One of the most colorful regions of sky exists around Antares, the brightest star in Scorpius. Antares lies just to the left of this field captured by Chris Schur, which includes globular clusters M4 (lower right) and NGC 6144.

In Washington Co., Maryland, the Booth Kennedy Farmhouse was the site where, in 1859, John Brown and his followers stayed and commenced their raid on Harpers Ferry, one of the major events that sparked the American Civil War.

Here’s something that’s really cool — Carlos Hernandez painted Deimos as it would be seen in the night sky from the surface of Mars. Kudos to this very talented artist and planetary observer! Wonderful, Carlos!

Our good friend Adrian Bradley offers this image as a tribute to the dear departed Fred Espenak, who we have sadly lost. A terrible event for the astronomy community, as Fred was a wonderful and unique guy. Let’s remember him well.

Last night a small group of us observed deep-sky objects with the 4.3m Lowell Discovery Telescope. It was absolutely astonishing. Full report to come. Here we are getting ready at the scope’s business end.

Last night we observed with the 24-inch Clark refractor at Lowell Observatory (the Moon, here) and felt the historic vibe of Lowells, Sliphers, and others strongly.

The tomb of Percival Lowell (1855–1916), Mars Hill, Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff.

The Pluto Camera Dome at Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, housing the 13-inch instrument with which Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930.

This extraordinary shot of nebulae in Carina is by Steeve Body, Steve Mandel, and Bob Fera. It contains many objects including NGC 3576, NGC 3603, NGC 3672, and NGC 3503. Enjoy!

The unusual 13th-magnitude planetary nebula Abell 36 lies in Virgo at a distance of about 780 light-years. Its curious barrel shape is interesting, as shown in Chris Schur’s great image.

I’m not much on the gimmick nicknames people have assigned to various Full Moons. But I do like Adrian Bradley’s great shot captured last night, which shows the lunar face in great detail. Enjoy!

On June 8 Scott Dearinger captured our nearest celestial satellite, stacking images and producing this incredibly sharp result.

Tony Hallas’s latest effort gives us an amazingly deep look at the field of the Eagle Nebula in Serpens, one of the summer Milky Way’s great objects.

This looks like nothing at all, especially because I imaged it in April before the corn crop took off. But this is one of the most critical spots in the bloodiest day in American history — the Miller Cornfield at Antietam. On September 17, 1862, 4,808 Americans died here.

I was please to see that my first Civil War book, Civil War Battlefields: A Touring Guide, was still for sale in the Antietam National Battlefield bookstore, 30 years after I wrote it.

David R. Miller bought his farmhouse at Antietam in 1844 and lived peacefully until the bloodiest day in American history unfolded in his cornfields. Some 13,000 men were shot down in his fields in several hours, and his farm left in ruins.

Following the battle of Antietam, nurse Clara Barton tended to countless wounded at the Samuel Poffenberger Farm (often erroneously stated as the Joseph Poffenberger Farm, on the battlefield proper). After the war, she founded the American Red Cross.

The barred spiral galaxy NGC 1097 lies about 45 million light-years away in the southern constellation Fornax. Bob Fera and Steve Mandel captured it in spectacular detail, showing some of the bipolar jets emanating from its central black hole.

On the Antietam battlefield, the Dunker (or Dunkard) Church was built in 1852 and rebuilt after a storm leveled it in 1921. The church was a landmark during the bloodiest day of the war, its whitewashed walls visible through cannon and rifle smoke.

The spooky reflection nebula IC 4592 in Scorpius is nicknamed the Blue Horse Head Nebula, the reason for which is clear from this great image. Chris Schur captured the cloud, which lies about 400 light-years away.