Night Sky Photography -- 02-02-2026 -- The Moon Occults Regulus

 

Last night our beautiful still Full Snow Moon passed in front of the bright star Regulus -- the brightest star of the Constellation Leo the Lion.

Regulus (Alpha Leonis) is the 22nd brightest star in the night sky. Its a blue-white main-sequence star, also known as the "heart of the lion". As I've mentioned before on this site, Regulus may appear to be a single point of light, but its actually a quadruple star system composed of four stars that are organized into two pairs. This system lies approximately 79 light years (or 24.2 parsecs) from our Solar System.

Beginning about 9:00 p.m. EST here in North America, Luna passed in front of (or occulted) Regulus and -- for about a little under two hours -- replaced Regulus to become a part of the Constellation Leo!

I was able to capture three great shots of the occultation of Regulus by our beautifully still mostly full Luna: one before with both bodies shinning through the tree branches, the second during the occultation, and the last after the Moon's orbit eastward finally passed away from Regulus.

Unfortunately I was unable to capture all of the stars of the constellation due to the bright full moon's glare, but I was able to capture the two other bright stars of Leo: Denebola (Beta Leonis) the "lion's tail" and Algieba (Gamma Leonis) during the occultation of Regulus.

Night Sky Photography -- 03-20-2023 -- The March Equinox & Locating The Spring Triangle & Great Diamond Constellations

Happy Spring Equinox, Y'all!

Today is the first official day of spring equinox 2023 here in the Northern Hemisphere. Goodbye to those long, cold winter nights and hello to longer daytime hours and warmer weather.

The equinox refers to the moment when Earth's rotation axis is directly perpendicular to the Sun, or from our perspective here on Earth when the Sun travels just over the Earth's equator. This occurs twice a year in March and September when the axis of the Earth tilts and turns one hemisphere of the Earth towards the sun in our orbit.

In the Northern Hemisphere this is referred to as the March Vernal Equinox (or spring equinox). In the Southern Hemisphere below the equator this is actually the first day of autumn.

For us amateur stargazers, it also means that the constellations of the Winter Circle (Winter Hexagon) will be setting in the west earlier after dark and new constellations will begin to appear in our evening sky dome.

The first day of spring and the next few months will be the perfect opportunity to see the amazing stars of the Spring Triangle asterism and its spring time constellations in the evening sky.

The Spring Triangle connects three major stars: Arcturus, Spica, and Regulus -- as well as their constellations: Bootes The Heardsman, Virgo The Virgin, and Leo The Lion  -- into a sort of isosceles triangle. A smaller and more equilateral Spring Triangle can also be formed using the star Denebola which is also a part of the Constellation Leo.

The following photos were taken in the late evening after midnight on Monday, March 20th and in the late evening before midnight of the same day of the Spring Triangle stars and their respective constellations.

The first star in the Spring Triangle is the large, orange-colored red giant star, Arcturus (or Alpha Bootes), the third-brightest star in the night sky visible in the Northern Hemisphere, and the brightest star in the Constellation Bootes The Heardsman. Arcturus is relatively the closest to us at about 36.7 light-years (or 11.2 parsecs) from the Sun.

The next is the binary star Spica (or Alpha Virginis) the brightest star in the Constellation Virgo The Virgin (or Virgo The Maiden). The brightest of these binaries is a blue giant star located about 261 light-years (or 80 parsecs) from the Sun. Spica is the 16th brightest star in the night sky.

The third star in the Spring Triangle is Regulus (or Alpha Leonis) the brightest star in the Constellation Leo The Lion, which is in reality a quadruple star system composed of four stars that are organized into two pairs. This system lies approximately 79 light-years (or 24.2 parsecs) from the Sun. Regulus is also known as the "Heart of the Lion" and is the 21st brightest star in the night sky.

The fourth star which comprises the smaller triangle is Denebola (or Beta Leonis), a A-type main sequence dwarf star and the second brightest star in Leo. The star is located at a distance of 36 light-years (or 11 parsecs) from the Sun -- also pretty close to us astronomically speaking.

Locating each of the Spring Triangle stars and their respective constellations is actually not all that hard even for those starting out learning about astronomy. In fact, its quite easy if you can locate the Big Dipper asterism in the evening sky.

The Big Dipper (or Plough) is an asterism of seven bright stars in the larger Constellation Ursa Major The Great Bear and its located near the Spring Triangle stars.

Using the Big Dipper as a guide to the Spring Triangle, you just need to remember three classical mnemonic phrases to navigate your way to their location:

(1) Using the bottom of the Big Dipper below the handle, draw a straight line in the sky using the two stars as a guide to "Make A Reach To Regulus."

(2) Use the end of the handle of the Big Dipper and draw another straight line to "Make An Arc To Arcturus." 
 
(3) Finally, make another straight line using Arcturus to "Drive A Spike To Spica." 

The smaller Spring Triangle stars are also included by a fourth star Cor Caroli in the small Constellation Canes Venatici to form yet another asterism known as the Great Diamond of Virgo -- Or Great Diamond. The Great Diamond connects four constellations and is slightly large than the nearby Big Dipper itself.

That is my presentation and photographic offerings for the beginning of the 2023 spring season. More will be coming soon. Until then, have a wonderful Dixie Day and keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all hear!

Night Sky Photography -- 11-17-2020 -- Venus & The Great Diamond With Constellations

Good morning fellow Stargazers!

Once again your favorite blogger got up early this morning -- about an hour before sunrise -- to capture Venus and the early morning stars in the eastern sky. Among the stars included the major stars and the constellations that make up the Great Diamond asterism. 

In the first photo, you can see the four major stars that make up the Great Diamond: Denebola, Cor Caroli, Arcturus, and Spica -- which can be seen just through the tree next to bright Venus.

In the second photo I highlighted the major constellations located in the Great Diamond: Leo The Lion, Bootes The Herdsman, and Virgo The Maiden. I was able to just barely capture all the major stars of these constellations in the pre-dawn sky. 

 

The three southernmost stars (Denebola, Arcturus, and Spica) are also a part of their own asterism, the Spring Triangle. Interesting fact about Spring Triangle is that there are in fact two of them. Denebola makes up the more nearly equilateral version of the triangle while the star Regulus -- also located in the Constellation Leo The Lion -- makes a larger and more pie-piece-shaped triangle.

In my final photo I highlighted both versions of the Spring Triangle asterism, as well as the Arc To Arcturus which can be found by following the handle of the Big Dipper in the Constellation Ursa Major. Sky watchers use the phrase: follow the arc to Arcturus, and drive a spike (or speed on) to Spica, in order to locate the two stars in the sky dome. 

 

Astronomy is awesome!

Well folks, I hope y'all enjoyed my early morning photography as much as I enjoy bringing it to y'all. Have a wonderful Dixie day and y'all be sure to keep your eyes to the skies!

Night Sky Photography -- 05-01-2020 -- Constellation Leo The Lion & Waxing Gibbous Moon

Good evening, fellow stargazers!

This evening our lovely Luna in her Waxing Gibbous phase can be spotted near the bright star Regulus -- the heart of the Constellation Leo The Lion. I was able to get these wonderful shots of all the major stars, as well as a beautiful close up of the waxing gibbous moon. 

I hope y'all enjoyed these photos. Be sure to look towards the western sky in the early evenings for bright Venus as May will be the planet Venus’ last full month in the western twilight sky for the year 2020. We’ll all be able to watch it sink closer to the western horizon day by day, finally disappearing in the sunset glare. On Wednesday, June 3, 2020, Venus will swing between the Earth and sun in its orbit, reaching the point called inferior conjunction by astronomers. Afterwards it’ll transition over to the eastern sky before sunup. 

Y'all have a good night, and keep your eyes to the night skies.