On January 2 David Abbou captured the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as seen from Tucson; the rocket was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Enjoy!

This week I’ll be happy to see many of you at the AAS Meeting in Phoenix. For now, start your weekend off with a spectacular capture of the planet Jupiter, made on New Year’s Day, by the great Chris Go. Enjoy!

Here’s a great shot that was carefully planned by Chris Schur: It shows Comet C/2025 K1 ATLAS, glowing at about 14th magnitude, passing close to the Andromeda Galaxy. This was shot on December 27 and shows the dust tail at a prominent 2° length. Enjoy!

Happy New Year to all of my friends!! Last night we carried on a desert tradition and blew a lotta stuff up . . . Have a great start to 2026! X

John Chumack’s beautiful aurora portrait closes out 2025 — let’s hope for a wonderful 2026 on the horizon. Cheers!

Chris Schur has captured an exotic location in the sky centered on the reflection nebula IC 2087 in Taurus. The surrounding dark nebulae, chiefly Barnard 14 and Barnard 220, represent parts of the Taurus Molecular Cloud, a vast network of clouds lying some 400 light-years away. Enjoy!

NGC 1333 in Perseus is one of the sky’s little known but best reflection nebulae, a relatively rare item shining by reflected light from embedded stars. John Vermette has captured it extremely well at its distance of 970 light-years. Enjoy!

Recently Bryan Shumaker captured the Cocoon Nebula, a complex of emission and reflection nebulosity lying at a distance of 2,500 light-years in Cygnus. Try spotting this on a dark night!

Check out Richard Whitehead’s new shot of NGC 7822, a star-forming region in Cepheus that lies 2,900 light-years away. The little nebulosity at bottom right is Sharpless 2-170, sometimes called the Little Rosette Nebula. Enjoy!

Robert Eckheart and Scott Dearinger produced this superb image of the emission nebula and open cluster complex IC 410 and NGC 1893 in Auriga. Containing the tiny Tadpoles (just above and left of center), the star-forming region is a highlight of the constellation.

Recently John Chumack captured the Leo Triplet, one of the best small galaxy groups in the sky, consisting of M65, M66, and NGC 3628. Not too early in the evening sky to go for galaxies!

A cosmic holiday greeting: The Christmas Tree Cluster and the Cone Nebula in Monoceros shot by the great Richard Whitehead. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of my social media friends — I hope you have the best holidays ever! Cheers, D. X

Chris Schur has captured the elusive CTB 1, sometimes called the Medulla Nebula, a supernova remnant in Cassiopeia. Discovered only in 1960, the nebula lies some 14,000 light-years away and is about 10,000 years old.

What could better summarize the holiday season than a nice wide-field shot showing the sky including Orion in a prominent place. A wonderful holiday scene by Adrian Bradley. Enjoy!

A giant “V” in the sky? It’s formed by the glow of the Milky Way and the subtle light of the zodiacal light, here captured in a magnificent combination by Chris Cook from Death Valley, California. Enjoy!

Tony Hallas has captured the large, distant galaxy NGC 772 in Aries in a magnificent portrait. Tidal forces have warped this galaxy’s arms and produced a strong single arm, making it an unusual sight.

Check out this new shot of the supernova remnant Simeis 147, known as the Spaghetti Nebula, on the border of Auriga and Taurus. Bryan Shumaker captured one of the sky’s very faint objects, located some 3,000 light-years away.

Join me online this morning live at 11 AM Arizona time as I speak to Kevin Legore on Sky-Watcher USA’s What’s Up? Webcast!! www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HyL...

Join me online tomorrow live at 11 AM Arizona time as I speak to Kevin Legore on Sky-Watcher USA’s What’s Up? Webcast!! www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HyL...

Larry Hubble has produced this really fine image of the pair of galaxies M81 and M82 in Ursa Major. This field is a wonderful area to explore in a small telescope. Enjoy!

What a wonderful shot of stars and reddish airglow reflected in the waters of Lake Manly, Death Valley, California. A highly memorable scene captured by Chris Cook. Enjoy!

Join us next October in Tenerife and La Palma for Starmus VIII, The Search for Truth!! See you there!!

The beauty of the desert: Here’s a recent shot of the Milky Way arching over a stand of saguaros, taken by Chris Cook from Kofa National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona. Enjoy!

Here’s a shot unlike any I’ve seen before. Chris Schur has captured the bright open cluster M37 in Auriga. The nebulosity just above the cluster is IPHASXJ055226.2+323724, a planetary discovered only in 2005 because it is so faint. This is only the third planetary nebula inside an open cluster.

On December 13 Chris Go captured the luminous red nova AT 2025abao in the Andromeda Galaxy (see arrow). He used a Celestron Origin from Cebu in the Philippines. Enjoy!

This interesting wide-field shot by Chris Schur shows the Owl Cluster in Cassiopeia (named by yours truly), the unusual bow-shock nebula Sharpless 2-188, and the fainter open cluster NGC 436 (above right). Enjoy!

Chris Schur recently captured the sprawling emission nebula Sharpless 2-140, which is slowly creating the small open cluster Pismis-Moreno 1, some 3,000 light-years away in Cepheus. Enjoy!

NGC 7822 in Cepheus is an emission nebula that is slowly producing a young open cluster, Berkeley 59. Richard Whitehead captured this star-forming region, lying 2,900 light-years away, in great detail, including its rich network of dark nebulae.

This is a little bit of an older image, but still a killer . . . Ken Crawford’s great capture of the face-on spiral NGC 6946, which lies 25 million light-years away near the border of Cygnus and Cepheus. Enjoy!

Jupiter in perfect seeing with the Great Red Spot and the large moon Ganymede at lower right, caught beautifully anew by the great Chris Go. Enjoy!

On November 8 Jamie Cooper imaged the distant planet Uranus, looking good from a distance of approximately 1.8 billion miles. Enjoy!

Adrian Bradley’s wide-field images of the Milky Way, here rising in Michigan, never fail to inspire. A great cosmic canvas here!

Ronnie Yates has produced this absolutely stunning image of the Triangulum Galaxy, M33, the third large spiral in our Local Group of galaxies. At a distance of 2.7 million light-years, it’s a stunning sight!

On December 5 Chris Schur recorded this mammoth line of sunspots, showing tremendous granulation and significant magnetism that has lowered the surface temperature of the Sun in these areas. Enjoy!

The loosely wound spiral NGC 300 is one of the principal close galaxies outside our Local Group, lying just 7 million light-years away, closer than the Sculptor Group. It is on our cosmic doorstep, and is captured beautifully by Bob Fera and Steve Mandel.

Sharpless 2–308, sometimes called the Dolphin Head Nebula, is a large bubble of emission nebulosity lying 4,500 light-years away in Canis Major. John Chumack’s portrait captures a chaotic home of new star formation in the galaxy.

Bob Fera and Steve Mandel have created a spectacular look inside the central region of one of the most celebrated of all deep-sky objects, the Orion Nebula. The level of detail in and around the Trapezium here is absolutely amazing — enjoy!

This wide-field shot of central Cassiopeia taken by Chris Schur captures a variety of deep-sky objects, including the Owl Cluster (upper left), the nebula Simeis 22 (to its left), the Pac-Man Nebula (center), and several more open clusters.

John Chumack’s portrait of the Witch Head Nebula in Eridanus shows a rare, very large reflection nebula. The object lies near the base of Orion, some 1,000 light-years away, and is extraordinarily faint visually but a popular target for imagers.

This is a really cool shot by Chris Schur. On November 24 he captured Comet C/240P NEAT just past perihelion, showing the comet’s nucleus split into two pieces. At the time the comet shone at about magnitude 12. Enjoy!

Tony Hallas has imaged the highly unusual and very ancient planetary nebula HFG 1 in Cassiopeia. Produced by the decomposition of a binary star, the nebula is moving rapidly through the galaxy and producing this bluish bow shock. Enjoy!

A new transient event in the Andromeda Galaxy, AT2025 abao, has been observed and is initially thought to be a nova. On November 26 Chris Go imaged the star from Cebu in the Philippines. Enjoy!

The first time I’ve ever seen the northern lights. So beautiful.

On the border of Draco and Cepheus lies a fantastic, cascading dark nebula catalogued as LDN 1152. Bob Fera and Steve Mandel imaged this object, giving us a window into the almost limitless world of stars and gas clouds lying out in the galaxy.

Sometimes you just need a good picture of an aurora. This great image was captured by John Chumack earlier this year, and shows great activity captured just after sunset. Enjoy!

Check out John Chumack’s excellent portrait of the Cocoon Nebula (bottom), IC 5146, in Cygnus. This object is a combination of emission and reflection nebulosity lying 2,500 light-years away, and is churning out a new generation of stars.

Peering into the death of a solar-mass star: The planetary nebula Abell 78 lies in Cygnus at a distance of about 5,000 light-years. This expanding shell of gas will diffuse into the interstellar medium over the next 50,000 years. Photo by Bob Fera and Steve Mandel.

On November 22 Scott Dearinger captured Saturn’s extremely thin, nearly edge-on rings, as well as the planet’s brightest satellite, Titan. Enjoy!

Chris Schur has captured a wide field of nebulosity on the opposite side of Deneb, in Cygnus, from the North America Nebula. These nebulous arcs were produced by stellar wind bubbles and supernova remnants. Check out this area when you get a chance!