Live Updates: The Transit of Venus

6:04-Venus has just begun to touch the farthest edge of the Sun. 6:10-You can just barely make out the half of Venus that is over the upper right corner. 6:22-Venus is now completely covering its little part of the Sun as it continues to sail across its surface. 6:27-Clouds and some rain have come into […]

The Return of Big Red

“Guess who’s back, back again. Big Red’s back, tell a friend!” Eminem-February, 2012 (Referencing the orbital cycle that bring Mars and Earth near each other for incredible views every two years) Good ole Slim Shady has it right once again. If you are into planetary observing, now is the time to pull out the long […]

The Summer of Clouds

With the fall air turning ever so colder, I thought it would be a good time do an overview of how my “summer of astronomy” went. Being a teacher, I was looking forward to June, July and August to provide me with some late night observation opportunities. While, there were some nice and clear nights throughout […]

Planetary Observing Tips

Planets are the reason I wanted a telescope as a kid. My first views of Saturn and Jupiter came at a very young age. I was amazed at being able to see cloud patterns on Jupiter and splits in the rings of Saturn. To this day, Saturn and Jupiter are my favorite objects to view […]

Saturn and Mars Video Through a Telescope

Two of my favorite planetary targets! These videos were taken in 2010 by holding up a digital camera and recording video through the eyepiece. This process, along with how to take pictures from these video frames, was detailed in a previous post on photo stacking. Look for the white polar ice cap on the bottom left […]

“The Cosmic Ballet Continues”

The title for this post comes from one of the best episodes of the Simpsons “Marge vs. the Monorail”. Why is this a favorite episode, you may ask? Well, it was written by Conan O’brien, has a song performed by Phil Hartman and the above mentioned quote comes from none other than a very famous passenger […]

The Great Red Spot of Jupiter

At 3:40am, a noticeable blob peaked its way into view moving across Jupiter’s surface. Located where the missing southern cloud belt should have been, it became apparent very quickly that this was something I had wanted to view since childhood. The location and size left no doubt that this was the Great Red Spot (GRS) […]

All 8 Planets, Present and Accounted For

Hanging out with Lauren at four o’clock in the morning can only mean one thing…telescope time. Before you pass judgment on my late night priorities, let me mention that on this night Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune could all be viewed in the night time sky. See, I knew you would understand! Jupiter Looking to the […]

The Conjunction Continues

Trees in my backyard can make positioning for objects quite a task. As was the case with Mars and Regulus on this night. Just above the mountains to the East lied the stellar pair who only had about 30 minutes of visibility left for the night. Bringing out the scope, Lauren and I placed it […]

The Conjunction Junction…of Mars and Regulus

“Conjunction Junction, what’s your function? Hooking up words and phrases and clauses!” “Conjunction in Space, what’s your function? I’m a cosmic rendezvous in which two celestial objects appear to be close to each other even though we’re still hundreds of light years away.” Looking up into the night sky over the next few evening will […]