Observing
Dazzling New Views of a Familiar Cluster
Wow. It’s always amazing to get new views of familiar sky targets. And you always know that a “feast for…
Now’s the Time to See Asteroid Pallas at its Best
Looking for something off of the beaten celestial path to observe? The coming weeks will offer telescope users a rare…
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Space Station to Get a ‘Laser Cannon’
What’s a space station without a laser cannon? The International Space Station will be getting its very own laser at…
Enter the Red Planet: A Guide to the Upcoming Mars 2014 Opposition Season
Get those telescopes ready: the coming months offer Earthbound viewers some great views of the planet Mars. Mars reaches opposition…
Will Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Turn into a Wee Red Dot?
Watch out! One day it may just go away. Jupiter's most celebrated atmospheric beauty mark, the Great Red Spot (GRS),…
Watch Venus as it Wanders Through the Dawn in 2014
Are you a chronic early riser? Observational astronomy often means late nights and early mornings as daylight lengths get longer…
From Webcam to Planetcam: Planetary Imaging on the Cheap
It’s a question we get often. “What sort of gear did you use to capture that?” folks ask, imagining that…
NEOWISE Spots Mars-Crossing Comet
One of the big ticket astronomical events of 2014 will be the close passage of Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring past…
How to See Planet Mercury at its Best in 2014
There’s an often told anecdote that astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus never spied Mercury. And while this tale is almost certainly apocryphal,…
How to Not Die While Stargazing in the Cold
Bitter cold lies ahead for many skywatchers in the U.S. and Canada in the coming week as the polar vortex…