What's up in the Sky?

What’s a sunspot? We’ve often heard about these blemishes on the Sun. The Sun appears like a smooth, flawless white-hot sphere but if you took a closer look, you would find pairs or groups of dark spots on the surface. Some are large and some...

Every September in the northern hemisphere, we have the autumnal equinox. This year it occurs on September 22nd. It marks the start of fall. A second equinox occurs each year in March. It is called the vernal equinox and signals the start of spring....

The longer summer nights in August give us more time for viewing the majesty of the Milky Way but August also has one of the best meteor showers of the year. The Perseid shower is the annual big one with its radiant centered near the top portion of...

That time of year when the days are long and the nights are short has come again. But you can’t find better months than July and August for the sheer beauty and quantity of constellations and deep sky objects to feast your eyes upon. The only...

On June 10th, an Annular Solar Eclipse will be visible over northern Ontario. An annular eclipse happens when the Moon doesn’t quite cover the whole solar disk and the Sun can still be seen around the shadow of the Moon. It occurs when the Moon is...

Just about every month I give you a reminder about what meteor shower or showers to watch out for. I also point out that meteors result when Earth plows through dust and particle trails left behind by comets. That started me thinking about, well,...

My neighbours and I were walking our dogs this morning when they, as they often do, asked me if there was anything interesting going on up in the sky. I mentioned the medium size meteor shower going on later this month. It’s the annual Lyrid...

The landing on Mars of the rover Perseverance on February 18th had to be the best live action adventure I’ve watched since the last rover landing. The sophisticated technology that allows these rovers to land successfully, time after time, is...

It’s once again that time of the year when the Zodiacal light makes its appearance. It’s a beautiful, spectacular sight rising in a pyramid shape from the horizon. Some of this was written in a 2019 column but it bears review. It’s well worth...

One marvelous meteor shower and another OK shower grace our sky this December. The first is the Geminid shower and it’s one of the best of the best each year. It peaks on the evening of the 13th and it’s our luck that the waning Moon is the...

We have a meteor shower this month that is one of my favourites. It’s the Leonid shower which has its radiant or source point, near the bright star Regulus in the constellation Leo the Lion. The meteors come from the debris trail of the Comet...

October is a beautiful month for observing the night sky. The bugs are mostly gone, temperatures are comfy with a little help from a sweater and darkness comes early and lasts through to a late sunrise. This October is especially exciting. As...

If you haven’t already, start getting excited about Mars! Every two years and 50 days, a Martian year, Mars is in opposition –the Earth passes between Mars and the Sun and the 2 planets are as close as they can be in their orbits. Since the...

The summer nights in August are still long, giving us more time for observing. This is great because the main event this month is the annual Perseid meteor shower. Comet Neowise was a good show last month (I didn’t put it in my column - I thought...

What a month for planets! Wild banded Jupiter and ringed Saturn are up all night by mid month as they move from the southeast through to the southwest. After the beauty of Saturn’s rings, it’s hard to beat observing Jupiter’s four most...

The Moon is leaving us! Well, not right away. I’ve mentioned in a few columns over the past few years that the only reason that we have a solar eclipse is that the Moon is at the exact right distance to block the Sun completely. In the very...

Well, Comet Atlas was a bust! I said in my April column that it might disintegrate and it did just that. It broke into multiple fragments and now needs a good telescope to be seen. But as luck would have it, there is a new comet that has the...

In these times of isolation and distancing, there’s still an activity that provides plenty of fresh air, awe and delight. Observing the night sky can be done solitary or shared at a safe talking distance from others without diminishing the...

Did you know that the Moon is slowly moving away from the Earth? Planetary scientists are pretty sure that the Moon is the result of a glancing collision with another huge planetary body some 4.5 billion years ago. The debris from that glancing blow...

I’ve always wondered how a galaxy could be more than 27 billion light years from Earth when the universe is roughly only 13.7 billion years old. A light year is considered a unit of distance and indicates how far you can go in one year at the...

We have 2 special highlights this month. The Geminids , arguably the best annual meteor shower, makes its annual appearance on the night of December 13/14. It is a truly spectacular shower that is viewable from December 4th to about the 17th. It...

This month we have the annual Leonid meteor shower gracing our skies.  This shower peaks near dawn on November the 18th but is active from about November 6th to the 30th.  Start actively watching after the 6th and you’ll note that their numbers...

by Fred Barrett Welcome to the best observing time of the year - no bugs, the temperature is reasonable and darkness arrives early enough to haul the kids out to share the observing sights with you.  Midsummer may have a few more spectacular deep...

Happy Perseid Meteor shower! Every amateur stargazer worth their love of the heavens looks upwards every August for the spectacular sky shower centered in the constellation Perseus. It’s the annual big one and this year it should be no different....

This month marks a truly historic anniversary of an event which is arguably one of the most historic achievements of humanity – landing human beings for the first time on another world. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin...

This month, we will talk about nothing again, but we will take a circuitous route to reach our empty destination. Be patient! First, we have to talk about one technique that astronomers use to measure the distance to a distant point in space. I have...

I thought that for this column, I would begin by describing a picture of nothing. “Nothing?”, you say! Well actually, I’m being a bit misleading. The first real picture of a black hole was released by scientists of the Event Horizon Telescope...

Cover your head this month. We have a major meteor shower hitting our skies. The Lyrid shower peaks this month on the night of the 22nd/23rd. As many as 20 meteors per hour are possible. Sadly, this shower peak occurs 3 days past full moon (waning...

I always try to give you a head’s up (get it?) whenever the Zodiacal light can be viewed in its entire splendor in the night sky. This month, we’re in luck! Its cone-shaped radiance will be best viewable from mid-February through early March...

This should be a great month for comet lovers. Comet 46P Wirtanen will be a naked eye sight in the sky. It’s small, just barely 1 Km in diameter, but its orbit will pass very close to Earth making it appear like a much bigger object. It’s...

This should be a very interesting month! We have a comet or two, a sky filling meteor storm and the Moon gives Mars a haircut on the 15th. I’ll start first with the Leonid meteor shower. The Leonid shower roars to its peak on the 17th but the...

The appearance of the constellation Pegasus in the east, marks the transition from summer to autumn. In Greek mythology, Pegasus was a winged horse possessed with magical powers. Pegasus, at 1100 square degrees, is the 7th largest constellation....

In August, the late summer nights are longer, giving us more time for observing. Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn are a beautiful spectacle by naked eye, binoculars or telescope, but the main event this month happens on the night of August 12/13. The...

You can’t beat July and August for the beauty and quantity of constellations that can be observed in the night sky. The nicest ones and the easiest to find are imbedded in the Milky Way. It is a white band of stars and dark dust clouds that arches...

Venus, Jupiter and Mars are real treats to observe this Month! Saturn is coming on strong as well. Jupiter reaches opposition on May 8th. That means that Earth will be in a direct line between Jupiter and the Sun and Jupiter will be at its closest...

It’s going to be an exciting month for planets and we have 2 full moons again, just like January. They occur on March 1st and 31st. Since the months of the year don’t quite match the lunar cycles, 2 full moons in one month can be the result, and...

I must apologize for not providing a column for the last 2 months. Some family matters needed to be addressed. But, I’m back. If this column arrives at your mailbox before January 31st, be aware that a second Full Moon for January will occur on...

The big news this month is that a partial eclipse of the Sun will occur in our area on August 21 starting about 1 pm. Our American friends can view the Total Eclipse along a path that curves across the middle of the United States. If you are...

This month you will notice that there is a picture of a star field included with the column.  It encompasses the summer triangle in its entirety.  The circled star at the far left is Deneb at the tail of the Swan constellation Cygnus.  The star...

“The Beginners Observing Guide” by Leo Enright is an invaluable companion for adventures in the night sky.  It contains star charts and is packed with information.  It can be purchased at the Sharbot Lake pharmacy or it can be ordered from the...

I had a fellow email me last month asking if a modest size drawing or picture of the night sky for the month of the column could be included to help find the constellations and objects I point out in the column.  I’ll see what I can do.  The...

Where oh where are Spirit and Opportunity?  These 2 Mars rovers landed successfully on Mars in 2004.  In 2009, poor Spirit rover succumbed when one of its 6 wheels went lame.  It could travel and move at a much-reduced rate by going backwards but...

Did you know that the Earth is not a perfect sphere?  There’s a special area of study in mathematics that involves measurements of Earth.  It is called ‘geodesty’.  It got its start in the 17th century when improvements in the field of...

“The Beginners Observing Guide” by Leo Enright is an invaluable companion for adventures in the night sky.  It contains star charts and is packed with information.  It can be purchased at the Sharbot Lake pharmacy or it can be ordered from the...

What’s up there indeed?  In this column, I’m going to talk about, um… nothing.  Did that catch your attention?  There are vast spaces between the stars and galaxies that appear to be completely empty, seemingly filled with nothing!  Even...

I hope the New Year finds you all raring to get out there and find all the adventures and challenges that our beautiful skies have to offer!  Of course, the minus temperatures demand dressing carefully to keep warm but the crisp, clear vista...

To track down the celestial event that occurred 2000 years ago that might be interpreted as the Star of Bethlehem, we must have a reasonably accurate idea of when Jesus Christ was born.  Theological historians place the birth of Jesus in September...

I remember a Christmas Day some 15 years ago when a ¾ partial eclipse of the Sun occurred at midday.  It was a cool, clear day and I was out there with my tripod and camera (a primitive DSLR) taking time lapse photos of the event while family and...

“The Beginner’s Observing Guide by Leo Enright is an invaluable companion for adventures in the sky.  It contains star charts and is available at the Sharbot Lake Pharmacy.  It can also be ordered from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada...

Is there a Planet X out there? Gravitational irregularities are shaping the orbits of some very distant Kuiper belt objects far out in the outer Solar System. Researchers Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown at Caltech hypothesize that a very large...

You may contact Fred Garrett through this paper or email to [email protected] The Beginner’s Observer’s Guide by Leo Enright is available at the Sharbot Lake Pharmacy or by contacting the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada www.rasc...

May is Mars month! Every 780 Earth days (2.14 years) Mars has its closest approach to Earth when it is in opposition, which occurs when it is in a line between the Earth and the Sun. Mars has the second greatest eccentricity after Mercury....

You may contact Fred Garrett through this paper or email to [email protected] The Beginner’s Observer’s Guide by Leo Enright is available at the Sharbot Lake Pharmacy or by contacting the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada www.rasc...

Yahoo! I had a wonderful time getting a video of Mercury transiting the Sun last month. I have to say it was quite a challenge setting everything up to record the event. I can’t say that I’ll qualify for an Oscar with my not very exciting video...

You may contact Fred Garrett through this paper or email to [email protected] The Beginner’s Observer’s Guide by Leo Enright is available at the Sharbot Lake Pharmacy or by contacting the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada www.rasc...

One of the biggest announcements in astronomy recently was the discovery of a planet orbiting the star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun. First, let’s look at a bit of introductory information. Proxima Centauri is part of a trinary...

You may contact Fred Garrett through this paper or email to [email protected] The Beginner’s Observer’s Guide by Leo Enright is available at the Sharbot Lake Pharmacy or by contacting the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada www.rasc...