departmentS
04 preSident’S meSSage
chriS gainor
Season’s Greetings
Welcome to the 2019 year-end issue
of Skynews
05 editor’S report
gary Seronik
Navigating the New Night Sky
Stargazing seems to become more difficult
with each passing decade
06 Sky newS briefS paul deanS
A Warped Milky Way; When Worlds Collide;
Repeat After Me; Two Piles of Rubble
18 Scoping the Sky
ken hewitt-white
A Deep-Sky Double Take
The ‘Doubles Cluster’ in Perseus looks great
in any backyard telescope
20 Star chart
Night sky for late autumn for Canada
and the northern United States
27 the binocular Sky
gary Seronik
Double Cluster, Triple Fun
The zone between Perseus and Cassiopeia is
home to several splendid binocular-friendly
deep-sky delights
28 conStellation corner
ken hewitt-white
Cepheus
Cepheus resembles a child’s drawing of a
house—but to certain ancient cultures,
it was a house of royalty
30 on the moon
gary Seronik
Apollo’s Forgotten Landing Site
Fifty years ago, a second pair of astronauts
touched down on the Moon
32 capturing the univerSe
tony puerzer
Auto-Guiding for Dummies
A little effort (and some extra gear)
helps yield sharp astrophotos
36 Spotlight on the raSc
Apollo 11 Revisited; Winnipeg Winter Lights
38 parting Shot
oleg bouevitch
Cassiopeia’s Radiant Bubble Nebula
cover: mercury’s most recent trek across the solar
disc, on may 9, 2016, was recorded by SkyNews
contributing editor alan dyer in this composite
photo. as noted on page 23, the little planet puts on
a repeat performance this year, on november 11.viSit uS atsk ynew s.ca
november/december 2019
Volume XXV/Issue 4 CONTENTS36 320630283208featureS^14
08 eXoplanet reSearch by ivan SemeniukNEW WORLDS
ON THE DOORSTEP
A new NASA mission called TESS scans nearby stars for transiting Earth-sized worlds14 dream productSOUR HOLIDAY WISH LIST
Skynewseditors and columnists dream big (and small) with this selection of gift items23 eXploring the night Skyby alan dyerMERCURY TRANSITS THE SUN
On the morning of November 11, the innermost planet crosses the face of the Sun
for the inal time until 2032