NGC 1300: Barred Spiral GalaxyAcross the center of this spiral galaxy is a bar. And at the center of this bar is smaller spiral. And at the center of that spiral is a supermassive black hole. This all happens in the big, beautiful, barred spiral galaxy cataloged as NGC 1300, a galaxy that lies some 70 million light-years away toward the…Read More

Aurora Slathers Up the SkyLike salsa verde on your favorite burrito, a green aurora slathers up the sky in this 2017 June 25 snapshot from the International Space Station. About 400 kilometers (250 miles) above Earth, the orbiting station is itself within the upper realm of the auroral displays. Aurorae have the signature colors of excited…Read More

Messier Catalog at Uniform ScaleWhat are some of the most interesting astronomical objects you can see in the night sky? Armed with a good pair of binoculars or a small telescope, if you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you can look for the very popular objects in the Messier Catalog. Most of them, but not all, are also visible from the…Read More

NGC 188: Old Cluster in the New General CatalogThe New General Catalog of star clusters and nebulae really isn’t so new. In fact, it was published in 1888 – an effort by J. L. E. Dreyer to consolidate the work of astronomers William, Caroline, and John Herschel along with others into a useful single, complete catalog of astronomical discoveries…Read More

Comet R3 PanSTARRS Before RigelWhich way is Comet R3 PanSTARRS going? Not towards the star at the top of the image, because that is Rigel, which, being far in the background, is unrelated to the comet. Not through the nebula in the image middle, because that is the Witch Head Nebula and it, too, is far in the distance — but not far from Rigel. …Read More