Do these look like planets to you? This is M27, the Dumbbell Nebula. First observed by Charles Messier in 1764, it was the first planetary nebula ever discovered. William Herschel coined the name “planetary nebula,” because M27 resembled his newly discovered planet, Uranus. Herschel’s son, John, thought it looked like a dumbbell. M27 is 1,400 […]
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Hopefully You Got a Chance to See Neowise! During July, we got a rare, close visit from the comet Neowise. Neowise came within 64 million miles of Earth on July 23. This picture was taken on July 21, using my 5” telescope. But you didn’t need a telescope to see this beauty. At its brightest […]
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This is Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. It’s the fifth planet from the Sun and about 484 million miles from it. Its diameter is close to 88,000 miles. That makes it about 11 times wider than the Earth. Jupiter is almost entirely composed of hydrogen and helium. The surface temperature of Jupiter […]
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This is the Leo Triplet. As the name implies, this close group of three galaxies is in the constellation Leo. The group is about 35 million light years from us. The galaxy at the top is M 66, below and to the left is M 65, and to the right is NGC 3628. The three […]
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Galaxies Continue to Keep me Busy. Many people wonder how to spend their time during this period of “shelter in place.” I spend a lot of time sheltering in place with my telescope. This is Messier 106. It was discovered by Pierre Mechain in 1781. Even though records show Mechain was Messier’s assistant, this spiral […]
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Last month, I focused on some of the galaxies that are visible in the eastern skies. There are also quite a few spectacular galaxies in the northern skies. Here are three that appear in the area of the Big Dipper. M51, the Whirlpool galaxy, is a beautiful spiral galaxy. It has a visual magnitude of […]
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March begins with the constellation Leo rising in the east just before the sun sets in the west. Leo is one of my favorite constellations, not because I am big on imaginary images in the night skies, but because it is located in a section of the sky that is full of galaxies. Looking at […]
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The constellation Orion is famous for for M42, the Orion Nebula, but there are a lot of lesser-known nebulae in this constellation. M42 is located at the second star of Orion’s sword, but if you look at the first star of the belt you will find the Horsehead Nebula (IC 434) and the Flame Nebula, […]
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The original Messier 1, the Crab Nebula, has a visual magnitude of +8.4. But it was a whole lot brighter when Chinese astronomers discovered it on July 4, 1054. They recorded it as a “guest star” and they were able to view it during the day for nearly three weeks. With a visual magnitude of […]
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This is M45, the Pleiades. The Pleiades is a bright (magnitude +1.5) star cluster that is easy to spot with the naked eye. It will be just above the ENE horizon as the skies get dark on December 1. The Pleiades has been recorded by many cultures, including the Australian Aborigines, the Japanese, Mayans, and […]
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