Hello ! There's plenty going on in the world of astronomy this month, and much to see in the night sky. Bright planets, the lingering arc of the Milky Way, a preview of the bright constellations of northern summer and southern
winter, even a couple of meteor showers. Here are your astronomical highlights for October 2021!
2. Take a look at the
dazzling Crescent Nebula, a glowing shell of gas from a rare 'Wolf-Rayet' star that resembles a gigantic cosmic brain. A great target for imagers, and a fine challenge for visual observers as well.
3. The redoubtable Timothy Ferris, the finest astronomy writer of the last half century, has assembled a series of low-key but thoughtful videos on a range of subjects, from the Voyager Golden Record (which he produced) to quantum computing, to 'who wrote the book of love'. The entire list of short videos is
available on YouTube at this link.
5. My friend and colleague Terry Hancock has won the Astrophotographer of the Year Award from Royal Greenwich Observatory in the 'stars and nebulae' category. A very short video about his work and his winning image (of the California Nebula)
at this link.
6. Bob King
takes you on a tour of the many splendid open star clusters in the constellation Cassiopeia.
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Clear Skies!
Brian Ventrudo
Publisher