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Oct 25, 2024 · In this video, we delve into the fascinating world of Betelgeuse, the iconic red supergiant star in Orion’s constellation. Known for its immense size and lum...
- 10 min
- 2.7K
- Discover Tube
Feb 13, 2023 · What was that in the sky last night? The lights you saw in Northeast Ohio Sunday night are courtesy of Elon Musk, and more specifically, SpaceX.Story:...
- 1 min
- 7.8K
- News 5 Cleveland
Sky & Telescope is your one-stop shop for the latest in celestial events. Whether you want to find out how to observe a new comet or are just curious about what’s in the sky tonight, we’re here to help. For decades, we’ve kept our readers up to speed on eclipses, meteor showers, and the planets.
- What Was The Bright Object I Saw in The Sky Last Night?
- Planets
- Stars
- Aeroplanes and Satellites
- Comets, Meteors and Meteorites
Is it a star, is it a planet or is it a plane? A handy guide to identifying that bright object you saw last night.
The chances are it’s Jupiter or Venus (or just occasionally Mars). Planets will appear to move across the sky as the Earth turns, keeping their position with respect to the surrounding stars. Unlike stars, they generally don’t twinkle as they have an apparent diameter large enough that the effect of turbulence in the Earth’s atmosphere averages out...
If the object you saw twinkled (possibly appearing to change colour as it does so) then it was probably a star. For example, in winter in Britain Sirius is visible fairly low in the south and shows exactly this behaviour.
Closer to home, if an aeroplane is flying directly towards you, it can appear to be stationary for a while (although the flashing landing lights may be visible) and can also be confused with a star or planet. However at some point the aircraft will appear to veer sideways or upwards as it passes by. Many artificial satellites are also visible to th...
Although visible comets with their spectacular tails, are quite rare and you would be wise to look up the next expected visit, they do leave a large quantity of space debris in their wake. When the Earth passes through these debris fields, we see meteors or shooting stars as these bits of dust burn up in our atmosphere. Occasionally a larger object...
See this week's sky at a glance with observing tips and maps to guide you to the night sky. Don't miss out on comets, meteors, eclipses, and more!
The latest astronomy and space news, including updates from the professional observatories and spacecraft exploring the cosmos.
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Discover celestial objects visible tonight from your current location. Our guide automatically shows planets, stars, nebulae, and spacecraft flyovers you can see right now. Explore the night sky with up-to-date data specific to where you are!
