
Monday 2nd to Sunday 8th June 2025
The evening of Wednesday 4th, around
At
If you look towards the east around the same time, any evening next week, try to identify an area of the sky known as the "Summer Triangle" that has its three points marked by the stars Deneb in Cygnus, Vega in Lyra and Altair in
Astronomers love this part of the sky as it contains numerous deep sky targets for your telescope. Some of them, like the Dumbbell Nebula M27 and Ring Nebula M57 appear in the Charles Messier catalogue. Others are listed in the New General catalogue and a great one of these to observe with your telescope is called the Blinking Nebula. The nebula does not blink on and off! It has a bright centre star and if you use your peripheral vision in the eyepiece to look at the nebula's gas through the side of your eye, you will see it. Stare towards the centre and the gas of the nebula will seem to disappear as the light from the star overwhelms your eye!
Sir Patrick Moore liked it so much, he included the nebula in his
www.starsoversomerset.com
Plato images courtesy of
Screenshots courtesy of Stellarium
Copyright Adrian Dening and Radio Ninesprings 2025