A Conjunction of CrescentsA waxing crescent Moon and a waning crescent Venus are found at opposite corners of this twilight telephoto field of view. The close conjunction of the two brightest celestial beacons in planet Earth’s western evening sky was captured on February 1 from Rosario, Argentina. On that date, the slender crescent Moon was about…Read More

LEDA 1313424: The Bullseye GalaxyThe giant galaxy cataloged as LEDA 1313424 is about two and a half times the size of our own Milky Way. Its remarkable appearance in this recently released Hubble Space Telescope image strongly suggests its nickname “The Bullseye Galaxy”. Known as a collisional ring galaxy it has nine rings confirmed by telescopic…Read More

IC 2574: Coddington’s NebulaGrand spiral galaxies often seem to get all the glory, flaunting their young, bright, blue star clusters in beautiful, symmetric spiral arms. But small, irregular galaxies form stars too. In fact dwarf galaxy IC 2574 shows clear evidence of intense star forming activity in its telltale reddish regions of glowing…Read More

Comet G3 ATLAS Setting over a Chilean HillWhere is Comet ATLAS going? In the featured time-lapse video, the comet is not itself moving very much, but the Earth’s rotation makes it appear to be setting over a hill. The Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) sequence was captured with an ordinary camera on January 22 from the Araucanía Region in central Chile.…Read More

Anticrepuscular Rays: A Rainbow Fan over SpainYes, but can your rainbow do this? Late in the day, the Sun set as usual toward the west. However, on this day, the more interesting display was 180 degrees around — toward the east. There, not only was a rainbow visible, but an impressive display of anticrepuscular rays from the rainbow’s center. In…Read More