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Celestial News & Events

Comet 45P Returns to Dark Skies

With the Moon out of the picture, amateurs can once again check in on comet 45P/H-M-P, now making an appearance in the evening sky.

Comet 45P

Celestial Objects to Observe

Green Comet 45P Makes Close Earth Flyby

Green-glowing 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova will make an unusually close pass by Earth on Saturday. Watch it boogie across the morning sky this week!

Fantastic Voyage

Explore the Night with Bob King

Star-Trapping in Orion's Trapezium

Take a high-power ride to seek out baby stars and clotted clouds within the heart of the Orion Nebula.

Explore the Night with Bob King

Get Your Iridium Fix Before It's Too Late!

The shock and dazzle of Iridium flares will soon be a thing of the past. Here's how to make the most of seeing them before they're replaced by a new generation of satellites.

Near and Far Planets Draw Close

Explore the Night with Bob King

See Mercury First, Then Have Breakfast

Late sunrises make it easy to follow the parade of planets at dawn, including a nice apparition of Mercury this week with three successive lunar conjunctions.

Moon

Explore Craters in the Lunar Arctic

Put on a coat, set up your scope, and become a polar explorer as we visit off-the-beaten-path craters and maria in the Moon's arctic vastness.

Finder Chart Comet 45P/

Explore the Night with Bob King

Bright Prospects for Comets in 2017

Comet lovers have much to look forward to in the new year with six potential bright binocular comets and at least two others for modest backyard telescopes.

New Year's Revelers Passing in the Night

Celestial News & Events

Mars Meets Neptune on New Year's Eve

Doing anything on New Year's Eve? Before you start toasting, don't miss an exceptionally close conjunction of Mars and Neptune.

Low Sun, Long Shadows and Icy Atmospherics

Explore the Night with Bob King

Swing Low, Sweet Sun: It's Solstice Time

Daylight ebbs to a minimum on Wednesday's winter solstice, but not for long. The very next day, the Sun turns back north and the cycle of light begins again.

Beguiling Hues

Double Stars

Colored Double Stars, Real and Imagined

Colorful lights twinkle everywhere during the holiday season, including up above in some remarkably tinted double stars. Find out what makes them so alluring.

Celestial News & Events

Supermoon and Geminids Duke it Out

In a spectacular case of bad timing, the full Moon coincides with the annual Geminid meteor shower. Don't feel put out. There's still something for everyone, including a consolation prize.

Comet Triple Crown

Comets

Comet Campaign Seeks Imagers Worldwide

Calling all imagers! Three comets will make close flybys of Earth over the next two years. Join a new pro-am effort to make the most of this rare triple play.

Quasar Footprint

Explore the Night with Bob King

Quasar CTA 102: Historically Bright, Violently Variable

The normally faint quasar CTA 102, once thought to harbor an advanced civilization and made famous in a 1967 song by the Byrds, is currently bright enough to see in an 8-inch telescope.  In the history of SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, there have been two great false alarms.…

Brothers in Blue

Planets

Uranus: In Seventh Heaven with Planet Seven

With our eyes often glued to the bright classical planets, Uranus is easy to overlook. Now well-placed for viewing at a convenient hour, why not pay this pale blue dot a visit the next clear night?

Supermoon a Supersight

Explore the Night with Bob King

Behold November's Super-Duper Supermoon

You won't want to miss the biggest, brightest full Moon in more than 68 years. Find out what makes this supermoon so special and how best to view it.

Beacons in Interstellar Fog

Explore the Night with Bob King

The Merope Nebula and Its Well-Kept Secret

Did you know that the brightest part of the Merope Nebula in the Pleiades is also the hardest to see? We'll make sense of this seeming contradiction while honing key observing skills.

Haunted Skies

Explore the Night with Bob King

Spooky Nebulae for Halloween Nights

While the kids are gathering sweet treats this Halloween, get a celestial scare with these frightful deep-sky sights.

Needles in a Starry Sky

Celestial News & Events

Halley On Fire! Orionids Peak This Week

The annual Orionid meteor shower is active all week, peaking Friday morning October 21st. If you're up before dawn, you might just see these Halley's Comet castoffs come to life.

Sharpen Your Skills on Sharpless 2-132

Explore the Night with Bob King

Plant Your Eyes In Delta Cephei's Fertile Triangle

The famous variable star Delta Cephei unlocks a box deep-sky treasures in a little-visited corner of Cepheus, the King.

Deep Sky

Resolving Andromeda — How to See Stars 2.5 Million Light-Years Away

At 2.5 million light-years away, you might think it's impossible to see individual stars in the Andromeda Galaxy. Let its largest star cloud, NGC 206, show you the way.