Messier 47
Messier 47 is an open cluster in the constellation Puppis. It was discovered by Giovanni Batista Hodierna before 1654 and independently discovered by Charles Messier on February 19, 1771. It was later independently discovered again,…
Jupiter: A Brief Overview
Being 2.5 times the size of all of the other planets in the Solar System combined, Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System. Jupiter has a mass 1/1000th of the Sun and is…
2024 Eclipse State Parks Statistics
In preparation for the April 8th, 2024 Total Solar Eclipse that is going to cross the US, we decided to put together a list of State Parks for viewing the eclipse for US states that…
Messier 46
M46 is a rich open cluster, easily visible with binoculars, that’s located in the Milky Way star fields of the constellation of Puppis. The cluster is a relatively large object with an apparent diameter almost…
Mars: Scientific Missions
There have been a total of 57 missions launched to Mars before the 2020 Launches. Of those missions, 20 have been successful and 8 are still operational. Lets take a look at some of the…
5 Beautiful National Parks To View The 2024 Solar Eclipse
Passing through the countries of Mexico, the United States, and Canada, the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse provides amazing opportunities to view totality in its grandeur in beautiful natural settings! These settings vary from waterfalls to…
2024 Solar Eclipse: Top 7 Large Cities Close To Totality
Although there are a plethora of large cities in the path of totality in Texas, there are some other great cities that are about 75 minutes away from totality that make an easy drive for…
Messier 45 Pleiades
Commonly called the Pleiades or Seven Sisters, M45 is known as an open star cluster that contains over a thousand stars that are loosely bound by gravity, but it is visually dominated by a handful…
Moons of Mars
In August 1877, the American astronomer Asaph Hall discovered the two moons of Mars using a 660 mm, 26 in, telescope at the U.S. Naval Observatory.[1] The names of the two satellites, Phobos and Deimos, were chosen by Hall based upon a suggestion by Henry Madan, a…
Messier 44 Beehive Cluster
The Beehive Cluster is an open cluster in the constellation Cancer. It is one of the nearest open clusters to Earth, containing a larger population of stars than other nearby bright open clusters. Under dark…