Venus remains in the evening sky this month. Venus outshines everything except the Sun and the Moon, so it is unmistakable low in the southwest at dusk. Jupiter and Saturn remain well placed for evening observing this fall. Look for Jupiter and Saturn in the south as night falls. Jupiter is brighter than all the stars we ever […]
Autumn represents sort of an ‘intermission’ in the sky, with bright summer stars setting at dusk, while bright winter patterns such as Orion have not yet risen. The ‘teapot’ of Sagittarius sets in the southwest early in the evening. The Summer Triangle is high in the west. Meanwhile, the Great Square […]
Brilliant winter stars shift towards the southwest during March. Dazzling Orion is almost due south at dusk. His three-starred belt is halfway between reddish Betelgeuse and bluish Rigel. Orion’s belt points up to Aldebaran in Taurus the Bull. To Orion’s upper left are the twin stars Castor and Pollux, marking the heads of Gemini, […]
Jupiter is almost due south at dawn; it outshines all the stars we ever see at night. Mars is in the south-southeast at dawn. It brightens a little each morning as moves away from Jupiter and towards Saturn. Saturn is in the southeast at dawn this month. Venus is lost […]
By Kim Vera, HMNS Membership Copywriter In August and September we had plenty events to help ease your summer blues and celebrate the beginning of the fall season. Here’s a recap in case you missed out. And be on the lookout for your HMNS weekly newsletter because we are planning a lot of exciting […]
Jupiter is now in the west at dusk. It outshines all stars we ever see at night, so you can’t miss it. Mars and Saturn are now in the south at dusk. As you watch them, Mars is to the right and is much brighter. Although Mars continues to fade each night as Earth leaves […]
It’s been a wet, cloudy year for George Observatory, but flooding and poor viewing nights at Brazos Bend State Park haven’t kept astronomers from dreaming. Big breakthroughs have happened at the George in the past, and with a complete restoration of the 36-inch, deep space Gueymard Research Telescope, a return to astronomical research is quite […]
Jupiter is now high in the east-southeast at dusk. It outshines all stars we ever see at night, so you can’t miss it. Mercury is visible just after sunset this month. Face west at twilight, and look low in the sky over the point where the sun sets. Mercury isn’t as brilliant as Venus or […]
This is the last month to observe the two brightest planets in the western evening sky. On June 30, Venus overtook Jupiter. This month, watch Venus shift to the left of Jupiter each evening at dusk. Meanwhile, both planets appear lower and lower to the horizon each night, until they are both lost in the […]
April 25 will mark the 25th anniversary of the world-famous Hubble Space Telescope, and the George Observatory will celebrate with a debut of their restored 36-inch Gueymard Research Telescope, the largest specialized Cassegrain telescope open to the public, and the only one that chooses to use an eyepiece. “You can see the images with your own […]
