Featured Constellation: Corona Borealis. Rising in the Northeastern sky about two hours after the Big Dipper, the distinct curve of stars that make up Corona Borealis span an area about the size of your fist held out at arms length. As with many di
Astronomers generally refer to objects with catalog numbers- designations like M5, NGC 2288, PK 164 +31.1 and so on. But these are hard to remember. So, at the same time, they often acquire common names, generally based on their appearance or locat
Our squad of volunteers (minus one) at the John Glenn Astronomy Park last night. We had about 130 people visit, on a clear, moonlit evening and this great group showed them Venus, the Moon, the Great Orion Nebula, and a few star clusters. The image
Just and ordinary, run-o-the-mill portrait of the 12.8-day-old-moon rising at JGAP in the twilight last night. When astronomers call a moon a certain number of "days old", they are referring how many days since the moon was last "new&
Some spectacular celestial objects are less familiar because they lie near even more showy ones. If the rich star forming region M78 were in, say, Ursa Minor, it would be the highlight of that constellation. However, it's a little nebula in the big
Spring at JGAP can be rather cloudy and rainy (as our opening day, March 6, 2020 is forecast to be), but we will do our best to take advantage of all the clear weekend nights we can. Sign up for a free parking reservation for at: registration.jgap.
Happy Leap Day! Leap day, February 29, occurs, on average, slightly less than once every 4 years. Every century, one leap day is skipped and then, every 400 years, one is added back in. This is done because the amount of time that it takes the Ear
Sometimes we need a little perspective... Time image, of a small pyramidal slice of our milky-way passing through the region (as seen from our point of view) between the constellations Auriga and Gemini. It there many thousands of stars. Without a
The relatively dark skies of JGAP are great for those engaging in the pursuit of capturing celestial photons with electronic equipment. Unlike doing such imagery from the suburbs of a large city (Like Columbus or Cincinnati) where careful image proc
This is a selfie taken by Joe at the JGAP's C-14 telescope which he used to take the previous image in this Instagram feed of the Cone, Christmas Tree and Fox Fur nebulas. #jgastropark #joerenzetti #c14 #telescope #sct #schmidtcassegrain
At JGAP we have many talented and dedicated volunteers. Amongst those are several volunteers who are astrophotographers- those who take images of the night sky and celestial objects. Perhaps the most prolific of these is my friend Joe Renzetti, who
When you see stars in the sky or images of stars with "spikes" on them, what you are seeing does not come from the shape of the object itself, or some effect of light passing through the atmosphere. It is a relic of the equipment (biologic
A wide portrait of the winter constellations in the southern sky as seen from JGAP on January 21, 2020. At the center is Orion, the great hunter. Beneath him is Lepus, the hare. Above that are Gemini, the twins, one of the constellations of the zo
As of this writing (at 7:00 PM on February 2, 2020) the brightest natural object in the sky is the nearly full moon rising in the East. The second brightest is the brilliant Venus, high in the WSW and setting. The third brightest is the star Sirius,
Earth's sister planet Venus is exceptionally bright. Indeed, after the sun and moon, it is the third brightest (natural) object in the sky. For the next four months, Venus will be a fixture of the evening sky. It will appear as a brilliant "s
Tomorrow night in Central Ohio the forecast calls for clear skies. If you go out a short time after sunset and look towards the southwest, you'll see a bright "Star". It is not a star, but the planet Venus, often the most brilliant point o
The familiar constellation of Orion looks a little bit different in recent weeks. The next time it's clear, see if you can see why. In the upper left corner of the great rectangle of Orion is the bright, red supergiant star Betelgeuse- (which is re
Are you tired of the cold weather here in the northern hemisphere? If you are, don't blame Earth's distance to the sun on the cold. It has almost nothing to do with it. In fact, tonight at 2:48 am EST (on January 5), the Earth will be at its >c
Hiding out in the nondescript constellation of Monoceros ("The Unicorn") to the "left" of Orion, is a newborn star cluster surrounded by the gauzy cloud of mostly hydrogen gas from which it formed. From Earth, the illuminated por
The John Glenn Astronomy Park's plaza features six "sun slots" which capture the rising and setting sun on the first day of every season. Today, on the first day of winter- the Winter Solstice- the sun set though the gap at the southwest c