What's In The Sky - January 2020

January kicks off the New Year with wonderful sights for backyard astronomers to enjoy with friends and family. Don't forget to bundle up on clear, cold evenings as you explore the sparkling night sky. Here are a few of our top picks for January stargazers:

Quadrantid Meteor Shower

The Quadrantid Meteor Shower will be the first substantial meteor shower of 2020, with an estimated peak rate of around 120 meteors per hour. The shower will be active until January 12th, but peak rates are expected around 01:00 PST on January 4th. The Moon will be in the first quarter but fortunately will set around midnight providing little interference.

Don’t miss the Quadrantid meteor shower peak on 4 January 2019. Image Credit: Astronomy Now

New Moon

The nights around January 24th will be the best nights for observations due to the dark skies resulting from the New Moon. Bundle up, grab a telescope and your astrophotography gear and get out there to view and image those elusive fainter deep sky objects.

January Close Approaches

• The Moon & Mars 2°40' 07:00 PST January 20
• Venus & Neptune 0°18' 18:00 PST January 27

Orion High in the Sky

Their namesake constellation will be well-placed for backyard astronomers throughout January. Some of our favorite targets in or near Orion are:

• M42, The Great Nebula In Orion - Visible as the middle star of Orion's sword, this emission nebula looks amazing in everything from binoculars to a large aperture Dobsonian. Can you see the trapezium, the 4-star system at the center? Even viewers from moderately light-polluted areas can get a good sense of the glory of this object using an Orion UltraBlock or Oxygen-III filter.


• M78 - Another, much fainter, emission nebula M78 is located just left and above the left-most star in Orion's belt. Again, an Oxygen-III filter can help.


• NGC 2174/2175 - A large emission patch and star cluster, this complex is located near the top of Orion's raised "hand". Under dark and clear skies this can be seen in larger binoculars such as Orion's 15x70 or 20x80 Astronomy Binoculars.

January Challenge Object

Just west of Rigel, the bright blue/white star that marks the western "knee" of Orion, lies the Witch Head Nebula (IC 2118), in the neighboring constellation Eridanus. The Witch-Head is a reflection nebula that shines from reflected light off of Rigel, like the reflection nebula in the Pleiades, M45. You don't need a big telescope; a wide field of view, low power, and a dark sky are needed to see this challenging nebula. (Hint: Don't use filters)

All objects described above can easily be seen with the suggested equipment from a dark sky site, a viewing location some distance away from city lights where light pollution and when bright moonlight does not overpower the stars.

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"On the Moon Again!"

On July 20th, 1969, 600 million people on all the continents followed the first step of a man on the Moon, together with their family or friends, around a radio, and sometimes a television set. Fifty years later, "On the Moon Again" was created to share this enthusiasm for the Moon again in a global, universal movement, transcending all borders.

Insight Observatory and Blake Planetarium collaborated on the evening of July, 12th 2019, by participating in the global event "On the Moon Again".

Scientists worldwide gathered behind "On the Moon Again" and invited Insight Observatory to participate in this unifying event. Their support committee promoted the values of sharing and cooperation. "On the Moon Again" was an initiative of French scientists who coordinated this event with the contribution of thousands of volunteers. Once Insight Observatory was invited to join this global event, we immediately approached the Blake Planetarium located in Plymouth, MA to see if they would have an interest in putting on a joint event with Insight Observatory. The planetarium was very responsive, to say the least. Being that this event was for public outreach, the planetarium was kind enough to offer four showings of the planetarium's program "Earth, Moon, Sun", every half-hour free of charge to the public. This collaboration with Insight Observatory was highly publicized and the result was many reserving their spot ahead of time.

Interior view of the Blake Planetarium theater prior to the evening's event "On the Moon Again".

While the programs were running in the planetarium theater by Blake Planetarium Program Provider, Steven Davies, I represented Insight Observatory's contribution by providing a small Celestron 2.4" refractor telescope set up in the front of the school where the planetarium is located. Using this small instrument would make it easy to pick up and run inside in the event the skies opened up. Although the telescope was small and designed for novice astronomers, it still provided decent views of the moon. There was also a backup plan in case we were completely clouded out in Plymouth, MA. John Evelan, the owner of SkyPi Remote Observatory had his Insight Observatory affiliate telescope ATEO-2B, the Celestron 11" f/10 planetary telescope ready to broadcast images of the moon into the planetarium theater. Unfortunately, he was challenged by cloud coverage in western New Mexico and could only provide a few images of the moon.

Yours truly giving a thumbs-up after the clouds gave way to the moon, Dr. Patt Steiner providing views of the moon through her refractor telescope, and a quick shot of the moon through the Celestron refractor using my iPhone.

As folks were arriving and departing the planetarium, I had the waxing gibbous moon in the telescope's eyepiece for all to see. The weather started out unsettled however fortunately cleared out for most of the outdoor part of the event. Nearly all of the attendees that stopped by to look through the telescope had never seen the moon up so close before. The groups of adults and children of all ages were amazed by the detailed view of the craters, mountain ranges, and mare (seas) they could see with such a small backyard telescope. It was most rewarding guiding them where to look through the telescope for Mare Tranquillitatis (the Sea of Tranquility), the landing spot of Apollo 11.

Blake Planetarium has many public programs throughout the year. You can see what programs they have to offer by visiting bit.ly/BLAKEPLANET.

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What's In The Sky - March 2019

Take your family on a journey to the stars from the comfort of your own backyard! Here are some of Orion Telescopes and Binoculars' top picks for March stargazing:

Orion Continues to Shine

Constellation Orion is still well-placed in March skies for telescopic study. Check out the bright nebula M42, also called the Orion Nebula, which is visible as the middle "star" of Orion's "sword" just south of the three recognizable stars of Orion's belt. While easily detected in astronomy binoculars, the wispy Orion Nebula will reveal more intricate details in a telescope. After March, our namesake constellation will get lower and lower in the west, making it harder to see as the Sun moves eastward in the sky.

Brilliant Binocular Clusters

Grab a pair of 50mm or larger astronomy binoculars in March for great views of the Pleiades star cluster (M45), the Beehive cluster (M44), and the must-see Double Cluster in Perseus. These sparkling sky gems are simply beautiful when observed with big binoculars, or use a wide-field eyepiece and short focal length telescope for a closer look.

M81 and M82 Galaxies in Ursa Major Imaged on Insight Observatory's 16" f/3.7 Reflector (ATEO-1) - Image by Senior Astronomy Class Students Aidan K. and Trever B. from Barnstable High School, Massachusetts.

Galaxies Galore

By about 9-10pm throughout March, Ursa Major, Leo, and the western edge of the Virgo galaxy cluster are high enough in the eastern sky to yield great views of some of our favorite galaxies. Check out the bright pair of M81 and M82 just above the Big Dipper asterism. Look east of bright star Regulus to observe the Leo Triplet of galaxies M65, M66, and NGC 3628. In the northeastern sky, check out the famous Whirlpool Galaxy (M51). While the Whirlpool can be seen with modest 50mm binoculars, using a 10" or 12" telescope in a location with dark skies will display the distant galaxy's beautiful spiral arms. With an 8" or larger telescope and a dark sky, this region of the sky harbors dozens of galaxies — try to find them all!

March 11-13

In the evening sky the Moon, Mars, and the Pleiades star cluster will be in close proximity.

Mid- to Late-March

A cone of faint illumination known as the zodiacal light is visible from northern latitudes in the west just after evening twilight for the last two weeks of the month.

March 16-17

On the night of March 16th and the morning of the 17th, the waxing gibbous Moon will have a close encounter with M44, the Beehive star cluster. They come within 0.5 degrees of each other just before they set below the horizon before dawn.

March 20

This month the full moon rises on the same day as the vernal equinox — the start of spring! It is also the final “supermoon” of the year, meaning it will be nearly at its closest distance from the Earth, and thus nearly at its largest apparent size.

March 27

In the morning hours, the Moon and Jupiter make a pretty pair, separated by only about 4 degrees. Also, for the next seven nights, Mars will brush to within 4 degrees of the Pleiades star cluster (M45). Have a look at this cool conjunction with your binoculars!

March 29

Visible in the morning sky, Saturn will appear about 3 degrees from the waning crescent Moon.

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