Early evening darkness. Credit: Dane VanderLee

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Kelly Kizer Whitt loves clean, clear, and dark skies. Kelly studied English and Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked for Astronomy magazine. She is currently the Feature Writer for Astronomy and Space at Suite101.com. You can follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/Astronomommy

The constellation Ophiuchus contains seven globular clusters with Messier designations, including this one, M9. Credit: AURA/NSF/NOAO

Summer is drawing to a close here in the Northern Hemisphere, and with it the summer constellations are disappearing from view. Ophiuchus is one of the constellations setting in the southwestern sky: Get out and observe it while you can.

Ophiuchus is a unique constellation in that it lies in the plane of the ecliptic, yet it is not counted as one of the traditional zodiacal constellations. Ophiuchus lies between Sagittarius to its lower left with its telltale teapot shape, and the curving form of Scorpius with its bright and reddish star Antares, which lies below and to the right of Ophiuchus.

The constellation of Ophiuchus is supposed to represent a serpent bearer. The snake that Ophiuchus is holding lies on either side of him and is named Serpens. The main stars in Ophiuchus range from magnitude 2.0 to 3.3, and the nine brightest form a difficult-to-decipher form of a man with his legs toward the southern horizon.

Because of Ophiuchus’s location along the edge of the Milky Way and near the center of the galaxy (which is located in the direction of its neighbor Sagittarius), it contains a large number of globular clusters. Globular clusters are massive groupings of stars, like miniature satellite galaxies, that orbit around the core of the galaxy. The Milky Way has more than 100 globular clusters located in its halo that formed along with its parent galaxy; thus, globular clusters are some of the oldest stars that can be observed. Stars in globular clusters are called Population II stars and have very low amounts of metal.

The seven globular clusters named by Charles Messier in Ophiuchus are:

· M9

· M10

· M12

· M14

· M19

· M62

· M107

All the globular clusters are between magnitudes 6.6 and 8.1, which should be within reach of binoculars or a small telescope from a dark-sky site.

For more information on how to locate these ancient star clusters, read the article about Ophiuchus and use this constellation map.

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Jupiter and its moon Io as seen by the Cassini spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

All summer long, the planetary activity has been focused on the western sky just after sunset. Even now, Venus is still beaming brightly in the twilight glow, with Saturn sinking nearby and Mars and Spica moving in for a close encounter over the next week. But those of you who have good views to the east may have noticed a new point of light dominating the sky opposite Venus. Jupiter, the King of the Planets, has returned to the evening.

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The Sun "merges" with Sirius at the height of summer heat. Credit: Yawer/Stock Xchng

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The aurora will become more active over the coming years. Credit: Dave Dyet

Hope for clear skies for the next several days, because a three ring circus is at play overhead. Planetary conjunctions, a meteor shower, and the possibility of the northern lights will keep us all gazing skyward.

The planets begin the show this weekend, with a trio of lights in the west just after sunset. Venus, Mars, and Saturn are only five degrees apart on August 7 and 8. Venus is the brightest point of light, closest to the horizon; above Venus is Mars to the left and Saturn to the right.

The new moon on August 9 means that the first sighting of the young crescent moon on the evening of August 10 marks the beginning of Ramadan. The new moon also means that the meteor shower three days later will occur under dark skies.

On August 12, the crescent moon shines beside the cluster of planets near the horizon. A few hours later, the sky will darken completely and the constellation Perseus will rise in the northeast, setting the stage for the best meteor shower of the summer. Away from light pollution, up to 80 meteors an hour can be seen at peak.

Last weekend a coronal mass ejection burst from the sun and headed straight toward Earth. The solar plasma lit our skies on August 3 and 4, creating beautiful aurorae for northern regions. Where I live, the aurora was surging overhead at sunset, when it was still too bright out to see. By the time the skies darkened, the aurora had eased up and retreated too far north. Because we are heading into solar maximum, the more active sun will produce earth-directed bursts and give us more opportunities to see the aurora over the coming years.

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A Perseid meteor streaks over Yosemite National Park. Photo by Wally Pacholka/Astropics

This weekend marks the end of July and the beginning of August as summer has crested the top of the roller coaster and now is plummeting wildly toward the end. But there is still a lot to see in summer skies, and the first two weeks of August are packed with planetary viewing.

The action begins this weekend in the west after sunset when Saturn and Mars lie only two degrees apart on from July 30 to August 1. Find Mars on the left and Saturn on the right. Venus is just below the pair and the three will become an official trio on August 7 and 8 when they all appear less than five degrees apart. Following this meeting, Saturn will sink toward the horizon as Venus and Mars drift closer together and then meet up with the star Spica at the end of the month.

To learn when the crescent moon joins the view and where to spot nearby Mercury, click here.

The best meteor shower of the summer, and one of the best of 2010, occurs from the evening of August 12 into the early morning hours of August 13. A new moon will occur a few days before the Perseids, on August 10, which means the slim crescent moon on August 12 will set early and leave the skies nice and dark for catching all of the fleeting Perseid meteors.

The Perseid meteor shower gets its name from the constellation Perseus, where the meteors appear to emanate from. Perseus rises in the northeast a bit before midnight on August 12, although meteors from this shower are active from July 25 to August 18. The August 12 date is simply your best odds for seeing the most meteors. Lucky observers can see up to 80 meteors per hour at maximum. The bits of rock and dust that create this meteor shower are from the debris leftover by Comet Swift-Tuttle.

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A long-exposure photograph captures the cross shape of Cygnus as it floats in front of the Milky Way. Image credit: John Chumack

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An early stage of the partial lunar eclipse in 2007, as seen by the crew on the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

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Summer wildflowers cover the ground in Colorado in June 2005. Credit: Lisa Langell

Summer officially comes to the Northern Hemisphere on Tuesday, June 21, 2010, at precisely 4:28 a.m. PDT. The first day of summer means a late sunset for most locations. In Fairbanks, Alaska, the sun doesn’t even set on the evening of the summer solstice but occurs after midnight. For those of you who are out on the solstice enjoying the long stretch of sunlight, if you wait for sunset to watch the planets and stars appear, you can trace the path of the ecliptic.

After sunset, you’ll see Venus shining brightly in the west and the moon toward the south. In between these two solar system objects lie two others: Saturn and Mars. Trace a line along these four bodies to find the plane of our solar system. The constellations that they pass through are the zodiacal constellations.

This weekend you can watch the brightest planet, Venus, sail past the Beehive Cluster. On Saturday, June 19, Venus can be found just north of the star cluster that is located centrally in the constellation Cancer. By Sunday night it has slid to the other side of the cluster. Venus and the Beehive are close enough on these two nights to share a field of view in binoculars. From the northern edge of the cluster where Venus is to the southern edge, the cluster spans about one and a half degrees, and the most common field of view for binoculars is six degrees.

Venus’s thick, cloudy atmosphere reflects about 70 percent of the sunlight that hits it, which is what makes the planet so bright. It is currently shining at magnitude -4.0, a little dimmer than the planet’s maximum possible brightness of -4.6. The second planet from the sun has been attracting a good deal of attention as the “evening star” and will continue to do so for a few more months.

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Comet McNaught (C/2009 R1) sails by the galaxy NGC891. Credit: John Chumack

On June 3, an object struck Jupiter, creating a bright flash visible from telescopes on Earth. Unlike last year’s impact on Jupiter, the object has not yet produced a dark bruise for observers to follow, but it still may. If you want to get a peek for yourself, Jupiter is in the morning sky, rising in the east well after midnight.

A few weeks back I wrote about noctilucent clouds, the eerie electric blue wisps that can be seen high in the atmosphere after dark. Noctilucent cloud season has officially begun as the first NLCs of 2010 were spotted in northern Europe on May 31. Those who live in higher latitudes should continue to keep an eye out for these elusive, wispy clouds.

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The constellation Lyra with the bright star Vega, the Double Double to Lyra's left, and the parallelogram below. Credit: Scott Roy Atwood

The constellation Lyra, representing the stringed musical instrument of the lyre, is home to meteor showers and many double stars. Lyra is a constellation easily viewed all summer long. Its brightest star, Vega, is one of the three points in the asterism known as the summer triangle.

There are two decent meteor showers that appear to emanate from the direction of Lyra, one in April and one in June. The June event occurs between June 10 and 21, with the activity peaking from the 15^th to the 16^th. Meteor showers are at their best when the moon is near new phase. A full moon adds so much light to the night sky that it washes out the fainter meteors. Fortunately, this June’s Lyrid shower occurs just after new moon. Look to the east where Lyra is rising as the sky darkens. The June Lyrids are not a particularly active shower, with only about 10 meteors per hour at peak.

As long as you are out stargazing, take a closer look at the constellation Lyra. Lyra is home to a large number of double stars that can be split with binoculars or a telescope.

Lyra is recognizable with brilliant Vega beside a parallelogram of stars. The two stars in the parallelogram closest to Vega, Zeta and Delta Lyrae, are both double stars. The star closest to Vega is Zeta Lyrae. Its two components of magnitude 4.34 and 5.73 can be difficult to split because they reside just 44 arcseconds apart. Delta 1 and 2 Lyrae are easier to split because they lie at a wider 10 arcminutes apart. Delta 1 Lyrae is magnitude 4.22 and and Delta 2 Lyrae is magnitude 5.58.

At similar magnitude to Zeta and about the same distance away from Vega is the star Epsilon Lyrae, known as the Double Double. Epsilon Lyrae is not a part of the parallelogram but still easy to find. The two main components of Epsilon are Epsilon 1 and 2, lying 3.5 arcminutes apart. Closer inspection of this double star through a telescope will show that each star is also a double star, thus earning it the moniker the Double Double. The four members of this star system lie 160 light-years from us, with the brightest at magnitude 4.7 and the dimmest at magnitude 6.2.

Scan the other stars of Lyra and see how many other doubles you can find. For other deep-sky targets in Lyra, read this article for observing tips to find the Ring Nebula and a globular cluster.

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The starry sky spotlight events for the upcoming month include a meteor shower, lunar eclipse, and a chance to see the elusive planet Uranus.

All the planets closer to the sun than Uranus (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) are easy to see from Earth – no binoculars or telescope required. But Uranus is a bit fainter, at magnitude 5.8, and is best found with optical aid. Using only a small pair of binoculars, you should be able to find Uranus on June 8 as it passes less than a degree from Jupiter. Jupiter is the brightest object in the southeast in the early morning hours. Uranus will be in the same field of view as Jupiter and its moons.

The Lyrid meteor shower is not the strongest shower of the year with only 10 meteors an hour at peak, but it is one of the first meteor showers that observers can enjoy as the weather gets warmer in the Northern Hemisphere. The Lyrid meteors reach their peak of activity between June 14 and 16. Look in the direction of the constellation Lyra (east) after sunset.

A partial lunar eclipse occurs on June 26 for observers in western North America and regions surrounding the Pacific Ocean. The moon will set while it is still partially eclipsed as seen from the Rockies down toward Texas, but farther west the entire eclipse can be seen. The moon enters Earth’s shadow at 3:17 a.m. PDT and the eclipse ends at 6:00 a.m. PDT. For those who miss out on this partial lunar eclipse, a total lunar eclipse will occur on December 20 – 21 for all of North America.

Read the observing guide for June for more highlights, including how to spot Venus, Saturn, and Mars.

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This picture of noctilucent clouds was taken from the International Space Station. Earth is seen at bottom, the pinkish region is the troposphere, the blue shaded area above is the stratosphere, and the wispy white denotes the noctilucent clouds beneath the blackness of space. Credit: NASA

Late May to early August is prime season for viewing noctilucent clouds. Noctilucent clouds (also known as polar mesospheric clouds) are thin, wispy night-shining clouds that lie at the upper edge of Earth’s atmosphere. These mysterious clouds were first seen in 1885 after the Krakatoa volcano erupted and poured ash into the atmosphere. But even after the particles dispersed, the clouds kept returning.

The tiny ice crystals high in our atmosphere may be a sign of global warming. The green house gases that are warming the lower atmosphere have the reverse effect higher in the atmosphere, making the already cold region even more frigid. During the summer, the atmosphere holds more water vapor and expands, pushing the atmosphere higher into space. Water vapor billows up into the mesosphere and freezes onto dust particles, creating the clouds.

There is still a lot to understand regarding noctilucent clouds: why they are a new phenomenon and what is causing them to be seen at lower latitudes as of the last decade.

To try to get a glimpse of the noctilucent clouds, look after sunset in June or July for white or electric blue streaks of clouds high in the atmosphere. By early evening, the sun will be far enough below the horizon that it is no longer casting any light on the lower reaches of the atmosphere, but the highest areas of the atmosphere, where noctilucent clouds reside, will still be receiving sunlight and thus shining well after the sun has disappeared. If you do spot them, consider yourself lucky. The clouds are still a rare sight that few have witnessed.

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The shadow of the Earth as seen from Cerro Paranal, Chile. Credit: ESO/H. H. Heyer

Some of my favorite things to observe in the sky occur before the stars even come out. As sunset is pushed back later and later with the approach of summer, observing the intricacies of light after sunset becomes a rewarding pastime.

When it’s clear out, the shadow of the Earth can be seen twice a day, at sunrise and sunset. The light from the setting sun hits the edge of the Earth and projects its shadow on the atmosphere. The next clear sunset, face east and look for a dark blue band along the horizon. The shadow of the Earth is sometimes called the twilight wedge. Just above this dark blue band should be the pink glow of antitwilight, also called the Belt of Venus. The Belt of Venus is created from the backscattered red light of sunset.

Crepuscular rays occur at sunrise or sunset when clouds or mountainous terrain obstruct the sun’s rays as they shine from below the horizon. These rays can extend all the way to the opposite horizon to create anticrepuscular rays.

Crepuscular rays can also occur while the sun is still higher in the sky but generally blocked by clouds with some of the rays shining through. The term Jacob’s Ladder is also used to describe this phenomenon. After sunset as the sky darkens, the brightest objects will appear first, such as the moon and Venus. This weekend the brightest and first stars to appear are Arcturus high in the southeast, Vega low in the northeast, and the stars Procyon, Betelgeuse, and Capella surrounding Venus in the west. You may still even be able to catch Sirius as it disappears below the west-southwestern horizon. Two other planets should also be some of the first points of light to emerge from the twilight: Mars and Saturn trailing in the zodiacal constellations behind Venus.

Twilight phenomena are a great way to introduce the night sky to family and friends and might make them want to hang around with you until dark to learn more.

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Venus as seen over Brazil. Credit: Rafael Rocha

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Kelly Kizer Whitt loves clean, clear, and dark skies. Kelly studied English and Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked for Astronomy magazine. She is currently the Feature Writer for Astronomy and Space at Suite101.com. You can follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/Astronomommy

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Kelly Kizer Whitt loves clean, clear, and dark skies. Kelly studied English and Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked for Astronomy magazine. She is currently the Feature Writer for Astronomy and Space at Suite101.com. You can follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/Astronomommy

Careful observation of the sky reveals that the colors of stars are not all the same. Their jewel-toned hues are easier to spot on long-exposure photographs, but it is also possible to see these colors with your own eyes. The color of a star is related to its temperature. At one end of the spectrum are blue stars, which are young and hot, in the middle are yellow and white stars of moderate age and temperature, such as the sun, and finally are the red, cooler stars nearing the ends of their lives.

Stars that might look blue to you are Rigel, Spica, and Vega. White stars include Capella and Sirius. Arcturus and Aldebaran should have an orangey glow, and Betelgeuse will appear more reddish in color.

The star Rigel in Orion will quickly set in the west, so it’s probably the first star you want to look for. It marks the left “knee” or “foot” of Orion the Hunter. Compare this blue star to the orange and red stars nearby. Red Betelgeuse is in the opposite corner of Orion, marking the hunter’s right shoulder. Rigel is the brightest star in Orion and Betelgeuse is second brightest. To Orion’s upper right is the V-shape of Taurus and its brightest star, Aldebaran. Can you see a color difference between red Betelgeuse and orange Aldebaran?

Another contrasting pair, orange Arcturus in Bootes and blue Spica in Virgo, are easy to find. These two bright stars lie in the east-southeast, with Spica closer to the horizon and Arcturus above it. A clever device to help remember where they are is to follow the curve off the Big Dipper’s handle and “arc to Arcturus and speed on down to Spica.”

Look at the northeastern horizon to find Vega rising. Does it look blue or white to you? As it rises higher from the horizon and out of the thick layers of atmosphere, does it appear to change color? The last two stars are white stars, although one may look yellow-white while the other might appear more blue-white. The stars, Sirius and Capella, are positioned on either side of Orion. Sirius in Canis Major is the brightest star in the sky and can be found low on the horizon in the west. Then trace a line past Betelgeuse (Orion’s shoulder star) to find bright Capella in Auriga higher in the northwest. Which of these white stars looks more yellow to you and which looks more blue?

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Kelly Kizer Whitt loves clean, clear, and dark skies. Kelly studied English and Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked for Astronomy magazine. She is currently the Feature Writer for Astronomy and Space at Suite101.com. You can follow her on Twitter at twitter.com

One of the more interesting astronomical sights is when two celestial bodies appear to visit each other in the night sky. Sometimes called conjunctions or appulses, the events often include some combination of planets, the moon, or the sun.

Over the weekend, on April 3 and 4, Mercury and Venus appear in a close pairing as they pass just three degrees apart. (Extend your arm with your index and middle finger pointing at the sky, the distance across spans about three degrees.)

Venus is a cinch to spot. Look west after sunset and the first point of light that appears near the horizon is Venus. It is shining brightly at magnitude -3.9. Mercury is three degrees to Venus’s right and a bit lower. (For observers in the Southern Hemisphere, the orientation between the planets will be slightly different, with Mercury appearing almost directly below Venus.) Mercury will be shining at magnitude -0.5, which, while bright for Mercury, is still only about five percent as bright as Venus. Don’t worry if your weekend is clouded out, the planets will keep close quarters for a week following this pairing.

Formally, a conjunction is when two objects get within five degrees of each other and share the same celestial longitude. Venus and Mercury will be close enough this weekend but will never quite share the same longitude; therefore this pairing is technically called a quasi-conjunction.

Another unique astronomical event occurs this weekend, but it’s one that you can’t observe. On April 3 at approximately 5:30 p.m. PDT, the Earth will be exactly 1 Astronomical Unit (AU, or 93 million miles) away from the sun. This is the average distance of Earth’s orbit around the sun. About half the time Earth is a bit closer to the sun (as it was on April 2) and half the time it is a bit farther than 1 AU (as it will be on April 4).

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Kelly Kizer Whitt loves clean, clear, and dark skies. Kelly studied English and Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked for Astronomy magazine. She is currently the Feature Writer for Astronomy and Space at Suite101.com. You can follow her on Twitter at twitter.com

For the next few weeks, Mercury is hot! The closest planet to the sun makes its best appearance all year.

Look for Mercury this weekend after sunset. Mercury shines at magnitude -1.2 and creeps a bit higher above the horizon each night. Unfortunately, the higher it climbs, the dimmer it gets. By April 8, Mercury reaches greatest elongation, its farthest separation from the sun in the sky.

Mercury stays close to gleaming Venus during most of its apparition, making it easy to spot. The two planets are only visible in the west for a short time after sunset. On March 26, Mercury is a little less than six degrees below Venus. As Mercury rises, it moves to the right of Venus. On April 3 and 4, the pair are at their closest at three degrees apart. April 8 has the planets nearly the same height above the horizon. Thereafter, the “fleet-footed” planet will sink quickly. Try to spot it on April 15, when the moon comes within about one degree of Mercury. By late April, the planet will be too close to the sun to view. It will again appear in the evening sky in late May but will be much harder to spot.

Get other observing highlights for April here.

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Kelly Kizer Whitt loves clean, clear, and dark skies. Kelly studied English and Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked for Astronomy magazine. She is currently the Feature Writer for Astronomy and Space at Suite101.com. You can follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/Astronomommy

The Sphinx stares directly into the sunrise on the equinox. Credit: Andrea De Stefani

Spring officially arrives at 10:32 am PDT on March 20. At this moment, the sun passes directly over the equator. On the dates of the equinoxes, both spring and fall, the sun will rise directly in the east and set directly in the west.

You can make your own astronomical calendar and track the movements of the sun in your yard by marking a central spot for your location and then erecting markers for where you see the sun rise and set on the equinoxes and solstices. The remnants of many ancient calendars such as Stonehenge and the Mayan temples are still ticking off the passing of the seasons. The Great Sphinx of Giza faces directly east, where it stares into the sunrise on every spring and fall equinox.

This weekend, if you watch the sun sink directly in the west, the first bright point of light to burst onto the scene is Venus. Venus was named after the Goddess of Love and is associated with fertility, which is an appropriate light to have shining in spring skies as baby animals begin to repopulate the forests and fields. On the opposite horizon, Saturn is rising in the east. Saturn is named after the God of Agriculture, another appropriate light to be shining in spring skies as farmers prepare for the planting season.

The planet Mars is high overhead in the southeast. Interestingly, these three planets, which are currently spread so far apart at sunset that they mark the western, eastern, and overhead regions of the night sky, will get closer and closer over the course of the next few months. By early August, Venus, Saturn, and Mars will be only a few small degrees from each other on the western horizon. It’s no wonder planets were named with a word that means “wandering stars.”

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Kelly Kizer Whitt loves clean, clear, and dark skies. Kelly studied English and Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked for Astronomy magazine. She is currently the Feature Writer for Astronomy and Space at Suite101.com. You can follow her on Twitter at twitter.com

M1, the Crab Nebula. Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Hester, A. Loll (ASU)

This weekend provides dark skies because the new moon falls on Monday, March 15. The time around new moon in March and April are often the dates for Messier Marathons. A Messier Marathon is an attempt to see as many of the 110 Messier objects as possible in one night.

Star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies that make up the Messier catalog were identified by an astronomer named Charles Messier. Messier’s real passion was comets. He searched the night skies from horizon to horizon, looking for the faint fuzzy glow of new comets rounding the sun. He found many faint fuzzy objects (103 to be exact) that were permanent features in the sky and not comets. He labeled these objects with the letter M and a number to separate them from his true goal, the comets. Seven additional objects were added to the catalog to come up with the 110 Messier objects we know of today. What resulted from Messier’s comet obsession was a handy list of deep-sky objects for the Northern Hemisphere.

M1, the Crab Nebula, is a supernova remnant in the constellation Taurus. M110 is a satellite galaxy of the Andromeda Galaxy, itself a Messier object, M31. M1 and M31 are some of the most famous Messier objects due to the fact that they are interesting, bright, and easy to see. A few other famous Messier objects are M45 (the Pleiades), M42 (the Orion Nebula), and M27 (the Dumbbell Nebula). Messier objects that have nicknames are the easiest to find and observe.

Follow this link for a shortened list of the easier and brighter Messier objects to observe for your own mini-marathon.

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Kelly Kizer Whitt loves clean, clear, and dark skies. Kelly studied English and Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked for Astronomy magazine. She is currently the Feature Writer for Astronomy and Space at Suite101.com. You can follow her on Twitter at twitter.com

The Milky Way and Zodiacal Light. Image used with permission. Credit: Manel Soria

One of the benefits of hiking far from city lights and spending a night sleeping under the stars is that you can see so much more of the universe than in your typical suburban backyard. The zodiacal light is an amazing sight that few have seen because it requires an observing location free from light pollution. This very faint glow is the result of sunlight reflecting off particles of dust in our solar system.

The planets and sun formed out of a cloud of gas and dust, but not all solar-system debris was used in the formation of the larger objects. Just as there are asteroids and comets floating around, so are there smatterings of leftover dust in the plane of the solar system. This dust is occasionally visible to observers in truly dark-sky locations.

The plane of the solar system is the same as the ecliptic — the path through the sky that the planets, sun, and moon take. If you know the location of where the sun has set or is going to rise, you know the area in which to look for the zodiacal light. The path of the ecliptic, where the zodiacal light is found, is also where the constellations of the zodiac lie, thus providing the phenomenon’s name.

Your best chance to see the zodiacal light in the northern hemisphere is to look west a couple hours after sunset in the month of March. Southern hemisphere observers can look in March but before dawn in the east. Conversely, October is a good month for northern hemisphere observers who want to look before dawn and for southern hemisphere observers who stargaze after sunset. In spring and fall, the ecliptic is oriented nearly perpendicular to the horizon, making the zodiacal light easier to see. The light has a pyramidal shape because the dust is thicker closer to the sun.

The photo above shows the Milky Way on the left and the zodiacal light on the right. Distinguishing between the two should be fairly easy. For one, the Milky Way is located in different constellations that run from north to south in March, while the zodiac constellations run from east to west. While both sights first appear as a faint band of light, the Milky Way is visible all night long while the zodiacal light can only be seen after sunset and before sunrise. (It is sometimes called the false dawn.) Additionally, the Milky Way is a collection of not just stars but also gas and dust clouds, and it can look like an actual cloud stretching across the sky, where the zodiacal light is purely a faint glow with no dark mottling.

On your next trip to a location free from light pollution, take some time to hunt for the elusive zodiacal light.

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Kelly Kizer Whitt loves clean, clear, and dark skies. Kelly studied English and Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked for Astronomy magazine. She is currently the Feature Writer for Astronomy and Space at Suite101.com. You can follow her on Twitter at twitter.com

The Leo Triplet (M66 Group of Galaxies). Credit: REU program/NOAO/

A full moon ushers February out this weekend. If the full moon, which occurs at 11:38 a.m. EST on February 28, had arrived several hours later, the month of February would have passed without a full moon. Because a lunar month is 29 ½ days long, occasionally a full moon does not occur in February. This last happened in 1999 and will occur again in 2018. (Or not occur, as the case may be.) As you might have already guessed, January and March of 2018 will both have blue moons, or a second full moon in the month.

March may bring fewer hours of darkness but it also brings a lot for stargazers to see. Venus will become easy to find as it climbs out of the salmon skies of sunset. Reddish Mars is close to overhead and yellowish Saturn is rising in the east in the early evening. The end of March will be the best time all year to catch Mercury as it closes in on Venus in the west.

There is an old meteorological saying that if March comes in like a lion it will go out like a lamb. I won’t try to forecast the weather, but I can guarantee you a lion in early March. Every year the beginning of March brings with it the constellation of Leo the Lion. Leo rises in the east as the sky darkens. Leo is one of the easier constellations to pick out from the starry background. Make sure your eyes have adjusted to the dark and you are not in a light-polluted location. Looking east after the sky is dark, find six stars in the shape of a backward question mark. The brightest of the six is Regulus, the point at the bottom. This “sickle” shape denotes the head of Leo. To the left of the head are three stars that form a triangle, marking the hindquarters of the lion. Spring skies are associated with galaxies, and the constellations of Leo and Virgo (the maiden which rises after the lion) are filled with great galactic targets. The Leo Triplet, seen in the image here, is located on the hind leg of the lion. The three galaxies all lie within a half degree of each other. Scan the region between Leo and Virgo with a moderate-sized telescope to capture other galactic beauties.

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Kelly Kizer Whitt loves clean, clear, and dark skies. Kelly studied English and Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked for Astronomy magazine. She is currently the Feature Writer for Astronomy and Space at Suite101.com. You can follow her on Twitter at twitter.com

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Kelly Kizer Whitt loves clean, clear, and dark skies. Kelly studied English and Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked for Astronomy magazine. She is currently the Feature Writer for Astronomy and Space at Suite101.com. You can follow her on Twitter at twitter.com

Venus with the Moon as seen from Paranal Observatory, Chile. Credit: ESO/Y. Beletsky

Venus, named after the Roman Goddess of Love, is the brightest planet seen from Earth. Venus’s brightness is a result of its proximity to Earth (our nearest neighbor) and its highly reflective cloud cover. It averages a magnitude of -4, which makes it bright enough to be seen during daylight.

Because Venus is closer to the Sun than Earth, the planet never strays far from the Sun in the sky. Venus goes through cycles of being the morning star, the brightest point of light in the east before sunrise, to being the evening star, the brightest point in the west after sunset. Venus’s appearances as the evening star usually garner the most attention. The brilliant light hovering above the horizon is often mistaken for a plane or even a UFO.

Venus hasn’t been the evening star since March 2009. Observers have been eagerly awaiting its reappearance in the western sky, and the timing couldn’t be better. This month, Jupiter is slipping toward the sun at sunset, soon to disappear from the evening sky. But on its way down, it will meet Venus on its way up. After sunset on February 14, Valentine’s Day, observers have one of their first chances to spot Venus. About fifteen minutes after the sun has set, look for the thin crescent moon low in the west. To its left are two points of light: the brighter object closer to the horizon is Venus, and the one above it is Jupiter. Two days later, on February 16, the moon has moved above the scene but the planets are now only a half degree apart. Venus will continue to rise out of sunset’s glow and become easier to spot. The Goddess of Love will reign in the evening sky until October.

Follow this link for more information about how to observe Venus.

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Kelly Kizer Whitt loves clean, clear, and dark skies. Kelly studied English and Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked for Astronomy magazine. She is currently the Feature Writer for Astronomy and Space at Suite101.com. You can follow her on Twitter at twitter.com

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and people are looking for gifts to give their loved ones. It’s difficult to find a present that encapsulates someone’s grand and all-encompassing love with something that is also in their budget. Some people have heard about buying the rights to name a star so that their loved one can forever be commemorated in the sky. As someone who is familiar with star-naming policy and the best-known star naming company out there, if you were to ask me whether you should do this, I’m happy to share my opinion with you.

The short answer? No.

Star-naming companies can make their services sound legitimate, but there is nothing official about them.

Photo credit: NASA/ESA

A common query raised at Christmastime is whether there was an actual astronomical event that occurred at the time of Jesus’s birth that explains the Star of Bethlehem, which is chronicled in the Book of Matthew:

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”

The Geminid meteor shower emanates from the constellation Gemini.
Credit: Kelly Whitt/Celestron’s The Sky

The Geminid meteor shower is one of the strongest showers of the year. It wasn’t always this way. When the meteor shower was first discovered, around the Civil War, it was a quiet display. Over the years the shower has become more active as Earth heads deeper into the path of the debris field, which has slowly been drifting farther into our orbit.

The bits of dust that trigger the Geminids come from an object known as 3200 Phaethon. While some sources suggest that 3200 Phaethon is an extinct comet, others have claimed that it is an asteroid. This would make the Geminid meteor shower the first to have an asteroid as its source.

In a quiet patch of southeastern Utah is an area set aside for its naturally beautiful landscape and exquisitely dark skies. Natural Bridges National Monument was originally established in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt to protect its water-carved sandstone bridges that are up to 5,000 years old. In 2007, Natural Bridges became the world’s first International Dark Sky Park.

Light-polluted urban areas wash out all but the brightest stars, whereas a visitor to Natural Bridges National Monument can see up to 15,000 stars over the course of a night. Viewing the night sky at Natural Bridges is like seeing it the way humans would have seen it when the sandstone bridges were first carved. The sky and stars take on the dominance that they had every night which caused people to weave tales about what they were and what their patterns meant.

Photo by Marcos Sicilia

The holiday shopping frenzy has arrived. If you have a budding astronomer on your list, rethink jumping right in with a telescope purchase. The (mostly) affordable telescopes found in chain department stores tend to be low-quality instruments advertising impossibly good views. These kinds of scopes are sure to set up someone for disappointment.

There are some lower-cost telescopes that can be bought online through big name manufacturers such as Meade and Orion that provide decent views. One of the most important features for a starter scope is a sturdy mount to keep the view in the eyepiece from jumping around. But even with a nice starter scope, if the gift recipient isn’t familiar with the sky, they will spend a lot of time staring at nothing while learning to star hop.

Everywhere I turn nowadays I see the words “Official Twilight” this and “Official Twilight” that. Of course this is all in reference to the best-selling books and movie series, but it has made me think about the official definition of twilight.

Twilight is not just the period of time after sunset but also the time between darkness and sunrise. There are three different periods of twilight, all defined by the distance the sun is below the horizon. The length of time that each period of twilight lasts varies by location and time of year. You may have noticed that sometimes the sun sinks slowly and the darkness seeps in gradually, while at other times the sun seems to drop like a rock and the darkness is much more sudden.

A twinkling star may make for a sweet nursery rhyme, but it also makes for a bad night of observing.

Stars twinkle due to our soupy atmosphere. Stars are so far away that they appear as nothing more than a point of light. When the air that the star is shining through is turbulent, undulating, and waving, the point of light seems to move a tiny bit, jumping around from one point of the sky to another as seen through a telescope. With the unaided eye, this wiggling motion of a star due to our atmosphere makes the star look as if it is twinkling.

This effect, sometimes called scintillation, is more pronounced for stars close to the horizon. When looking straight up, you are looking directly out into space through the least amount of atmosphere possible, whereas when you look toward the horizon you are looking through the thickest possible amount of air.

Mayan Ruins. Photo courtesy Bob Smith.

Have you heard? The world is coming to an end on December 21, 2012. It must be true, because Hollywood’s made a blockbuster movie about the impending disaster titled 2012 starring John Cusack.

What are the claims that people are making to back up their end-of-times date of December 21, 2012? The biggest one is that the date marks the end of a 394-year period in the Mayan calendar. This interval of time, known as a “long cycle,” has been named Baktun 13. As a cycle, it repeats itself just as our modern calendar ends and repeats itself. Mayans counted their cycles from 1 to 13, which means that at the end of 13, the cycle begins again, not that time suddenly ends all together.

Image of the Witch Head Nebula, Credit: NASA/STScI Digitized Sky Survey/Noel Carboni

One of my favorite nebulas in the Universe is the Witch Head Nebula, or IC 2118. The nebula looks strikingly like a Halloween hag seen in profile, and it rises late on the evening of October 31, a wonderful treat on a night known for its tricks.

The Witch Head Nebula lies next to Rigel, the brightest star in the constellation Orion. Bluish Rigel marks the bottom right corner of the constellation and is sometimes described as Orion’s left knee. The gas and dust of the Witch Head Nebula is reflecting the light from the blue supergiant star, which is off the image to the right. In larger images of this scene, the “eye” of the witch appears to be looking at Rigel.

The nebula itself is quite enormous, more than two degrees across, or four times the size of a full moon. The star that appears near the ear of the witch is 65-Psi Eridani, shining at magnitude 4.8. Even though the Witch Head is identified as being close to Orion, technically it lies across the border in the constellation Eridanus the River. The Witch Head Nebula is approximately 1,000 light-years from Earth.

This year on Halloween, another interesting astronomical sight lies in the east late at night. The reddish dot that marks Mars can be found at the center of the Beehive Cluster for this evening only. It will make a hauntingly beautiful target for astrophotographers, who are sure to capture an image to die for as the God of War enters a hive full of swarming bees.

Don’t forget you’ll have an extra hour to stargaze on Halloween night because November 1 marks the end of Daylight Saving Time.

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Kelly Kizer Whitt loves clean, clear, and dark skies. Kelly studied English and Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked for Astronomy magazine. She is currently the Feature Writer for Astronomy and Space at Suite101.com. You can follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/Astronomommy

The Andromeda Galaxy: The view is going to get better! Image credit:NASA

Have you ever wondered what is the farthest object you can see with your unaided eyes? Truly dark, clear skies, such as those far from civilization, will improve your odds at seeing deep into space.

Image credit: Fall Colors along Lake Superior as Seen from Space: Liam Gumley, Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Terra-MODIS

One of my favorite Green Day songs is Wake Me Up When September Ends. Well, September is over, and for anyone who wants to see the best planetary conjunctions in October, you’ll have to wake up before sunrise. Saturn lies right beside Mercury on the morning of October 8 and then Saturn moves up until it is also less than a degree from Venus on October 13. These planetary duos will appear in the east in the darkness before dawn.

As the sky above is shifting its constellations from summer to fall, the world around us is putting on its autumn garb. Did you know that the change of seasons is visible from space? Satellites observe not just the slash of tornado damage or the swaths of snow storms, but also the beautiful tinge of orange that spreads from north to south as October progresses. The image seen here was taken by NASA’s Terra satellite in early October of 2003.

Photo of blue skies over Glacier National Park courtesy Kelly Whitt.

National parks do more than just preserve the animal and plant life of a region. They also help to protect the dark night skies above. A glimpse at a map of the Earth at night reveals that the few areas in the United States that still have truly dark skies often correspond with locations of national parks. The parks out west, such as Glacier, Yellowstone, Bryce Canyon, and Death Valley, among others, have some of the least light-polluted skies.

Many national parks have ranger-led observing programs. For example, in Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah, visitors can do solar observing, join in a night sky program, or go on a ranger-led full moon hike. Bryce Canyon’s skies are so dark that 7,500 stars can be seen on a typical night, as compared with 2,500 in most rural areas of the United States. Some parks, such as Yosemite, have local astronomy groups that host star parties within the parks. Death Valley has an excellent observing program that was the highlight of the trip my parents took to that park this year.  

 
Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

Every six years, Jupiter and Earth align such that the plane of the Jovian moons points straight at us, allowing viewers to watch Jupiter’s satellites eclipse and occult one another. Three of these events happen on three consecutive Tuesdays in September. A modest telescope or steadily held pair of binoculars will allow you to see the moons as they pass in front of and block the light from each other.

During each of these events, the volcanic moon Io will first pass in front of the icy moon Europa over the course of ten minutes, followed more than an hour later by Io casting its shadow on Europa and dimming its light. The timing of the first event favors those in the eastern United States and the second and third events are better suited to observers in the west.

Recently I was writing an article that explains how September’s full moon is not always called the Harvest Moon, depending on what month’s full moon is closest to the equinox. This year, for example, the full moon on October 4 is closest to the first day of fall on September 22, therefore it gets the title of the Harvest Moon.

This September’s full moon is instead called the Corn Moon. All the full moons have been given names, often more than one name, and these titles were largely bestowed by Native Americans. The full moon names coincided with what was happening in nature and was a way to mark the seasons. The following are some of the most common names for the full moon of each month.

• January – Wolf Moon
• February – Snow Moon
• March – Worm Moon
• April – Pink Moon
• May – Flower Moon
• June – Strawberry Moon
• July – Buck Moon
• August – Sturgeon Moon
• September – Harvest Moon/Corn Moon
• October – Hunter’s Moon/Harvest Moon
• November – Beaver Moon/Hunter’s Moon
• December – Cold Moon

You’ll notice that these names most accurately describe conditions for U.S. residents of the northeast or Midwest. I think people should be able to name the full moon with whatever is relevant to them. New Mexico might have a Monsoon Moon in the summer, while Southern California could have a Santa Ana Moon in the fall and Florida gets a “Snowbirds” Moon for one of the winter months. The full moon occurring on Friday, September 4, should definitely be given the name of High School Football Moon, because thousands of people across America will be sitting in stadiums, cheering on their team, when they see the giant orb rising.

What name would you give to a full moon?

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Kelly Kizer Whitt loves clean, clear, and dark skies. Kelly studied English and Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked for Astronomy magazine. She is currently the Feature Writer for Astronomy and Space at Suite101.com. You can follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/Astronomommy.

The arrival of September means many things to many people: harvest time, back-to-school, falling temperatures… but to me, September means the return of the Pleiades star cluster. The fall constellations are making their return to the evening sky, and the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus the Bull leads the way.

The Pleiades is known by a few other names, such as the Seven Sisters and M45. The Japanese call this stellar grouping “Subaru.” You may have noticed that the logo for the Subaru car company consists of six stars, not seven. When the cluster was first named hundreds of years ago, one of the stars was brighter than it is now, but today only six stars of the Seven Sisters are easily visible to the unaided eye.

During the lulls between Perseid meteors flashing overhead this past week, my family and I spent time tracking satellites. Unlike meteors, satellites swarm like bugs in the sky regardless of the date. These spacecraft are visible for a few hours after sunset and before sunrise. At these times, sunlight is still shining above us on the upper regions of Earth’s atmosphere, reflecting off the artificial satellites and making them visible.

Satellite-gazing is an enjoyable activity that requires no special equipment.

Photo credit: NASA

The Perseid Meteor Shower may be especially good this year, according to NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office. The dusty debris that is responsible for the Perseids was left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle. One of the filaments of this debris has drifted into Earth’s path and our atmosphere should plow into the stream between 1 and 2 am PDT on August 12. NASA is predicting a surge to twice the normal meteor rate, or more than one meteor every 30 seconds.

I was recently reminded of the above quote when reports started filtering in last week about a possible impact on Jupiter. An amateur astronomer in Australia was observing Jupiter when he noticed an unusual black marking near the planet's South Pole. The dark gash looked strikingly similar to the impact scar created exactly 15 years earlier when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into Jupiter. Subsequent observations by professional astronomers with world-class telescopes confirmed that an object had hit Jupiter.

Earthlings are fortunate to have dodged the comet or meteor that struck Jupiter. In the photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope three days after the impact, the gash in Jupiter's atmosphere is twice the length of the United States. Observers with decent-sized telescopes and high magnification have been able to catch a glimpse of the impact for themselves as it expands in size. But Jupiter's churning atmosphere is sure to quickly heal the gash, returning the planet to its swirling cream and orange appearance.

Jupiter rises in the east about an hour after sunset. The largest planet is up all night in August, reaching opposition (opposite the sun in our sky) on the 14th. Follow the link for an overview of August's Observing Highlights, including a summer favorite, the Perseid Meteor Shower.

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Kelly Kizer Whitt loves clean, clear, and dark skies. Kelly studied English and Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked for Astronomy magazine. She is currently the Feature Writer for Astronomy and Space at Suite101.com. You can follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/Astronomommy.

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Kelly Kizer Whitt loves clean, clear, and dark skies. Kelly studied English and Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked for Astronomy magazine. She is currently the Feature Writer for Astronomy and Space at Suite101.com.

Next Monday marks the 40-year anniversary of humans landing on the moon. At 4:18 p.m. EDT on July 20, 1969, the world learned that the Eagle had landed. A few hours later, as the crescent moon was setting for observers in North America, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin emerged onto the powdery lunar surface.

The moon landing was a monumental occasion for science and humanity. It was an opportunity for everyday citizens to get excited about science and technology and for the United States government to work together for an "astronomical" achievement. Putting a man on the moon was proof that seemingly impossible problems could be solved.

It's not hard to see the similarities between the obstacle of reaching the moon and today's climate crisis. It is a problem that, if everyone got excited about and the government offered its full support, could be conquered.

For those who want to "moongaze" this weekend, you will have to stay up very late or get up before sunrise. The moon is a waning crescent, heading toward its new phase by July 21. If you want to see the moon on the 40th anniversary of the Apollo landing, look east before sunrise for its 4%-lit sliver of light. Note the dazzling bright Venus rising ahead of the moon.

If you're more of a night owl than an early riser, try spotting Neptune this weekend. Very few people have ever seen the farthest planet from the sun with their own eyes. First find Jupiter: It rises in the east about two hours after sunset and is unmistakable by its brilliant glow, shining as the brightest object in this portion of the sky. Using a good pair of binoculars, look less than one degree to the left to find a 5th magnitude star, Mu Capricorni. (A pinky held at arm's length covers about one degree of sky.) Just above Mu Capricorni (by less than one-third of a degree) is the dimmer orb of Neptune. It will take dark, clear skies and a steadily held pair of binoculars to see it. (If you are looking through a telescope, remember the directions are reversed, so Mu Capricorni will be to the right with Neptune below. Jupiter and Neptune should both be visible in the same field of view.)

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Kelly Kizer Whitt loves clean, clear, and dark skies. Kelly studied English and Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked for Astronomy magazine. She is currently the Feature Writer for Astronomy and Space at Suite101.com.