Tomorrow morning, I’ll leave for the annual Astronomical League convention dubbed ALCON. It’s a real joy to travel to these meetings and meet so many amateur astronomers who are doing observing, imaging, and spreading the joy of astronomy...

Astronomers using the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope on Haleakala, Maui, Hawaii, have discovered a faint comet whose orbit could bring it close to Earth and the Sun and make it quite bright 2 years from now. Imaged on the night of June 5/6, 2011, the comet is...

OK, I’ve seen a lot of deep-sky objects in my time so it takes something special to be unfamiliar and also a stunning image. This hot picture by Don Goldman of Ellis Grayson Bond 6 is just that — a killer! This obscure planetary nebula in...

I have lots and lots of favorite deep-sky objects. But among them, I hold a special place in my heart for a rather ordinary galaxy called NGC 4319 in Draco. It’s an “average Joe” NGC object in that it’s a barred spiral that glows...

A story in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal underscored the just-completed updating and renovation of the oldest planetarium in the United States, Adler Planetarium in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1930, Adler has over the past several years undergone...

Very sad news greeted me when I came into the office this morning. Michael Bakich informed me that he had heard of David Healy’s death, which actually happened a few days ago. For those who didn’t know him or know of him, David Healy (1936–2011...

On May 17 , I reported here the strange tale of Robert Burnham, Jr., the astronomer who wrote the much-loved observing guide Burnham's Celestial Handbook , a standard for amateur astronomers for many years. Yesterday would have been Burnham's...

On May 17 , I reported here the strange tale of Robert Burnham, Jr., the astronomer who wrote the much-loved observing guide Burnham's Celestial Handbook , a standard for amateur astronomers for many years. Today would have been Burnham's 80th...

Yesterday, I told you about a new nebula imaged by Israeli amateur astronomer Harel Boren in a wide-field image of the dark nebula Barnard 171 in Cepheus. In Boren's words, the object is "a long red (and possibly a little blue) emission nebula...

Israeli astroimager Harel Boren emailed the Astronomy magazine offices that in shooting a wide-field image of the dark nebula Barnard 171 in Cepheus, he may have imaged a previously unknown nebula. The accompanying photo from Boren shows an annotated...

Today NASA released an amazing video of the asteroid 4 Vesta shot on approach from the Dawn spacecraft. This is something you've just go to see. The video shows 20 frames the spacecraft obtained for navigational purposes on June 1. The asteroid's...

Have you ever been to a star party and seen someone who is disabled struggle with the ability to enjoy the universe? Do you know someone who would like to have the universe be more accessible to enjoy? If so, astronomy educator Noreen Grice has the book...

If you haven't yet seen the "new star" in one of our favorite galaxies, M51 in Ursa Major, I encourage you to do so on the next clear night. The supernova erupted in the Whirlpool Galaxy on May 31 and was first observed by French amateur...

Today, astronomers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) released this cool image of the galaxy NGC 6744 in Pavo, deep in the Southern Hemisphere. This "postcard from extragalactic space," as the ESO press office puts it, shows a galaxy...