My latest blog presents images I shot last month on my trip through southern Saskatchewan, a great place for stargazing under the "Living Skies." amazingsky.net/2025/09/17/n... @twanight.bsky.social

This records a large number of Starlink satellites streaking from west to east (right to left) across the Milky Way on a summer night low in the south, from the Dark Sky Preserve of the Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, Saskatchewan. Details in Alt Text. @twanight.bsky.social

Scenes from Cypress Hills in Saskatchewan, August 21, 2025, framing the Milky Way core in Sagittarius over the pines. One image used a narrowband filter to bring out the red nebulas, and a version of that image has labels. It's a busy area! Tech details are in the Alt Text.

My latest blog recaps the recent Saskatchewan Summer Star Party I attended last month, along with 300+ friends! It was a superb few days and nights of stargazing. amazingsky.net/2025/09/06/s...

A 90° wide panorama of the rich nebulas and dark dust lanes along the northernmost section of the Milky Way from Perseus to Cygnus, a region now above us on late summer and early autumn evenings. Taken August 21 from Cypress Hills, Saskatchewan. Tech details are in the Alt Text.

With one year to go before the next total eclipse of the Sun, I'm pleased to announce the publication of a new and hugely revised edition of my ebook on how to photograph solar eclipses. For all the details on content and links to purchase, see my website at www.amazingsky.com/EclipseBook

My latest blog previews the coming trio of total eclipses, a series that begins a year from now, for an annual set of solar eclipses to chase around the world. I also highlight my new ebook about how to photograph them. Thanks for looking! amazingsky.net/2025/08/14/t...

This was the remarkable sight of the very close conjunction of Venus (brightest) below Jupiter in the dawn sky of August 12, 2025. The two planets were at their closest this morning, at about 0.9º apart, in the constellation of Gemini, framed in its entirety here at centre. Details in Alt Text.

Here’s a great event coming up at one of my favourite places on Earth, Waterton Lakes National Park. It looks like the Dark Sky Guides have put together a stellar program of events, activities and presenters — for Waterton’s first dark sky festival, Sept. 26-28. See darkskyguides.ca/discovery-days

The summer Milky Way from Cygnus at top to Sagittarius at bottom, over a yellow field of canola in southern Alberta, on a warm July night. Lights are from a Hutterite farm and other distant farms and towns. Some green airglow also tints the sky.

This is the occultation of the Pleiades star cluster by the waning crescent Moon before dawn on July 20, 2025, with the Moon in colourful clouds. This was at about 3:27 am MDT with the Moon about to occult the star Alcyone left of the Moon. Details in Alt Text.

This is the waning crescent Moon occulting the stars of the Pleiades cluster, before dawn on July 20, from home in Alberta. This is a blend of exposures to bring out the stars and Earthshine while preserving detail on the bright crescent. Details in the Alt Text.

Check this event off the life-list of astronomical sights! This is me observing the July 18, 2025 transit of the shadow of Saturn's largest Moon Titan across the cloudtops of Saturn. The inset is a simulation from Sky Safari of the eyepiece view at the time I was observing. Details in the Alt Text.

Here's a late season display of noctilucent clouds, in the late evening twilight to the northwest on July 15, 2025. It's been a better year for NLCs than in 2023 and 2024, but mid-July is typically when the season winds down from my latitude of 51º N. Details in the Alt Text.

The Full Moon rising in the southeast over a field of canola at its peak of colour, July 10, 2025. From southern Alberta. Details in the Alt Text.

Two panoramas of the fine showing of noctilucent clouds along the northwestern horizon in the late evening twilight on July 10, 2025, from southern Alberta. Light from the rising Full Moon opposite the camera direction to the southeast light the scene.

This is a massive but local thunderstorm cell passing to the south of me in southern Alberta on July 3, 2025. It shows a classic circulation pattern of clouds. The rain band at right on the trailing edge of the storm hit moments after I took this, dropping lots of hail.

This frames Saturn and Neptune when they were less than 1 degree apart (59 arc minutes) on the morning of June 30, 2025, here framed in a telescope. This was in the dawn sky with the sky blue with oncoming twilight. More details are in the Alt Text.

A brilliant display of noctilucent clouds last night, June 29/30, extensive and structured across the northern sky. The best I have seen in 3 years. This was from southern Alberta. Details in the Alt Text.

This is a panorama across 90º of the northeastern horizon framing a display of noctilucent clouds (NLCs). This was on the morning of June 19, 2025, taken from home in southern Alberta, latitude 51º N and 112º W longitude, and at about 3:20 am MDT. It was my first NLC sighting of the 2025 season.

This is the Full Moon of June 10, 2025, a Moon that was especially low as the Moon was at its most southerly declination of ~5º below the ecliptic at this time, at a "major lunar standstill" or lunistice, a position it reaches only once every 18.5 years.

Here are some Milky Way nightscapes from two very clear nights, May 24 and 25, at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, Alberta, with the galactic core over the Sweetgrass Hills of Montana, and the Milk River below. It was so clear the labels showed up! 😉

The pulsating effects during these aurora shows were amazing! Here's my music video of the fine auroras of May 28 & May 31, 2025, with real-time video clips and time-lapses, as seen from home in southern Alberta, at 51º N. Enjoy! Details are in the video description on YT. youtu.be/E9M3GJUSBdI

Scenes from under an aurora sky, with clouds, at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, June 2, 2025. The aurora didn't quite deliver the show I had hoped for and the clouds got in the way! But it was a fine spring night to be in the Badlands.

Very colourful curtains across the south at about 1:20 am on June 1 during the fine Kp8 level show that night. The camera reveals the colours as the primary reds, greens and blues or oxygen and nitrogen blend to make subtle shades. Taken from southern Alberta, 51º N. Details in the Alt Text.

The aurora of May 31/June 1, 2025, looking straight up in a 360º pano, with the horizon all around and the zenith at centre. This records the entire sky during the peak of the substorm at about 1:30 am with the curtains converging at the magnetic zenith, which is south of (below) the true zenith.

Four views of the fine and somewhat unexpected aurora show of May 31/June 1, with the solar storm arriving a day early triggering a Kp8-level show of Lights. These are from near the peak of the substorm at about 1:30 am MDT when the reds were visible to the eye.

Two selfies of me observing southern sky objects as best I can from Canada, avoiding having to cross the border. I'm looking at the Messier 6 and 7 clusters in Scorpius from Writing-on-Stone Prov. Park in Alberta, as they appear low over the Sweetgrass Hills in Montana.

I had the privilege of attending the opening of a new exhibit at The Confluence, called Kipaitapiiyssinnooni, Blackfoot for Our Way of Life. I was pleased to contribute a panorama photo of the Milky Way I shot at Waterton Lakes. For the exhibit website see - www.theconfluence.ca/kipaitapiiys...

Here's a real-time and largely unedited video shot on the morning of May 3, 2025 of a pulsating or flickering aurora, an effect often seen after a sub-storm outburst as the aurora subsides and reverts to this "flaming" effect. Details are in the video description on YouTube. youtu.be/gwnpTLdBFz0

Two views, in horizontal and vertical formats, of red Mars near the Beehive star cluster, Messier 44, in Cancer on May 5, 2025. It'll be back thru the Beehive on Oct 11, 2026 in the dawn sky. Details for these images in the Alt Text.

This is the disk of the Sun marked by a large sunspot group #4079, the largest of 2025 to this date on May 5, 2025. It was near the centre of the Sun's disk this day. Also on the disk are the sunspot groups: #4076 (right), #4081 (left of centre) and #4082 (coming onto the disk at left).

This was the May 3 conjunction of the Moon near reddish Mars which was just above the Beehive star cluster, aka Messier 44, all in Cancer. Visually, M44 was hard to see next to the Moon even in binoculars. And this was a tough scene to capture. Tech details in the Alt Text.

There's a really big sunspot group (#4079) on the Sun this week, vastly larger than Earth. This is the largest spot group n the Sun for many months. Let's see if it produces flares and aurora outbursts.

Mars is passing by the Beehive star cluster, Messier 44, this weekend. This was May 2. It'll be closest to the cluster on May 4, for a fine sight in binoculars or a telescope. Details in the Alt Text.

Here's a sequence of the aurora of May 1, 2025 shot from home in southern Alberta, showing the development and fading of the curtains over about an hour.

My latest blog tours you through the stars and constellations of the northern spring sky, both the well-known and famous, and the obscure. Illustrated with photos I shot last week during a run of nicely clear nights. Enjoy! amazingsky.net/2025/04/30/t...

Here is a trio of images each depicting a trio of bright galaxies from the Catalogue of Charles Messier, containing many of the sky’s best deep-sky targets. These are all in the heart of the great Coma-Virgo Galaxy Supercluster well placed for exploring on northern spring nights.

A photogenic area of the sky (annotated here) but one that scrapes the treetops from my backyard at latitude 51º N in Alberta. This was from last week during a run of wonderfully clear nights when I shot lots of springtime constellations. Details in the Alt Text.

The "Smiley Face" Conjunction — such as it was! — from this morning, April 25, at home in southern Alberta, latitude 51º N. Saturn barely showed up on the photo as a pale blip just above the horizon below and right of Venus. Details in the Alt Text.

During an all-night photo session on April 23-24, 2025, an aurora put in brief appearances. Here, at about 3 am, it showed a blue ray or two, spiking up from the lower green curtain. These tall pillars are created by sunlight interacting with the high altitude beam of aurora. Details in the Alt Text

Two views of the rich Coma-Virgo galaxy cluster region in the northern spring sky, populated by lots of Messier objects and numerous galaxies from the NGC list. These views are framed to contain as many of the Messiers as possible.

Is this the Belt of Orion? No, it's the temporary trio of red Mars, yellow-white Pollux and blue Castor, with Mars just passing by and forming a line with the twin stars in Gemini. This was April 11, 2025. Details in the Alt Text.

Astronomy friends might have heard about this new comet, C/2025 F2 (SWAN), discovered late last month and appearing - barely! - in the pre-dawn sky. This is a telephoto lens image from home (latitude 51º N) on the morning of April 11, with the comet a tiny dim green dot in the Square of Pegasus.

Scenes from the Bay of Fundy coast in New Brunswick, April 1 and 2, on two very clear nights, with the waxing Moon, Jupiter, Mars, and the bright stars of winter setting into the twilight sky over the ocean. From Cape Enrage and Dennis Beach.

The bright stars of the winter sky, with the waxing Moon, Mars and Jupiter, are here setting in the evening twilight over the Bay of Fundy as seen from the New Brunswick side, from a viewpoint overlooking Dennis Beach on April 2. The tide was low. Details in the Alt Text.

A colourful aurora over the old farm rake at home in Alberta, with the aurora of March 21, 2025. With it bright in the twilight, this aurora was quite colourful with sunlight adding blue and magenta to the curtain tops, to the red and green from oxygen. Arcturus is rising at right.

Here's my short music video of time-lapse sequences from the March 21 aurora show from home in southern Alberta. Details are in the video description on YouTube. Enjoy! And do watch full screen. youtu.be/ttCoNHVh7o0

A dim and red SAR arc (Stable Auroral Red) across the south during the Kp5 aurora on March 21, 2025. The main aurora was subsiding and retreating north (at left), time for STEVE to appear. But I saw only a SAR, obvious only to the camera. From home in southern Alberta.

A panorama over 180° of the colourful aurora going strong in the darkening twilight on March 21, 2025. This was from home in southern Alberta. Twilight auroras are often the most colourful as sunlight adds blues to the tops of the curtains.