Page 11 - Richard Bartlett
- March 01, 2022
There are a few clusters in the sky that, as amateur astronomers, we learn to identify very early on. Messier 44, aka the Beehive Cluster, is one of them. Located roughly midway between Castor and Pollux in Gemini and Regulus in Leo, this night sky sight...
- February 01, 2022
Saturn is now lost within the Sun’s glare, which means Jupiter is now the only bright planet visible in the evening sky. It appears low in the southwest shortly after sunset for most of February, with a crescent Moon to its lower left on the 2nd.
- January 01, 2022
2022 began with Mercury, Jupiter, and Saturn huddled together in the evening twilight, and even Mercury made a brief appearance with Venus and Mars in the predawn sky in the last days of February. In May we had the first of two total lunar eclipses in...
- January 01, 2022
When it comes to deep-sky objects that are easily seen from the northern hemisphere, it’s hard to think of anything that comes close to M42, the Orion Nebula. It’s visible to the naked eye, even from suburban skies, as a faint, misty patch just below...
- December 17, 2021
We’ve all seen them - an apparently random streak of light across the night sky that often vanishes as suddenly as it appears. Meteors, or shooting stars as they’re popularly known, are nothing more than tiny clumps of dust and rock particles, no larger...
- December 01, 2021
When it comes to star clusters, there’s no finer example in the entire night sky than the Pleiades. It’s visible throughout the winter months and can be easily found by following the three stars of Orion’s belt upwards to Aldebaran, the red eye of Taurus...
- November 01, 2021
November’s partial eclipse can be seen by everyone on the North American continent, and with 97% of the lunar disc in shadow, it’s almost as close to total as you can get. The downside? No matter where you live in the U.S. or Canada, you’ll need to stay...
- October 01, 2021
Despite being probably the nearest planetary nebula to the Sun, the Helix Nebula can be a challenging target for visual observers. Its low surface brightness and relatively large apparent diameter (almost the size of the full Moon) make this target better...
- September 01, 2021
You might be able to identify M39 with just your eyes if you live under dark skies, but otherwise you’ll need binoculars to spot it. It’s located about halfway between Cassiopeia and Deneb, but one relatively easy way is to find it is to start at Gienah...
- August 23, 2021
The 10 Best Things to See with a Telescope lists a few deep sky objects each for Spring, Summer, Winter & Autumn, and gives you an overview of why members of the High Point team enjoy them so. We also do a quick review of different telescopes and telescope...
- August 01, 2021
You could argue that the Perseids are the ideal meteor shower - they’re reliable, they can potentially produce over 100 shooting stars an hour, and the shower reaches its maximum during the warm summer nights of mid-August. This year’s shower promises...
- July 23, 2021
Summer’s here, which means the days are long, but the nights are short. Good for barbecues but not for astronomy! Why not turn your bar-b-que into a star-b-que and wow your guests with some summer constellations in addition to your prowess with the grill...
- January 27, 2021
There are, perhaps, only a few people for whom winter is their favorite season. Some might say they love to ski, or they love the holiday season. Ask an astronomer and they’ll tell you they love the stars. Astronomers don’t care about the cold.
- January 01, 2021
While not a great year for the major meteor showers, 2021 promises its fair share of lunar and planetary encounters. Whether you’re a morning or evening observer, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to see Mercury and Venus, Mars will pass by the Pleiades...
- October 21, 2020
There’s something about fall evenings that often feels inviting. Maybe it’s the crunching of the leaves underfoot, or the smell of wood burning from fireplaces. Whatever it may be, take some time to enjoy these splendors of the autumnal night sky.
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