On July 31, 1935, Helen Sawyer Hogg captured an image of Messier 14, an ancient globular cluster of about 150,000 stars, 30,000 light years from earth. She was one of the first female astronomers to directly operate a major research telescope. Her scientific research, professional leadership, and public outreach helped advance the study of astronomy in the 20th century.

People love beautiful photos — and the September/October 2021 issue of SkyNews is stacked with them.

For the past year, we’ve been collecting our readers’ best astrophotos for our Photo of the Week contest. Our judges have been pouring over hundreds of submissions in a variety of categories. They have now picked the Photos of the Year, plus the Best of the Best — all to be showcased in our September/October 2021 special issue focused on astrophotography.

Sunrise Solar Eclipse

As mentioned last month, the long-awaited annular solar eclipse will occur on the morning of June 10^th. Although most of the eastern part of Canada failed to enjoy the May 26 lunar eclipse, this area will see the sun covered by the moon as it rises behind trees, buildings and hills, making for some spectacular photo opportunities. An annular eclipse occurs when the moon is farthest in its elliptical orbit around the earth and covers about 99% of the sun called the “ring of fire”. For those living on the eclipse path, the one per cent of sunlight around the edge is still extremely dangerous to look at directly without proper filtration. This is not to be confused with a total solar eclipse where the closer moon blocks the entire sun from a few seconds to a few minutes depending on the moon’s distance in its orbit.

Distant Islands