The Night Sky This Week December 5 2022
Join National Geographic columnist and Night Sky Guy Andrew Fazekas for his picks for top skywatching picks of the week. This week highlight the main skywatching event of the Moon hiding Mars !
Watch the Moon Hide Mars
(Source: Sky and Telescope) The night of December 7–8 will be an exciting one for fans of the Red Planet. Not only will Mars be at opposition, but the full Moon will blot it out of the sky for many locations on Earth.** On the night of December 7–8, Mars will be at opposition — opposite the Sun’s […]
Mars at its Closest to Earth For Next 10 Years
Perhaps you’ve noticed a ruddy, star-like beacon rising in the east at night. That’s the planet Mars and it has been steadily growing bigger and brighter over the past few months. Skywatchers everywhere are now watching the heavens with anticipation as the Red Planet heads for a close encounter with Earth this week. On November […]
NASA Astronomers Saw Ontario Meteor Coming
In the early hours of Saturday, Nov. 19, the skies over southern Ontario, Canada, lit up as a tiny asteroid harmlessly streaked across the sky high in Earth’s atmosphere, broke up, and likely scattered small meteorites over the southern coastline of Lake Ontario. The fireball wasn’t a surprise. Roughly 1 meter (3 feet) wide, the […]
Night Sky This Week
Join National Geographic columnist and Night Sky Guy Andrew Fazekas for his picks for top stargazing sights of the week
Artemis launch prepares for future moon missions
NASA launched Artemis I November 16, the first in a series of space missions to enable future human exploration of the moon and Mars. The uncrewed, 25.5-day mission sends the Orion spacecraft on a journey of more than 2 million kilometers, farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever traveled. Artemis I will allow […]
Webb Catches Baby Stars Forming in Cosmic Hourglass
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has revealed the once-hidden features of the protostar within the dark cloud L1527 with its Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam), providing insight into the formation of a new star. These blazing clouds within the Taurus star-forming region are only visible in infrared light, making it an ideal target for Webb. […]
NASA’s Megarocket Launches to the Moon!
Following a successful launch of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), the most powerful rocket in the world, the agency’s Orion spacecraft is on its way to the Moon as part of the Artemis program. Carrying an uncrewed Orion, SLS lifted off for its flight test debut at 1:47 a.m. EST Wednesday from Launch Pad 39B […]
The Night Sky This Week November 14 2022
Join National Geographic columnist and Night Sky Guy Andrew Fazekas for his top stargazing picks of the week. This week we talk about the Moon in Leo, the size of constellations, and a possible Leonid Meteor Shower outburst.