Observing – Page 51 – Astronomy Now

Alert: Scotland favoured for asteroid occultation of bright star

15 November 2014 Ade Ashford

Although the weather forecast is not too good, observers in Scotland and northern England could see asteroid (12655) 5041 T-3 occult a 5.7-magnitude star in western Cetus close to 7:48pm tonight.

Giant storm on Uranus in the 2.2-micron IR band

Amateur astronomers image extreme storms on Uranus

13 November 2014 Ade Ashford

Far from always being a featureless blue-green dot in backyard telescopes, both amateur and professional astronomers have recently imaged extreme weather features on Uranus.

Taurid meteors put on celestial fireworks show this month

3 November 2014 Mark Armstrong

The Taurids meteor shower is active throughout November with a double radiant and a double peak. Observers can usually expect around 10 meteors per hour from dark sky locations.

Ghosts on the Moon at Halloween

31 October 2014 Astronomy Now

Peter Grego gets into the Halloween spirit by picking out some ghostly craters to thrill those treating themselves to an evening of lunar gazing.

Mercury’s morning show

30 October 2014 Mark Armstrong

If you’ve never seen the Solar System’s innermost planet before, now is your chance, as long as early morning starts don’t worry you!

North America gets ready for a partial solar eclipse

23 October 2014 Astronomy Now

A partial eclipse of the Sun is set to wow North Americans this afternoon (23 October) as the Moon’s silhouette will be seen to cover as much as 50 percent of the Sun from the USA, and up to 80 percent of the Sun in northern Canada.

Amateur astronomers have ringside seats for cometary close encounter

18 October 2014 Mark Armstrong

Amateur astronomers around the globe have a ringside seat as Comet 2013 A1 (Siding Spring) hurtles through space en route to an incredibly close encounter with the planet Mars on Sunday, 19 October.

Mighty Jupiter meets the Moon in the early morning

15 October 2014 Mark Armstrong

The coming together of a bright planet with a thin crescent Moon is an event well worth seeing, even if you have to set the alarm clock for an early wake up.

Good Morning Mercury

14 October 2014 Astronomy Now

Forget about Mercury’s evening appearance in the first half of this month – it is its morning apparition towards the end of October and into November that is the cause of celebration.

Dwarf Planet Eris at Opposition

14 October 2014 Astronomy Now

The trans-Neptunian dwarf planet Eris, discovered in 2005, comes to opposition in October. This distant, deep-frozen little world is within the reach of amateur CCD imagers.