17 Jul, 2018

Sunday night presented one of those astronomical alignments that can soothe the mind: Venus and the Moon were nearly cuddling, about one degree apart. [Telephoto view of Venus and the Moon by Richard Garrard of the Utah Astronomy Club, about 9:30 p.m., June 15, 2018. This exposure was made to show the part of the moon illuminated by Earthshine.] Cory and I were out to shop and walk in the park. We first noticed the lovely conjunction as we prepared to enter a supermarket at bright twilight,

07 Jul, 2018

We had just called on a globular star cluster and Paul Ricketts wondered where our next adventure should take place. Knowing he likes nebulas, I suggested that we try to photograph one. He chose a complex, sprawling, breathtaking example in the summer sky, the Eagle Nebula. Ricketts ordered the University of Utah’s great 32-inch-diameter telescope to slew toward the nebula, technically named Messier 16 (M16), and the instrument began to shift position. This was Saturday night, June 30. A few

27 Jun, 2018

NASA’s new planet hunting satellite, TESS, has entered its planned orbit, says a Utah native who is a member of the science team analyzing data to discover planets beyond the solar system -- and the last he checked it was "operating properly.” The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base, FL, on April 18. It looped through a unique program of complex orbits, taking it around the Earth three times and past Moon before settling into a stable orbit that

17 Jun, 2018

An unforgettable experience at the eyepiece, almost akin to seeing Saturn, is one's first look at a globular cluster. Hanging in the black of space is a spherical mass of stars whose center is so tightly packed that individual orbs cannot be picked out, while around the ball are stellar streamers and loops, the whole conglomeration glowing like gems. They are a galaxy's brilliant diamond brooches. As far as we know, star clusters are of two types, open and globular (the preferred pronunciation