Jim (jazzmanjim) wrote, @ 2004-03-29 23:43:00

Neat Stuff in the Night Sky!
This time of year is one of the two best, IMO, for finding really cool things up there in the night sky.

Late winter/Early spring is great for viewing one of the most recognizeable constellations in the Northern Hemisphere.

And we're going to have fun with it and its neighbors.

But first...FIRST.....there's something that you won't get a chance to see for another generation - all five planets visible to the naked eye in the sky at the same time. The added bonus is that you get to see a beautiful star cluster, too, and all you need are your peepers. A pair of binoculars will work, too, but they're not required.

Here's a ]little overview of what to look for. You'll be looking for horizon to horizon for those bright non-twinking objects (cool note: Stars twinkle. Planets don't unless they're close to the horizon). Jupiter will be the big bright one to the East and Venus will be even brighter to the West. In between them will be the semi-bright Saturn. Between Saturn and Venus you'll find the reddish Mars. The toughest to find will be Mercury. It'll be tucked under Venus, low on the horizon. You'll need a nice clear night, an uncluttered horizon, and almost no ground lights to spot it. If you get it then you've done great! If not, enjoy the four you can see easily.

But why stop while you're there? Drop down and to the right of Saturn and find Orion . The most distinguishable feature is the three horizontal stars known as Orion's Belt. If you have really good binoculars you can find the Orion Nebula (located just under the second star in what would be the "scabbard" hanging off the Belt"). The Orion Nebula is one of the universe's most active star birthplaces and a favorite of the Hubble Space Telescope.

While you're looking at Orion, note the red star that makes one of his shoulders. That's Betelgeuse. It's a really freaking big star (so big that if you replaced the Sun with it, it would extend past the orbit of Jupiter) and the redness is caused by its advanced age. The other bright star which is diagonally opposite Betelgeuse is Rigel. Rigel is the 7th brightest star in the sky, some 40,000 times brighter than our own sun.

But while we're looking at bright stuff, take a look to the left and slightly lower than Orion. That really bright star there is Sirius, the brightest star in the whole sky - 23 times brighter than the sun. Much of that brightness is due to its closeness to us - only 8.6 light years. Rigel, by comparison is 775 light years away. Sirius is part of the Constellation called Canis Major (AKA: The Big Dog).

And here's another one to find, if you're lucky this time of year. Slide over a little farther to the left and down, near the horizon (try looking for this one later in the night). There'll be another bright star there that's part of the smallest constellation I know, Canis Minor (AKA: The Little Dog). Canis Major and Canis Minor serve as companions to Orion - his faithful hunting dogs. The star you see there is Procyon . Canis Minor is ade of two stars, but ht eother is so faint that Canis Minor is often called the "Lone Star Constellation".

But what are Orion and his hunting dogs hunting? Well, remember where we left Mars? Look just a little down and to the left. You'll see a "V"-shape, headed by a reddish star that looks a bit like Mars. That star is Aldebaran and it's the brightest star in the constellation Taurus . The bull is fearsome! Grrrr!

If you haven't gotten a crick in your neck quite yet, come up a little form Aldebaran and see the Pleiades, otherwise known as the Seven Sisters or The Most Often Misspelled Thing in the Sky. On a normal night you can pick out six to seven of them with the naked eye. A clear night will reveal as many as a dozen. With a decent pair of binoculars, you'll see dozens! There's your star cluster. Yahoo!

The trio of Sirius, Procyon, and Betelgeuse form the Winter Trangle, just one of the great reason to gaze at the stars on a clear night this time of year.