Archive – Page 26 – Astronomy Now

Observe far-off Neptune at its best for the year

14 September 2022 Mark Armstrong

Neptune comes to opposition at late-evening on Friday, 16 September, when it’s located among the stars of northern Aquarius.

Watch the Moon hide Uranus

12 September 2022 Mark Armstrong

On the night of Wednesday, 14 September there’s a pretty rare circumstance to observe as the planet Uranus is occulted by the Moon.

Home in on NGC 457, Cassiopeia’s superb ET Cluster

12 September 2022 Mark Armstrong

Shining brightly at magnitude +6.4, brighter than either of the Messier clusters, NGC 457 can be seen by eagle-eyed (or should I say owl-eyed?!) individuals at pristine observing locations.

NGC 6905: a planetary nebula that’s no ‘flash in the pan’

5 September 2022 Mark Armstrong

NGC 6905 is a fine planetary nebula with the colourful moniker ‘the Blue Flash Nebula’.

Frank Drake, SETI pioneer, 1930–2022

3 September 2022 Keith Cooper

Frank Drake, the radio astronomer who pioneered the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), died yesterday (2 September) at the age of 92.

Capture Kemble’s Cascade and Kemble 2

30 August 2022 Mark Armstrong

One of the best for binocular observers is Kemble’s Cascade, in the ‘void’ of Camelopardalis.

Webb images of Jupiter show auroras, rings, moons

24 August 2022 Stephen Clark

A few weeks after officially starting science operations, the James Webb Space Telescope turned its mirrors toward Jupiter and captured stunning new infrared views of the gas giant planet, its auroras, moons, and faint rings.

Uncloak the Veil Nebula

22 August 2022 Mark Armstrong

The Veil Nebula in Cygnus is an iconic deep-sky target, a ‘must-see’ object that rivals or exceeds anything else you’ll likely to observe this summer.

Track down the Triangle

15 August 2022 Mark Armstrong

The Summer Triangle is arguably the most popular multi-constellation asterism in the entire sky.

Catch superb Saturn at its best in 2022

11 August 2022 Mark Armstrong

The Solar System’s most picturesque planet comes to opposition at 17h UT on 14 August, when it lies at the vast distance of 1,324 million kilometres.