Astronomy Yesterday and Today

If you’re a fan of telescopes, you’ll probably enjoy this new image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. It shows the inner workings of an elliptical galaxy called M87, which was discovered in 1994 by astronomer Mark Klebniak and his colleagues. The galaxy is more than 100 million times fainter than the Milky Way. The image also reveals hot spots and glowing regions of gas in the galaxy’s center, which appear as glowing dots on the right side of the image.

Stargazers can catch the last meteor shower of 2024 this weekend. The Geminids will peak on the night of Friday into Saturday, Dec. 13-14, as a bright Moon interferes with the show. But if skies are clear, you should be able to see meteors, which will be firing off in two showers. The first will be the Northern Taurids and the second will be the Southern Taurids. These two showers will be active for the week before, during and after a total lunar eclipse on the 14th. This is expected to produce some bright fireballs since the Moon’s light won’t wash them out.

This month’s waning crescent Moon dances with planets and a comet in the pre-dawn skies. On April 16th, you can watch the Moon occult (pass in front of) Mars as it graces the constellation of Taurus, the Bull. Mars will be a beautiful rusty-reddish-wihte orb that’s easy to spot after sunset and before 10 p.m. On the evening of the 18th, you can try spotting Saturn in the constellation of Aquarius, which will be above the Moon by 8 P.M. The ringed gas-giant will be at its sky position known as opposition, meaning that it rises just after sunset, sets just after sunrise, and is highest in the sky at midnight.

In other cosmic news, scientists have spotted what may be the oldest direct evidence of early water activity on Mars. The discovery bolsters the case that a region of the Red Planet could have been habitable at some time in its past.

Another recent astronomical find comes from observations made by the James Webb Space Telescope, which has scanned a distant galaxy to search for signs of enigmatic dark matter. Dark matter is thought to dominate our universe, but it’s never been directly observed. The probe, co-led by McGill astronomer Daryl Haggard, scanned a cluster of galaxies and found that one of them — named 3C 273, after its discoverer, Michael Chapman — was surrounded by a large cloud of dark matter. Read about this fascinating discovery here. John Jardine Goss is a Master Astronomer and author of the celestial observing guides “Exploring the Starry Realm,” and “Carpe Lunam.” He’s also the former president of the Astronomical League, the largest U.S. federation of astronomical societies with more than 24,000 members. John has a passion for the stars that he developed through personal observation and discovery at an early age, when a cosmic revelation shook his concept of the universe and launched him on a journey of exploration and amateur astronomy.