Page 8 - Richard Bartlett
- February 01, 2023
Both Saturn and Neptune are now too close to the Sun to be visible. Saturn will reach conjunction on the 17th, with Neptune reaching the same point next month.
- January 25, 2023
Stars are born in clusters from huge clouds of gas and dust in space called nebulae. Eventually, most of these clusters will break apart as the individual stars drift away into space. The majority of open star clusters, therefore, comprise fairly young...
- January 11, 2023
There are eight planets in the solar system (including the Earth), and although you can see the five brightest with the naked eye, you really need a telescope to catch them at their best. Let’s review each one and get an idea of what you can expect to...
- January 01, 2023
All the planets are visible in the evening sky at the start of January. Mercury appears within the same binocular field of view as Venus on the 1st, with Mercury appearing to the lower right of Venus at about 30 minutes after sunset.
- December 28, 2022
Many of us have been hearing about “outer space” for most of our lives. Whether it’s in books, magazines, or science fiction movies and TV shows, outer space has fired our imaginations for decades - and yet the concept has always remained vague and ill-defined...
- December 07, 2022
What will you see in the sky in 2023? Learn where the planets will be in 2023 and when solar eclipses, meteor showers & eclipses of the Moon will take place. The High Point 2023 Astronomical Calendar is your guide to the night sky for every month of the...
- December 01, 2022
There’s a rare opportunity to see every planet in the evening sky this month. Mercury appears low in the southwest from about 15 minutes after sunset, with Venus remaining to its lower right throughout the month.
- November 30, 2022
Telescopes are amazing tools. Not only do they allow us to see distant objects that lie beyond the reach of our eyes, but they can also reveal details on objects that would otherwise remain unseen. It’s no exaggeration to say that telescopes have literally...
- November 28, 2022
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...
- November 23, 2022
Look through any telescope at the Moon and you’ll immediately notice something you can’t see with just your eyes - craters. But how did the craters form? Is the Moon the only world to have them? And what are some good craters to look at on the Moon?
- November 02, 2022
The Moon doesn’t have any light of its own, but (like the Earth) it reflects the light of the Sun. It takes the Moon about 27 days to complete an orbit of the Earth, and as it moves, sunlight strikes its surface. Half of the Moon’s surface is illuminated...
- November 01, 2022
Neither Mercury nor Venus are visible this month, but Saturn can still be enjoyed for a few hours after sunset. You’ll find it above the southwestern horizon, with a first quarter Moon nearby on the 1st and a waxing crescent Moon close by on the 28th...
- October 26, 2022
In essence, a nebula is a cloud of gas and dust in space; in fact, the word itself is derived from Latin and means “mist” or “cloud” - and when it comes to astronomy, there couldn’t be a more apt description. There are four primary types of nebulae: diffuse...
- October 01, 2022
Venus, typically the brightest planet, remains lost within the sun’s glare this month, but Saturn, the most distant and dimmest planet visible to the naked eye, can be seen throughout the evening.
- September 07, 2022
Ask anyone what a moon or planet is, and they’ll probably tell you a moon orbits a planet, and a planet orbits the Sun. However, asteroids are a little more complicated. Like planets, they orbit the Sun, but they’re not the same. For starters, there are...
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