Jupiter from Oshawa Ontario October 8th at 8 PM.  (Click on picture to enlarge)

October marks the final days of viewing the summer delights.  Take a look to the southwest after dark.  Scorpius is diving below the horizon with the gas giant planet Jupiter shining like a bright star immediately above.  The teapot which designates Sagittarius also marks the location of some of my favorite objects.  This region is rich in nebulae -stellar nurseries of incredible detail- and both open and globular star clusters.

Now let’s take a look at the skies in New Zealand.  It looks totally different doesn’t it?  Take a look at the top of the second picture and you can see that teapot shape of Sagittarius, now inverted for us Northern Hemisphere residents.  Near the center of the picture is Jupiter again.  The skies of the Southern Hemisphere are seen from a totally different perspective and most of us from the Northern Hemisphere usually have a hard time adjusting to the new view.  Of course, if you live in Wellington New Zealand, it’s us Northern types that have the odd looking skies.

Pictures produced by Starry Night Pro Software, copyright IMAGINOVA Canada

Want to know what’s up in July’s skies?  Casey and I produced this piece for IMAGINOVA.  It’s a freely available Podcast that IMAGINOVA has on their website SPACE.COM in their NIGHTSKY section and it’s also available on ASTROSHORTS.

Casey voiced this piece while I scripted it.  The podcast highlights the different things going on in the sky on various July evenings -and one early morning too.

VIDEO courtesy:  IMAGINOVA

My good friend Casey and I made the journey to Suffern, New York to check out NEAF, the NorthEAst Astronomy Forum.

Here’s our report as posted on AstroShorts.com

 Image Credit: NASAJHUAPL

The New Horizons spacecraft took this incredible picture of Jupiter’s moon IO recently.  See the volcanic plume at the top of the moon?  Io is massaged by the planet Jupiter as the little moon’s orbit takes it closer and then further away.

The New Horizons spacecraft is on its way to Pluto and is scheduled to arrive in the summer of 2015.

I’ve been a little tardy with my posts lately.  A lot has been happening.  First there was International Astronomy Day and then the North East Astronomical Forum which takes place in Suffern, New York.  I went down with my friend Casey to interview participants and record the event for everyone.  Soon we’ll have some video ready to air on AstroShorts.com.