23 Must-See Astronomy Events in the 2023 Night Sky

This one started out as a project at Google, and then became open source. If you don’t know where to start, point it at the sky and have it direct you toward something cool. This one uses your GPS to find the exact position of celestial bodies — you just have to point your phone at the stars. If you’re looking with little ones, there’s also Star Walk Kids for iOS and Android. Dates and tips on how and where to see “shooting stars” from meteor showers all over the world.
It shines brightly because the thick clouds that shroud it are reflecting sunlight towards us. If you’ve got binoculars to hand, or a small telescope, notice that Venus isn’t a perfect circle either – it has phases just like the moon. This ensures that, when opened, the app indicates what is in the sky above you – wherever you live in the world. Stellarium automatically sets the time and date but also has a function that speeds up time, so you can fast forward to night-time and explore the sky from your sofa. It’s even possible to set it to show the sky on the night you were born.
For the purpose of this guide focusing on planets, that is also true. The DX 130AZ is larger and comes with better equipment and (of course) a larger price tag. It has the same simplicity of use but you’ll see more objects and smaller features with this model. If you have the budget and want a telescope that does all the work of finding the planet so you can spend your time enjoying its views, then this could be the perfect model.
So for DSO’s, which are very faint, you don’t want to be super zoomed in. The less magnification, the more light your eyes will detect, making the DSO’s brighter and easier to resolve. But since planets are very bright, more magnification is better to get as close as you can to resolve more details. Comets are small icy objects from outer solar system, which from time to time approach close enough to the Sun and become visible.
Uranus will be in the constellation Aries and a New Moon, making for easy spotting if you have the right equipment and a star-finder app (or should I say planet-finder?). The celestial dance is consistent, and that means that some of the best events in the 2023 night sky are similar from years past; others are new and exciting opportunities to get out and enjoy the night sky. From newly-discovered comets and renamed meteor showers to chances to spot the foundational objects in our solar system, 2023 promises many nights of enjoyable time under the stars if you take advantage of them. The Pic du Midi is an extraordinary viewpoint by day and night. As sunset gradually dims the mountainous panorama, bright stars blanket the skies. Space enthusiasts can spot constellations and planets on evening or overnight trips with cable cars ascending to the summit, cocktails and guided stargazing sessions.
It would be ideal to have a telescope of 80 mm and a magnification of at least 200 times. Even with the best viewing conditions and a decent telescope, you would only be able to make out a faint dot with a blueish hue. It provides users with a wide variety of features, helping them to enjoy all aspects of observing the universe. You can receive advance notifications about special events, such as a space station pass through your area, so you don’t miss out on this rare viewing opportunity. The app also provides detailed information about the altitude and brightness of the ISS as it moves through the sky, giving you a more realistic and immersive experience. We also confirmed our results with a fully independent approach regarding the filtering, detrending, and modeling of the light curves as described below.
The thrill of observing Neptune comes when you first spot it through your telescope. Because it lies further from the Sun than Uranus, Neptune moves even more slowly. It takes approximately 85 days for the planet to traverse a Full Moon’s span. The best time to view Mercury through a telescope is when it lies at one of its elongations, either farthest west of the Sun in the eastern morning sky or farthest east of the Sun in the evening sky. Most good views of Mercury occur at midday, when the planet sits high in the sky. If you can locate Mercury, use a yellow or orange filter to cut down the sky’s blue light.
The ED127’s air-spaced triplet lens is great for getting subtle details out of the planets and the Moon. The fact that the tube is made from carbon fibre helps to keep the weight down. This is a great, medium-resolution planetary imaging instrument. Different telescopes are suited to viewing different targets, so it pays to know what sort of instrument you are after if you have a specific observing aim in mind.
With advanced technology and accurate information, this application lets you quickly determine the location and time the ISS will appear in the sky. The image from the James Webb telescope allowed us to look far deeper within the pillars, showing us where new stars are forming within their dense clouds. It was launched on Christmas Day in 2021 and reached its final destination in space, the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point, in January 2022. A few months later, it was sending back its first images, released on 12 July, 2022. That first image, unveiled by US President Joe Biden and NASA’s chief Bill Nelson, showed a 4.6 billion-year-old galaxy cluster called SMACS 0723. Exactly 12 months ago NASA released the first stunning image captured by the James Webb Telescope, which gave us a new understanding of the first galaxies to form after the Big Bang.
Telescopes, especially larger scopes, are precision devices that are not designed for moving around much, getting bumped, or getting rained on. Spotting scopes offer unmatched versatility and durability for primarily terrestrial viewing (think birding) and some astronomical viewing. Telescopes give you a superior view of the heavens, but are less portable, less durable, and slightly more difficult to use than a spotting scope. If for Discover good telescopes for seeing planets with from the comfort of your own home. would like to observe and track satellites instead of natural objects in the sky, this app can help you track the path and location of satellites orbiting our earth. Did you know that you can see the International Space Station (ISS) with the naked eye?