Tag: 2026
-
A Sunrise Occultation: The Crescent Moon and the Pleiades
Today we are yet again looking forward into the coming month of June. Of course, we are very close to June now, so we’re not looking too far into the future, just forward to the 13th of June. Just like the piece before last, we are looking forward to see an event but that has…
-
Stargazing in June: Planets at Sunset and Sunrise, The Milky Way, and the Moon
Today we are going to take a look at the night sky for June. Last time we looked ahead to the month of June to take a look at Venus and Jupiter having a close conjunction at sunset. Mercury was also up when Venus and Jupiter were up. Even in early June, we have to…
-
A Close Conjunction in Early June: Venus and Jupiter
Today we are looking ahead to the month of June. We’re not looking very far into the future, just to the 7th, still just at the beginning of the month. Most of the interesting events in June are happening later in the month, for example the summer solstice and Mercury’s greatest elongation. There are some…
-
Moonless May Night and Uranus Behind the Sun
Today we are going to be looking at the sky for mid and late May. Looking at the daytime sky on the 12th, the Moon is up and already getting close to new, we will have our New Moon on the 16th. With the Moon out of the sky for most of the night, viewing…
-
Vesta, Pallas and Ceres: Asteroids by the Sun
Today we are going to take a look at some of the larger asteroids that are in the asteroid belt. We’re starting with the sky during the day for the 1st of May. With the atmosphere turned off, we can see planets around the Sun, particularly Mercury, Mars and Saturn on the western side of…
-
May Stargazing: A Blue Moon, Meteor Shower and the Milky Way!
Today we are going to be looking ahead to the month of May, starting on the 1st of May. This is May Day, or Lá Fhéile Bealtaine in Irish, Bealtaine being the month of May. We’re going to start with sunset on the 1st, because the 1st of May is a Full Moon. We can…
-
Comet 141P-D/Machholz and 26P/Grig-Skjellerup: Their Orbits and Meteor Showers
Today we are finally going to take a look at Comet 141P/Machholz. I mentioned this comet a few pieces ago when we were taking a look at the conjunction of planets that is visible early in the morning if you are closer to the equator. This comet and the planets will be above the horizon…
-
The April Lyrids and π-Puppids: Tricky Meteor Showers
Today we are going to take another look at the Lyrids meteor shower. I did mention it in the overview of April, but I do want to revisit it in a little bit more detail and also look at its parent body, comet C/1861 G1 (Thatcher). The April Lyrids is the main upcoming meteor shower.…
-
Earthshine: How to See it This Month!
Today we are going to quickly review what some of the planets are doing in April, now that we’re getting a little bit closer to their conjunctions, and we’re also going to discuss a phenomenon known as Earthshine. We’ll begin with the Sun setting into the west for the 18th. We’re just past the New…
-
Stephan’s Quintet, the Carina Nebula, JWST and Lagrangian Points!
Today we are going to take a look at a variety of deep sky objects, starting with a group of galaxies. Stellarium, as I mentioned in the previous piece, it did recently have an update and that update included new listings for things and hopefully it may contain some new images as well. We’re looking…
