Mercury, Venus and Saturn lined up over the CN Tower in Toronto this past week. Click on the image to see the three planets identified (L to R).

During the first part of 2011 I was traveling in Central America with my family. I had almost no equipment with me and I was unable to import very much into Guatemala without a lot of red tape. I did manage to get an Astrotrac tracking mount for my birthday however and I stumbled upon the Citizen Sky project to observe the eclipse of Epsilon Aurigae.

A group of 10 Toronto Centre members came out dark and early this morning to catch a transit by the ISS in front of the Full Moon this morning. The distinctive "H" shape of the ISS was clearly visible in binoculars as it zipped past the Moon at 3:52:16 a.m. Eastern time.Transits by the ISS in front of the Sun and Moon are relatively common but are difficult because the shadow path is extremely narrow - only about 4 kilometres - so precise positioning is essential. Having a pass on a clear weekend night was a real bonus.