North Jersey Astronomical Group

09/03/2026

A daytime occultation to whet your appetite for next month's spectacular show.
Read more: https://buff.ly/cQxoPal

08/31/2026

’s new space telescope!

is designed to have a wide field so that it can scan large parts of the sky at once. Its field of view is 100 times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope and 10 times larger than the Webb Space Telescope.

08/31/2026

The fastest known star in our galaxy comes so close to Sgr A* that the black hole’s rotation may pull it off course, enabling a first-of-its-kind detection.
Read more: https://buff.ly/cX6kTgq

08/29/2026

Step out before the first light of dawn any time this coming week, and the sky displays the same starry panorama that it will at dinnertime around New Year's. Orion will be striding up in the southeast, with Aldebaran and then the Pleiades high above it.
https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/this-weeks-sky-at-a-glance-august-28-september-6/

08/26/2026

If you can observe only one celestial event in the evening this August, see this one.
The Moon slides through a deep partial eclipse
In the late evening hours on August 27 and into the early morning hours on August 28, the brilliant full moon slides into Earth's shadow.
• Even though the partial umbral eclipse begins at 9:33 pm CDT on Aug 27, any dark bite might not be noticed for another 5 minutes.
• At and near mid eclipse, many stars will the visible, ones that weren’t seen before the eclipse started.
• At mid eclipse (11:42 pm CDT Aug 27) when 93% of the moon lies in the umbral shadow, what color is the moon? How red is it?
• Do you notice that the shadow's edge is not straight, but curved?

08/23/2026

08/21/2026

The Moon returns to Antares tonight, as it does every month. But this time the Moon is only barely past first quarter. When it met up with Antares last month, the Moon was more gibbous.
https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/observing-news/this-weeks-sky-at-a-glance-august-14-23/

08/20/2026

A near-total lunar eclipse wraps up August's trifecta of two major eclipses and the Perseids.
Read more: https://buff.ly/42ij8Ud

08/18/2026

It's easier to protect dark skies once you've experienced one.

For many people, seeing a truly dark sky filled with thousands of stars changes the way they think about the night. It becomes easier to understand why reducing light pollution matters for wildlife, communities, and future generations.

Find a darker place, look up, and experience what we've been working to protect.