Pisces – Astronomy Now

Messier 2: a fine globular cluster in Aquarius

25 September 2023 Mark Armstrong

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.

NGC 488: Pisces’ hidden galaxy that’s a work of art

18 September 2023 Mark Armstrong

NGC 488 in Pisces is an oval-shaped face-on spiral galaxy that’s a bit of a hidden gem.

See the crescent Moon meet Venus at dusk, 26–28 February

19 February 2020 Ade Ashford

For three evenings from 26–28 February 2020, observers in Western Europe including the British Isles can watch the waxing crescent Moon’s changing configuration with brightest planet Venus in the west-southwest at dusk. The pair are closest for UK-based observers on the evening of Thursday, 27 February, simultaneously visible in low-power binoculars.

Let Venus be your guide to Mercury at its best in February

1 February 2020 Ade Ashford

Mercury is poised to put on a fine evening show for Northern Hemisphere observers at dusk, attaining a greatest elongation 18.2 degrees east of the Sun on Monday, 10 February 2020. For ten evenings starting 3 February, the innermost planet and its brightest sibling, Venus, maintain an almost constant angular separation low in the west-southwest 40 minutes after UK sunset.

Watch Comet Africano (C/2018 W2) pass closest to Earth in late September

23 September 2019 Ade Ashford

At around magnitude +9, C/201 W2 (Africano) is the brightest comet currently on show, passing closest to Earth on 27 September slightly less than half an astronomical unit away. Speeding through the constellations of Pegasus, Pisces and Aquarius, Comet Africano also lies within a binocular field of view of outermost planet Neptune on the night of 3–4 October.

See Mercury and Venus in the pre-dawn sky from the Southern Hemisphere

10 April 2019 Ade Ashford

Mercury attains a very favourable western elongation of almost 28 degrees from the Sun on 11 April, which means that the innermost planet is a morning object in the eastern sky before sunrise. Antipodean skywatchers are in the enviable position of being able to see Mercury and Venus close together for several mornings in a dark sky before the onset of astronomical twilight.

See Mars, Uranus and the Moon get close on 10 February

7 February 2019 Ade Ashford

Have you ever seen planet Uranus? If skies are clear in the UK and Western Europe on the evening of Sunday, 10 February, see this icy gas giant less than 2 degrees (or four lunar diameters) from Mars and 6 degrees from the 5-day-old crescent Moon. In fact, you’ll see all three in a single view of wide-angle binoculars like 7×50s.

See the Moon meet the Red Planet at dusk on 12 January 2019

7 January 2019 Ade Ashford

Observers should direct their gaze to the southern sky at dusk on Saturday, 12 January to view the 6-day-old waxing Moon in the constellation of Pisces. Look a little closer around 6pm GMT in the UK this night to see Mars as a magnitude +0.6 orange-coloured ‘star’ above the lunar crescent. If you own wide-angle 7× or 8× binoculars, you can see the Moon and Red Planet in the same field of view.

See Mercury’s very favourable dawn display under southern skies

25 April 2018 Ade Ashford

Have you ever seen the closest planet to the Sun? If you wish to tick Mercury off your To-See list, particularly if you live in the Southern Hemisphere, now until the middle of May is the time to be scrutinising the eastern sky about an hour before sunrise. Mercury also has a close encounter with an old crescent Moon on 14 May.

New study finds ‘winking’ star may be devouring wrecked planets

28 December 2017 Astronomy Now

A team of U.S. astronomers studying the star RZ Piscium has found evidence suggesting its strange, unpredictable dimming episodes may be caused by vast orbiting clouds of gas and dust, the remains of one or more destroyed planets.