As summer’s muggy air recedes and crisp, steady autumn currents settle over dark sites, the night sky undergoes a profound transition. The bright, crowded rich fields of the summer Milky Way pivot westward, opening a vast window into the deep-sky treasures of autumn.
This 45-target seasonal program spans seven cornerstone constellations—ranging from rich star clusters riding high along the Milky Way band to nearby island universes glowing millions of light-years away. Whether observing with a portable 4-inch refractor or driving deep contrast with a large-aperture Dobsonian under dark skies, this guide connects each target’s visual character with practical star-hopping notes.
The full program for the Google links or the Excel or PDF's are over at Eadsy Astronomy at this LINK.
Fascinating article that discusses why none of our nearby explanets most likely do not have advance life on them ready to head our way. Why? It comes down to plant growth and in truth, most of those exoplanets are behind us evolutionary and IF there is life on them, it is most likely at the microbial stage.
To get a LINK to the article head on over to Eadsy Astronomy.
This is the next installment of the newsletter. It is for September 28th through October 15th, 2026. During this period we move from a waxing gibbous moon to last quarter and then new moon. Finally we end with the waxing crescent.
Lots to see and observe during this period. Plenty of lunar features, craters, planetary highlights! We say goodbye to Venus being the evening star as the planet will soon transition back to the morning sky. Saturn rules the evening into the early morning! Pre Dawn Mars is positioned well.
We have two comets we can chase though one is early evening and the other will not be favorable until late November here in the northern hempisphere.
Finally, I share an abundance of both easy, intermediete and challenging deep sky targets. We include many fall ones and a few late summers as we say goodbye to those summer constellations and objects.
The full newsletter is over at Eadsy Astronomy LINK and you can get a PDF or a Google Doc version there. Please hit the like button, subsribe and thank you if you do or have. We are trying to reach 500 subscribers by the end of October.
NASA Scientist with the LROC, Robert Wagner, and no, not the actor, has discovered the newest and largest crater in our Solar System recently. The crater is named officially McGetchin, after Tom McGetchin, a pioneering lunar scientist. It is estimated that the crater formed between April 11th and May 22nd 2024. The cause was most likely a comet or asteroid the size of a three story building that impacted the surface!
The newly formed crater is 728 feet wide, spanning the length of almost two football fied. It is 141 feet deep
As always I have a full article and images over at Eadsy Astronomy LINK.
Also, on this object I do have a FULL article on it on Eadsy Astronomy LINK and I tie in that you can image or visually observe this object for youself. I think that makes it rather cool to tie in what we learn about it to our own imaging or observing!
ALMA Watches a Massive Binary Star System Develop in Real Time!
The telescope ALMA was used by astronomers to caputure one of the most detailed images of a massive binary star system being born!
They tracked the motions of these two stars for the last 8 years and found that the pair follow a highly stretched out orbit and are surrounded by strongly tilted disks. This suggest that the the two stars didn't form together from a single spinning disk of material as is often assumed. Instead they formed independent of each otehr and entered into their binary relationship during a close and chance gravational encounter.
I have a full article if you want to read this and a link to the orginial article over at Eadsy Astronomy LINK.
Here is the Eadsy Astronomy Newsletter for September 16th to September 27th, 2026. I am moving to do two a month now, a lunar and double star with comets focus for the waxing Moon period. Then the second will be a waning gibbous to New Moon period for a focus on Deep Sky Observing and imaging each month .
Here I give 2 eye candy targets for lunar objects and double stars each night and 1 challenging object for the Moon and for Double Stars. I share some eye candy deep sky objects with an emphasis on open clusters and bright Messier's. I also discuss in detail the 3 comets that we have that we can still image or observe right now!
I also review the planetary objects in our sky from bright Venus (which you can see low on the western sky in the image I took on September 14th from the West Desert of Utah with a waxing Crescent Moon chasing it) at around mag -4.1 or so to Saturn and Neptune which by 10pm or 11pm here in Utah are position great for observing during this period. Finally Mars and Jupiter are up in the early morning.
Because I have a variety of objects up in the early morning, on the double stars and deep sky objects I am going to include some of the winter objects that are now up in the early morning sky!
Also, on the Google Doc I've updated it to where there are drop downs so you can focus on day, challenging or eye candy objects etc. I hope the drop downs help you to use the newsletter a little bit easier.
To see and/or get a copy of the Newsletter, head over to Eadsy Astronomy at this LINK. If you find value, please consider joining our community there as you get first notice of my posts, docs and other information as I always post there first. Materials are free but if you find value in this, and want to make a donation or become a contributing member you can at the $3.00 or $5.00 a month level. Donations cover some of the apps, materials and other items I use to bring this to you. I appreciate those that are contributing members!
