Welcome to Project Skywatcher: Objects of the Night

Stars twinkle in the heavens, planets dance across the sky, and asteroids and comets cruise through the Solar System incessantly. The objects of the night sky have intrigued and entertained us since antiquity. They too hold deeper meaning, with important scientific and philospohical value.

Here, on these pages, Project Skywatcher hopes to bring to you the joy and excitement of observing the night sky at play.

Check back often as we will update this site frequently with new animated observations and supporting details.

SEE NEW MOVIES OF THE TEMPEL 1 IMPACT HERE (5.8MB) or HERE (20MB, THIS WILL TAKE A WHILE TO LOAD). These movies consist of several images (16 and 72, respectively) of Comet Tempel 1 taken on the night that the Deep Impact Spacecraft collided with it. David and Wendee Levy took these pictures with their 14-inch Celestron with hyperstar CCD. The frst one taken 09:54 PM MST, the last at 3 minutes past midnight. Notice how, shortly after impact, the comet brightens suddenly. Visually, the effect was as if someone turned on a light in the inner coma. The brightness dims a bit at the end of because the comet is setting. The galaxy on the left is PGC48179, a galaxy 42 million light years away.