May provided some very fine nights for studying the stars. Overall, it proved to be a great month for viewing globular clusters. Globular Clusters are densely-packed groups of stars that form a sphere. Small clusters may have a thousand stars, but some of the larger ones may have close to a million stars. When you […]
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The Night Sky: Stargazing tips for May
May 1, 2015 | Island Features | By: Gerry Lebing
Although we had a lot of cloudy nights, April proved to be much better than March for stargazing and astrophotography. My two best images included M51 the Whirlpool Galaxy and 57 the Ring Nebula. M51 is one of my favorite nighttime objects. You can see there are two galaxies in the photo. They are often […]
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The Night Sky: A New Evening Star And A Meteor Shower For April
April 1, 2015 | Island Features | By: Gerry Lebing
March proved tough for astrophotography on Hatteras Island. Much of it was cold and cloudy. I can remember only one or two clear nights, so much of my observing was done trying to see through a slightly overcast sky. But I did get some very good views of the night skies! APRIL SKY WATCHING April […]
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The Night Sky: Despite the weather, February had its highlights
March 2, 2015 | Island Features | By: Gerry Lebing
Venus has been the evening star throughout February. Stepping out on my back porch at dusk and seeing Venus dominating the southwest horizon lets me know it’s probably going to be a good night for viewing the stars. You know it’s going to be particularly good when Venus is bright enough to cast shadows. Later, […]
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The Night Sky: Winter stargazing on the islands
Do you ever wonder what all those twinkling lights are in the night sky? I do. Do you enjoy sitting out on dark clear evening looking for shooting stars? I do. I remember how thrilled I was when my parents got me a very used telescope and tripod for my eighth birthday. I used it […]
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