Stephen James O'Meara, Author at Astronomy.com https://www.astronomy.com/author/stephen-james-omeara/ Astronomy news, photos, observing events, and space missions. Tue, 20 Feb 2024 18:25:59 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.astronomy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/favicon.png?fit=16%2C16 Stephen James O'Meara, Author at Astronomy.com https://www.astronomy.com/author/stephen-james-omeara/ 32 32 194802330 A guide to the 2024 eclipse from Astronomy magazine https://www.astronomy.com/observing/our-ultimate-guide-to-the-eclipse/ Mon, 19 Feb 2024 18:29:45 +0000 https://www.astronomy.com/?p=140698// On April 8, 2024, a total eclipse of the Sun will occur over North America. On this day, the Moon will sail in front of our star and completely cover its luminous face. When it does, the Moon’s shadow will sweep across parts of Mexico, the contiguous U.S., and eastern Canada, plunging untold millions ofContinue reading "A guide to the 2024 eclipse from Astronomy magazine"

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]]> 140698 Barnard’s Star https://www.astronomy.com/science/barnards-star/ Mon, 01 Jan 2024 15:00:00 +0000 https://www.astronomy.com/?p=137739// Barnard’s Star is a magnitude 9.5 star moving almost due north against the stars of Ophiuchus at a rate of 1° every 351 years. This, the highest proper motion known of any star, is due to a combination of factors: The star lies less than 6 light-years away (the next closest star to our SunContinue reading "Barnard’s Star"

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]]> 137739 The Vela supernova remnant https://www.astronomy.com/science/the-vela-supernova-remnant/ Mon, 01 Jan 2024 15:00:00 +0000 https://www.astronomy.com/?p=138623// This vast wreath of glowing gas was ejected after a massive star went supernova around 11,000 years ago in the constellation Vela the Sails. Lying over 800 light-years away, the supernova’s filamentary remains are scattered across the sky. One of the closest cosmic cataclysms to our Sun, it is also among the most historic. InContinue reading "The Vela supernova remnant"

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]]> 138623 Kapteyn’s Star https://www.astronomy.com/science/kapteyns-star/ Mon, 01 Jan 2024 15:00:00 +0000 https://www.astronomy.com/?p=138626// Kapteyn’s Star, a 9th-magnitude red subdwarf, speeds through space with a proper motion second only to Barnard’s Star. This nomadic wonder is visible in the northern reaches of the constellation Pictor the Painter. The star moves to the southeast at 8.7″ per year, or the apparent diameter of the Moon every two centuries. The star’sContinue reading "Kapteyn’s Star"

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]]> 138626 Tadpole Galaxy https://www.astronomy.com/science/tadpole-galaxy/ Mon, 01 Jan 2024 15:00:00 +0000 https://www.astronomy.com/?p=138696// Dim, distant, and distorted, the Tadpole Galaxy (UGC 10214) in the constellation Draco the Dragon is a nearly edge-on barred spiral galaxy sporting a massive tail of stars that stretches across 280,000 light-years of space. Apparently, 100 million years ago a small compact spiral galaxy crossed in front of UGC 10214 (as seen from ourContinue reading "Tadpole Galaxy"

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]]> 138696 The Bullet Cluster https://www.astronomy.com/science/the-bullet-cluster/ Mon, 01 Jan 2024 15:00:00 +0000 https://www.astronomy.com/?p=138700// The Bullet Cluster is a massive collection of two large groups of galaxies some 3.8 billion light-years distant. The two groups appear to have collided in one of the most energetic events known in the universe since the Big Bang. The aftermath has provided dramatic evidence for the existence of dark matter. In 2006, astronomersContinue reading "The Bullet Cluster"

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]]> 138700 P Cygni https://www.astronomy.com/science/p-cygni/ Mon, 01 Jan 2024 15:00:00 +0000 https://www.astronomy.com/?p=138704// P Cygni is a remarkable novalike luminous blue variable — a blue supergiant or even a hypergiant so massive it’s barely holding itself together. With a mass up to 60 times that of the Sun, this behemoth is a beacon of luminosity about a half-million to a million times brighter than our star; P CygniContinue reading "P Cygni"

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]]> 138704 Abell 194 https://www.astronomy.com/science/abell-194/ Mon, 01 Jan 2024 15:00:00 +0000 https://www.astronomy.com/?p=138708// Abell 194 is a tight cluster of 100 or more galaxies about 250 million light-years distant in Cetus the Whale, and about 1° southeast of 7th-magnitude 43 Ceti. The cluster’s heart harbors 10 objects from the New General Catalogue shining roughly between magnitudes 12 and 13.5. Seven of these are arranged in a line alongContinue reading "Abell 194"

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]]> 138708 Jewel Box cluster https://www.astronomy.com/science/jewel-box-cluster/ Mon, 01 Jan 2024 15:00:00 +0000 https://www.astronomy.com/?p=138716// One of the gems of the night, the Jewel Box Cluster (NGC 4755) appears to dangle from the eastern arm of the Southern Cross like a pearl earring. Early explorers first saw it as a 4th-magnitude star, leading Johann Bayer to label it in his 1603 Uranometria catalog as Kappa (κ) Crucis. Its identity remainedContinue reading "Jewel Box cluster"

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]]> 138716 The Cloverleaf https://www.astronomy.com/science/the-cloverleaf/ Mon, 01 Jan 2024 15:00:00 +0000 https://www.astronomy.com/?p=138719// The Cloverleaf is a 17th-magnitude quasar whose image has been reproduced four times through gravitational lensing — an occurrence caused by the powerful gravitational field of a massive, intervening galaxy, which has bent and magnified the light from this distant quasar to produce the multiple images we see. Equally fascinating is that in X-ray imagingContinue reading "The Cloverleaf"

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