There’s almost always a noticeable cosmic event going on up in the night sky that’s worth seeing. This section of our website is your resource for DIY stargazing. Any time you want to know what’s happening up in the sky that’s worth seeing, check this page. We suggest that you download and print the current month Skymap to help you locate the featured cosmic objects. All objects can be seen by the naked eye on very clear nights or through a pair of binoculars.
OUR FEATURED ASTERISM
An asterism is a noticeable pattern of stars that is not a constellation. The Spring Triangle is a prominent asterism formed by the bright stars Arcturus in the constellation Bootes, Spica in Virgo and Regulus in Leo. This asterism can be seen in the southeastern sky during the Spring months. The Spring Triangle is easy to find using the stars of the Big Dipper. The line formed by the three stars of the Big Dipper’s handle leads to Arcturus and then to Spica. You can remember this by following the “arc” of the handle and continue the “arc” to Arcturus, then speed on to Spica. Regulus, the third star of the triangle can be found along a line extended from Megrez and Phecda, the two inner stars of the Dipper’s bowl. We astronomers call this “star-hopping.” Sometimes the Spring Triangle is taken to be the asterism formed by Arcturus, Spica and Denebola instead of Regulus. Denebola which marks Leo’s tail is slightly dimmer than Regulus but is still easily visible to the unaided eye. Printing out a star map will help you locate and identify these stars and constellations. Use the Skymaps.com link on our Home Page to print this month’s sky chart. We suggest that you order a planisphere to help find your way through the night sky. All of the stars you see in the sky belong to our own Milky Way Galaxy. As you look at the Spring Triangle ponder this thought. Within the area of the triangle contains thousands of galaxies. The Virgo Cluster alone is a massive grouping of over 1,500 galaxies, with their owns stars, asterisms and constellations.
OUR FEATURED CONSTELLATION
Leo (the Lion) is the fifth sign of the zodiac and is one of the most famous of the ancient constellations. Its name is Latin for “Lion,” and it’s brightest star, Regulus, is 79 light years from Earth and is actually a quadruple star system made up of two separate pairs of stars. Within the constellation is an asterism star pattern called the “Sickle” which can be identified by resembling a backward question mark with the bright Regulus as the “point”. The tail star of Leo is Denebola, Latin for “the tail of the lion”. The saying that “March comes in like a lion and out out like a lamb,” refers to Leo rising after sunset in early March, while the constellation Aries (the Ram) sets in late March.
OUR FEATURED STAR
Regulus is the brightest object in the constellation Leo. The name Regulus translates to “little king” in Latin. Regulus is a quadruple star system, so when you are looking at this star with the naked eye you are actually seeing four stars, two pairs orbiting each other. Regulus A is about 79 light years from Earth and three times bigger that our Sun. Regulus A rotates so fast that it looks like a football.
Our Sun rotates every 27 days at 4,500 mph. Regulus A rotates every 16 hours at 700,000 mph. Astronomers have determined that if Regulus A rotated just 10% faster it would rip itself apart.
OUR FEATURED STAR CLUSTER
Messier 13 (M13), commonly known as the Hercules Cluster, is a globular star cluster located in the Hercules constellation. Unlike an open star cluster like our last featured star cluster the Pleiades, a globular star cluster is a conglomeration of stars bound together by the force of gravity and typically contains tens of thousands to millions of stars. They are often composed of some of the oldest stars in the Universe. M13 is estimated to be roughly 24,000 light years from Earth and is moving closer to our Solar System at a speed of 149 miles/second. The clusters total luminosity exceeds that of the Sun by a factor of more that 300,000. In 1974, during the inauguration of the upgraded Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, a symbolic three-minute radio transmission which contained encoded information about the human race, DNA, atomic numbers, Earth’s position and other information, was beamed towards M13. It was meant as a demonstration of human technological achievement hopefully to be intercepted by another intelligent life form. .It will take about 24,000 years for the message to reach M13. Though the radio message will move through space during the transit time, opinions differ as to whether or not the cluster will be in a position to receive the message by the time it arrives. M13 may have moved far enough from its original position in 1974 keeping in mind that where we observed the position of M13 in 1974, that position was where M13 was 24,000 years ago.
If you’re interested in joining other stargazing enthusiasts and educators for public stargazing events, check out our section on Public Stargazing Events. You’ll get to observe celestial events through telescopes and other stargazing gear provided by Event Horizon and it’s members in attendance, which makes for a more vivid and memorable stargazing experience.
Artemis Mission Update
Building on the success of the Artemis II mission which completed a 10-day crewed mission around the Moon in April, NASA is finalizing preparations for Artemis III, the first crewed mission designed to land astronauts on the Moon’s South Pole. The mission is currently focused on Earth orbit docking tests with commercial lunar landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin, ensuring the Orion spacecraft and human landing systems are fully operational for lunar descent in 2028. The crew for the Artemis III mission will be officially announced on June 9, 2026. Did you know that in Greek mythology Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo?