet takes around 2.7 hours to reach Earth.
Messier 74’s face-on beauty in Pisces
Messier 74 (NGC 628) is a spiral galaxy out of the top-drawer. This far-flung island universe yields awe-inspiring images, its sweeping spiral arms being presented in the ‘grand-design’ manner. This term is reserved for face-on spirals characterised by prominent spiral arms that wrap around the nucleus in a fashion similar to the magnificent Whirlpool Galaxy (Messier 51), probably the archetypal grand-design spiral.
The mighty Andromeda Galaxy and its retinue
Messier 31, the Great Galaxy in Andromeda, is the closest major galaxy to our Solar System and the dominant galaxy in the Local Group of galaxies, larger than our own Milky Way Galaxy.
Finding Fomalhaut
Fomalhaut (alpha [α] PsA), the principal star of Piscis Austrinus, the ‘Southern Fish’, and the eighteenth-brightest star in the heavens, is the most southerly first-magnitude star visible right across the UK. It takes its name from the Arabic phrase meaning ‘the mouth of the southern fish’. It’s always great fun to try to observe these horizon-hugging southern stars.
Messier 2: Pisces’ hidden galaxy that’s a work of art
Messier 2 is probably the best globular cluster of the late-summer/early autumn sky, being a big and bright telescopic target that can also be swept up through 10 x 50 binoculars. It’s special too in that its individual stars are crammed together especially tightly. Messier 2 (NGC 7089) shines at magnitude +6.4 and sports a healthy apparent diameter of 16’.
NGC 488: Pisces’ hidden galaxy that’s a work of art
NGC 488 in Pisces is an oval-shaped face-on spiral galaxy that’s a bit of a hidden gem. It makes a fine target for a small- to medium-aperture telescope and is transformed into truly a work of art in deep amateur images, with its delicate and tightly wound spiral arms enveloping a bright central bulge providing a picturesque portrait.
The Great Square of Pegasus: heralding autumn
One sure sign that summer is almost over and longer autumnal nights are taking over from more balmy late-summer evenings is the grand appearance in September’s late-evening southern sky of the Great Square of Pegasus, the winged-horse’s familiar asterism (star pattern). The Square is well up in the eastern sky as astronomically dark skies fall at mid-month and its centre culminates at around 1am BST (midnight UT) at a very favourable altitude of 60 degrees.
Comet 2P/Encke on close approach to Earth
Comet 2P/Encke looking good at its 2013 return. Image: Damian Peach. For the next month or so you can see the return of periodic comet 2P/Encke (Encke’s Comet). It’ll be a brightening object in the morning sky as it heads towards perihelion on 22 October, but first passing closest to Earth on 24 September. Comet 2P/Encke, the parent comet of the Taurid meteor stream, has one of the shortest orbital period of any bright comet, taking just 3.3 years to go around the Sun.
Venus’ brilliant evening showing for the rest of the year
Venus is now a brilliant ‘morning star’ seen for a short time in the pre-dawn eastern sky. The planet has raced west of the Sun following inferior conjunction on 13 August and is on the cusp of another superb apparition. The memory of Venus’ splendid, long-lived showing in the evening sky, which ended in July for UK observers, is still fresh. At its best during the late-spring, observers across the UK were treated to its sheer brilliance seen against the backdrop of an astronomically dark sky.
Observe a fine trio of planetary nebulae in Cygnus
Planetary nebulae are arguably the most popular of all deep-sky objects. The late-summer sky is a rich source for harvesting these pretty, diverse and colourful nebulae, with the territory of Cygnus, the Swan, leading the way in bright targets. Cygnus rides high at late-evening on nights in early September. The combination of this advantageous positioning and the return of darker skies (incidentally the Moon is new around mid-month), is ideal for tracking down some of Cygnus’ plentiful planetaries.
Comet C/2023 P1 (Nishimura) brightening with nice tail
Comet C/2023 P1 (Nishimura) is shining at around magnitude +6 as it zeros-in on closest approach to Earth, at distance of around 125.3 million kilometres (0.838 AU) on 12 September. It’s closest to the Sun (perihelion passage) on 17 September, at a distance of 32.9 million kilometres (0.22 AU). Currently it lies low in the pre-dawn sky in Leo and it’s slipping further into the twilight mire each morning as it gets ever closer to the Sun. However, it’s brightening steadily.
Cygnus’ Crescent rides high on summer evenings
Superb Cygnus (the Swan) owns the summer nights. It is a constellation overloaded with bright deep-sky objects, including some exceptional nebulae. In Cygnus’ deep-sky hierarchy, the Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888, Caldwell 27, SH2-105), a beautifully intricate, bubble-like Wolf-Rayet nebula, can claim to lie in the top rank, although it can provide a bit of a stiff challenge for visual observers.
See Saturn as opposition this weekend
The magnificent ringed planet Saturn is arguably the most popular planet, but undoubtably it’s the most stunning of all through the eyepiece. Saturn is special for its fantastic system of rings that are easy to see through even a small telescope. Unfortunately, the rings are ‘closing up’ from our perspective, on their way to an edge-on presentation in 2025. Despite this, the rings retain plenty of their glory and are well seen (see below).
Capitalise on Barnard’s giant ‘E’ in the sky
Barnard’s ‘E’ in Aquila is formed from the dark nebulae Barnard 142 and 143 (B142/143). At their most dramatic, dark nebulae, dark clouds of interstellar gas (largely molecular hydrogen) and dust that can block out or obscure the light from stars and other objects lying beyond it, are spectacular deep-sky objects.
New comet predicted to brighten rapidly as it sprints Sunwards
It’s hang on to your observing hats time once more as a brand new comet, C/2023 P1 (Nishimura), discovered on 11 August, promises a dramatic brightening as it hurtles towards the Sun. However, in typical cometary fashion, its behaviour is hard to predict on its first and only visit to the Sun’s harsh environs. There’s a chance it will disintegrate and fizzle out. Presently Comet C/2023 P1 (Nishimura) lies in the pre-dawn sky tracking north-eastwards among the stars of Gemini.
Celestial pyrotechnics in NGC 6946, the Fireworks Galaxy
NGC 6946 is a marvellously handsome-looking galaxy, with its enticing ‘pinwheel’ spiral structure set in a star-sparkling field for those imagers looking for the prettiest of pictures. Yet, it’s also of supreme interest to science-seeking amateurs and professional astronomers alike, with its extraordinary propensity to yield exploding stars.
Perseids peak this weekend
The Perseid meteor shower, the year’s most popular shooting star show, reaches its predicted maximum activity this weekend, with the Moon’s glare not such a factor this time around. The date for the return of the highly-anticipated annual Perseid meteor shower is circled on the observing calendars of meteor enthusiasts and the spectacular show of dozens of shooting stars reigning down across mild August nights is one that has captured the imagination of the public at large.
Ancient open cluster NGC 6791: towards the dawn of the Universe in Lyra
In a summer sky showcasing numerous brilliant examples of youthful and energetic open star clusters lies NGC 6791 in Lyra, a seemingly nondescript open cluster. However, look more closely at images of it and you should remark upon the unusual yellowish tint of its teeming stars, giving it the appearance not of a familiar open cluster but rather of a loose globular cluster, one of those ancient balls of star that have been around almost as long as the Universe itself.
Cygnus’ famous stellar duo: 61 Cyg and SS Cyg
Amongst its embarrassment of deep-sky riches, mighty Cygnus, the Swan, hosts two famous stars, the dwarf nova variable star SS Cygni and the binary 61 Cygni. Both stars boast a long and fruitful observational pedigree, with data accrued dating back well over a century, indeed since 1753 in the case of 61 Cyg.
Messier 14: An Ophiuchus globular
Messier 14 (NGC 6402) is one of Ophiuchus’ seven Messier-tagged globular clusters, which are incredibly dense balls of stars that can provide striking viewing. It forms a trio with and tends to be rather unfairly overshadowed by the nearby pairing of Messier 10 and Messier 12 (see Astronomy Now’s June 2021 deep-sky tour). Nevertheless, it’s easily one of the three most accessible of Ophiuchus’ crop from UK shores, and is bright enough to be readily snared through a pair of binoculars.
Galaxy NGC 4565: Coma’s edge-on wonder
It’s quite an accolade for NGC 4565, a stunning edge-on galaxy in Coma Berenices that’s also known as Caldwell 38 and the Needle Galaxy, to be widely regarded as the finest in its class. Edge-on galaxies offer something strikingly different through the eyepiece to the fuzzy blob of more run-of-the-mill NGC galaxies, even through smaller-aperture telescopes. NGC 4565 also has the advantage of being easy to find and it sits high in the sky from UK shores and can be observed right through the night.
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