Wonders of the Summer Sky

Summer Solstice 21 June 2011

tropic of Cancer arctic circle

equator antarctic circle

The Solar System

Saturn

Titan

Titan on the left with Dione in the foreground.

Mercury

Moon

Constellations require the use of your imagination.

The Summer Triangle

Lyra

M 57 to your eye.

The Ring Nebula, M-57, imaged by a telescope.

The Making of a Planetary Nebula

RR Lyrae

Distance Ladder

Aquila the Eagle

Altair 17 ly 1.7 x Dia. of Sun

Cygnus the Swan

Deneb

Albireo

Albireo in Cygnus

SAO 87301

Cygnus X-1

North America Nebula

Hercules

M13 and M92

M13 - The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules

M92

Libra

Gliese 581

Image credit ESO

Scorpius

Antares

Ophiuchus and Serpens

Globular Clusters in Ophiuchus

M19

M10

In total, there are over 20 globular clusters in Ophiuchus

M16 - Eagle Nebula

Sagittarius

Omega, Trifid, and Lagoon Nebulae

M17 Omega Nebula (a.k.a. Swan or Horseshoe Nebula)

M8 Lagoon Nebula

M20 - Trifid Nebula

The Galactic Center

What is the Milky Way Galaxy?

The Milky Way is the galaxy which is the home of our Solar System together with at least 300 to 400 billion other stars and their planets, and thousands of star clusters and nebulae.

The Optical Sky

The Infrared Sky

Barred Spiral Milky Way

The Milky Way diameter is about 100,000 light years.

Where is our Sun?

A SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE

Black Holes with masses a few hundred thousand to a few billion times the mass of the sun have been found outside the central regions of a number of galaxies, including the Milky Way (with a SMBH of 3.7 million solar masses).

Observing Hints
The surface features on the Moon are best seen when the Moon is not full. Saturn & its rings can be viewed when visible, but a telescope with about 30 power must be used. When viewing nebula and galaxies, it is best seen when the moon is not in the sky and the sky is clear. Allow time for your eyes to become dark adapted.

From the City country Lights side so Effects much What We moreSee Can can be seen!

Star gazing away from town.

Red light helps preserve your night vision.

Good lighting keeps cost down and is better to drive in.