There's a lot going on on the sun right now. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory took this image earlier today of four sunspot groups. Region 2866 is just large enough to be visible without a telescope when viewed through a appropriate, safe solar filter or using a projection method described in the text. Contributed / NASA, SDO

Astro Bob 5:25 pm, Sep. 7, 2021

Astro Bob: Sun gets a bad case of the spots

Good-sized sunspot groups are popping up on the sun this week, and they'll soon face Earth. Learn how to safely view them and whether they might touch off the aurora.

The moon will be new Monday evening, Sept. 6, 2021, and completely invisible near the sun in the constellation Leo.
Contributed / Stellarium

Astro Bob 2:22 pm, Sep. 6, 2021

Astro Bob: Metamorphosis at dusk — A New Moon revelation

Find the Teapot of Sagittarius and the bright chunk of Milky Way called the Large Sagittarius Star Cloud (upper right) that makes the "steam" rising from the kettle. Contributed / Bob King

Astro Bob 3:05 pm, Sep. 2, 2021

Astro Bob: Sagittarius — a pot of tea at twilight's end

The enormous mass of two foreground galaxies (center) act as a lens to bend and distort the light of a distant, star-like quasar into four images in a ring surrounding the pair. Contributed / ESA/Hubble & NASA, T. Treu; Acknowledgment: J. Schmidt

Astro Bob 7:54 pm, Sep. 1, 2021

Astro Bob: Gravitational magic creates cosmic quintuple

Active sunspot group 2860 unleashes a powerful M4.7 flare early on August 28th. We see it here up close in a photo taken in ultraviolet light by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. Contributed / NASA, SDO

Astro Bob 1:03 pm, Aug. 29, 2021

Astro Bob: Aurora watch Sunday night, Aug. 29

The fastest asteroid in the solar system was recently discovered at NOIRLab’s CTIO. The orbit of the approximately 0.6-mile-wide asteroid takes it as close as 12 million miles from the sun every 113 days. This artist’s rendering shows the asteroid (above) and the planet Mercury (below).
Contributed / CTIO, NOIRLab, NSF, AURA, J. da Silva (Spaceengine)

Astro Bob 4:19 pm, Aug. 25, 2021

Astro Bob: Newly-discovered, fastest asteroid hotter than your oven

The bright asteroid Hebe is located just above the Teapot asterism that forms part of Sagittarius the Archer. It slowly tracks to the southeast now through fall. To get oriented, start at Saturn to point you to the general vicinity, then use the more detailed map below to star hop to the asteroid.
Contributed / Stellarium with additions by Bob King

Astro Bob 2:27 pm, Aug. 23, 2021

Astro Bob: Have a small scope? Take a peek at Hebe

The moon, photographed one day past full on Sunday, July 24, 2021, is anything but blue! Forest fires at the time fill the air with smoke, which dimmed and reddened the rising moon. Contributed / Bob King

Astro Bob 2:32 pm, Aug. 21, 2021

Astro Bob: Will the real Blue Moon please stand up?

Both Jupiter and Saturn brighten up the dim constellation Capricornus on Sunday, August 15. Jupiter rises around sunset and is easily visible in the southeastern sky by 9:30-10 p.m. local daylight time. Contributed / Bob King

Astro Bob 2:35 pm, Aug. 19, 2021

Astro Bob: Jupiter and Earth get tight tonight

The bright star Vega — pronounced either VEE-guh or VAY-guh — shines from near the top of the sky in August 2019.
Contributed / Bob King

Astro Bob 6:00 pm, Aug. 17, 2021

Astro Bob: Lie back in the grass and experience Vega

A Perseid fireball streaks past the Pleiades (Seven Sisters) star cluster during the surprise outburst shortly before dawn on August 14. (Bob King)

Astro Bob 2:31 pm, Aug. 15, 2021

Astro Bob: Perseid meteor shower surprises with post-peak outburst

William Wiethoff of Port Wing, Wisconsin, captured this bright Perseid against the Milky Way during the 2018 shower.
Contributed / William Wiethoff

Astro Bob 12:47 pm, Aug. 11, 2021

Astro Bob: How to photograph Perseid meteors

RS Ophiuchi shines brightly at magnitude 5.0 in this photo taken on August 9, 2021. The nova explosion is faintly visible with the naked eye as soon as it gets dark. Contributed / Ernesto Guido, Marco Rocchetto & Adriano Valvasori / telescope.live

Astro Bob 5:53 pm, Aug. 9, 2021

Astro Bob: A naked-eye starburst in Ophiuchus

A brilliant Perseid fireball cuts a colorful trail across the sky on the night of August 11-12, 2016. If you're lucky you might see similar brilliant Perseids speeding across the sky this week.
Contributed / Siaraduz / CC BY-SA 4.0

Astro Bob 4:23 pm, Aug. 8, 2021

Astro Bob: The Perseid meteor shower brings joy this week

The funnel weaver spider builds a flat, sheet-like web that funnels to a hole near its center. The spider occupies the hole in wait of prey. (Bob King)

Astro Bob 2:58 pm, Aug. 5, 2021

Astro Bob: A spider's lesson in black holes and spacetime

Orion returns to the morning sky at dawn in late July-early August. Wednesday morning August 4th, the old crescent moon joins the scene. (Stellarium)

Astro Bob 4:09 pm, Aug. 3, 2021

Astro Bob: Orion's rising hints of the coming fall

Saturn's rings are tilted toward us and make a memorable sight in a modest telescope this month. This photo was taken on July 21, 2021. (Damian Peach)

Astro Bob 4:22 pm, Aug. 1, 2021

Astro Bob: See Saturn at its most spectacular

The moon, one night before last quarter phase, will clear the trees around 12:30 a.m. tomorrow morning, July 30th. Will you be awake to see it? (Stellarium)

Astro Bob 4:20 pm, Jul. 29, 2021

Astro Bob: The Loneliness of the Last Quarter Moon

A Proton rocket carrying the Nauka module lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 21st headed for the International Space Station. (Roscosmos)

Astro Bob 2:20 pm, Jul. 28, 2021

Astro Bob: Watch 'Nauka' catch the space station

This image shows the PDS 70 planetary system, located nearly 400 light-years away and still in the process of being formed. The central star (center) has at least two planets orbiting it: PDS 70b (not visible in the image) and PDS 70c, the dot to the right of the star. The planets have carved out a cavity in the orange, ring-like disk of material as they gobble up the dust there. During this process, PDS 70c acquired its own circumplanetary disk, where young moons may lurk. (ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/Benisty et al.)

Astro Bob 2:37 pm, Jul. 25, 2021

Astro Bob: Astronomers spot moon-forming disk around Jupiter-like exoplanet

A couple enjoys each other's company on Brighton Beach at Lake Superior in Duluth during the last month's full moon. (Bob King)

Astro Bob 3:45 pm, Jul. 22, 2021

Astro Bob: Full Moon may look unusually red this week

This map shows the sky facing east on July 15, 3000 BC from the ancient city of Memphis (near Cairo) in Egypt. Sirius stands 3° high 32 minutes before sunrise around the time of its heliacal rising on that date. Venus joins the scene deeper in the solar glare. (Stellarium)

Astro Bob 4:07 pm, Jul. 20, 2021

Astro Bob: Dog Days bring summer swelter — blame Sirius

Delphinus the Dolphin is a small but easy-to-find constellation near the bottom of the bright Summer Triangle asterism. (Bob King)

Astro Bob 10:42 am, Jul. 19, 2021

Astro Bob: Delphinus, cutest constellation, has a tale or two to tell

This is the third of five space station orbits over northern Minnesota on the night of July 13-14. During this pass, which started at 1:18 a.m., the ISS cuts across through the Big Dipper (left). A firefly (right) makes a "pass" of its own at the same time. (Bob King)

Astro Bob 2:43 pm, Jul. 14, 2021

Astro Bob: Night vigil with the space station

Jupiter dominates the southeastern sky when it rises above the tree line around 11:30 p.m. in mid-July. This photo was taken around midnight July 8, 2021. (Bob King)

Astro Bob 10:54 am, Jul. 13, 2021

Astro Bob: What's that bright star in the east at midnight?

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