April yielded some great views of double galazies! The large spiral galaxy in the upper left is Messier 100; the smaller galaxy in the lower right is NGC 4312. Messier 100 was discovered in 1781, but it wasn’t until 1850 that its spiral structure could be seen with the use of a six foot reflector […]
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Start April by looking across the sound to the west, right around sundown. If the skies are clear, you will easily spot Venus, the third brightest object in our skies – (only the sun and the moon are brighter!) Venus is named after the Roman god of love and beauty. It’s often called the evening […]
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You might remember last month we discussed that M82 and M81 passed very close to each other 300 million years ago. The gravitational interaction is believed to have started M82’s rapid star formation. M81 is 12 million light years away. M81 and M82 as seen from Waves, NC! You can view both objects through binoculars! […]
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Full Moon Cancelled for February Something you won’t see in February is a full moon! Both January and March have two full moons this year and that leaves February without one! That’s called a Black Moon. This is Messier 82, the Cigar Galaxy. It’s a +8 magnitude starburst galaxy that’s 12 million light years […]
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This is the California Nebula. It’s about 1800 light years away. Right now, it’s just about directly overhead. The California Nebula has a visual magnitude of +5, but it is extremely difficult to spot with the naked eye. I had to enhance the image by increasing the saturation of the color and brightness to make […]
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The constellation Orion will rise at 6:40 p.m. on December 1 and will completely cover the Eastern horizon by 7:40 p.m. Most sky watchers can easily pick out the stars that form the body, belt, and sword of this mythological hunter, but may not realize how much this area of the sky has to offer. […]
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This is NGC 253, the Sculptor Galaxy. With a visual magnitude of +7, it’s a good target for binoculars and telescopes. It will start appearing November near the SE horizon right after sunset. It’s about 12 million light years away. NGC 252 is a starburst galaxy. Starburst galaxies are known for their intense star formation. […]
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This is the Andromeda Galaxy, Messier 31. It’s a little over 2.5 million light years away from us and contains over 1 trillion stars. With a magnitude of +3.36 it should be visible to the naked eye, but I have only managed to see it with binoculars or a scope. There are two very bright […]
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Saturn is the 6th furthest planet from the sun. It’s about 10 times further from the sun then we are. It takes over 29 years to orbit the sun. Saturn has 62 known moons. Saturn is composed of mostly hydrogen and helium and is about 9 times the size of Earth. What to Look for […]
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There will be a total eclipse of the sun on August 21. It will be visible in a 70 mile-wide band that stretches from Oregon to South Carolina. Here on Hatteras Island, we will have a partial eclipse. The moon will cover 89% of the sun. The moon will start to block the sun […]
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