Checkout this sweet shot of spiral galaxy M101 as imaged by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. This is the largest and most detailed image ever taken of a spiral galaxy. It was composed from 51 separate images. More details on the image can be found on the Hubble Site. Nicknamed The Pinwheel Galaxy, M101 is [...]

The first rock, Mercury can be seen setting in this shot taken from Gooseberry Mesa. Because planet Mercury’s orbit is so tiny, it never stays in one place for very long. If you missed Mercury this weekend (you best opportunity), you’ll have no more than a few more days to view it as it’s already [...]

A tiny crescent Moon can be seen rising just below the planet Venus on a beautiful morning at Gooseberry Mesa, Utah. A popular destination for mountain bikers, Gooseberry is an ideal location for skywatchers. offers It’s got great horizons and some seriously dark skies .

There’s a new treat for morning skywatchers. Comet C/2006 A1 (Pojmanski) can now be viewed in the eastern sky just before sunrise. Look for the comet just east of the brilliant planet Venus. Comet Pojmanski was discovered by Grzegorz Pojmanski at the Warsaw University Astronomical Observatory on January 1. How’s that for a new years [...]

Location, Location, Location. That’s what it took to pull of this sweet shot. Taken in January by the Cassini Spacecraft, we see 3 of Saturn’s moons aligned. Dione, is the largest at left… followed by Prometheus and Epimetheus. Saturn will be well placed for viewing all weekend long. It’s beautiful rings are a treat in [...]

From the images that came in this morning… sunset in Salt Lake City must have been pretty spectacular last night. This giant sun pillar was taken by Utah Skies member John Berkenpas. Another cool shot was sent in by Brian Jolley. Sun pillars are caused when sun light reflects off of tiny ice crystals suspended [...]

The northern lights put on a surprise show recently… triggered by a high speed solar wind. Andre Clay of Harding Lake, Alaska snapped this gorgeous shot of the event on Feb. 20th. Things have quieted down again, but… could flare up at any time as Earth remains within the wind stream. Checkout the Aurora [...]

Astrophotographer John Chumack recently snapped this shot of recurrent nova RS Ophiuchi during a recent outburst. RS Ophiuchi usually spends its time as a faint mag 12 star in the constellation Ophiuchus. However, it recently jumped to mag 4.5, an easy naked eye target. Checkout all the details at the American Association of Variable Star [...]

The orbiting Chandra X-Ray Observatory recently captured this cloud in Puppis A being torn apart by shock waves from a supernova explosion. This is the first ever X-Ray detection of a process which had previously only been simulated in experiments. Checkout the Chandra Photo Album for more details.

Amateur astronomer Greg Piepol captured this enormous solar prominence along the southwestern limb of the Sun yesterday. Sunspot activity has been low for the last couple of weeks, but… that certainly doesn’t mean that our star is sitting quietly. Checkout Greg’s Sungazer.net website for more incredible images.