Stargazing: Victoria (Downtown), British Columbia

Current Weather

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Clear Sky ForecastUpdated: Wednesday, December 23, 2009, 22:41 PST

Wednesday Overnight

°F

Cloudy periods

P.O.P.: 20%, Wind: N 6mph

Thursday Evening

°F

Clear

P.O.P.: 10%, Wind: NE 6mph

Moon Phases

Dec. 24

First Quarter

Dec. 31

Full Moon

Jan. 7

Last Quarter

Jan. 15

New Moon

Click here to calculate the sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset times and the seasonal calendar.

This Week in the Sky

The Cagey Crab

Besides a red giant and a pair of dazzling star clusters, Taurus is also home to probably the most studied object outside of our solar system - the Crab nebula. Sitting at 6000 lights years from the Sun the Crab marks the tattered remains of a star that blew itself apart in a cataclysmic explosion known as a supernova, nearly a millennium ago.

In July of 1054 A.D. people around the world witnessed a wondrous new star that outshone all others, including the brilliant Moon. Visible for nearly two years, the mysterious star was even seen in broad daylight for weeks. We know that Chinese and Amerindian astronomers dutifully documented the guest star’s position.

Today resembling a ghostly crab shape, all that remains is an expanding gas cloud that is barely visible as a fuzzy spot even in binoculars under a moonless sky far from the city lights. Observers can locate it just north of the bottom star marking one of the points of the Bull’s horns. Moderate sized telescopes will begin to unveil some of the Crab’s delicate gaseous structure.

- Andrew Fazekas