On Thursday and Friday step outside about 45 minutes after
sunset and look west to see a string of objects starting with the
most inner planet of our solar system, the elusive and speedy
Mercury.
On Thursday and Friday step outside about 45 minutes after sunset and look west to see a string of objects starting with the most inner planet of our solar system, the elusive and speedy Mercury.
If you look at the correct time you will see a small crescent moon just off to the left of Mercury. And as you climb the sky, along comes Saturn, which is still a great sight in even the smallest telescopes.
But next is something you just don’t want to miss, and that is Jupiter sitting straight up in the sky. Jupiter is a splendid sight, but now we add a little glitter just off to the right of the giant planet. And that glitter would be M44, known as the Beehive, a bright open cluster of nearly two dozen bright stars and a few fainter ones thrown in for good measure.
M44 is one of the best binocular highlights in the evening skies, almost 600 light-years away in the constellation Cancer. So, the light you see coming from M44 left that area some 600 years ago just to get here to visit your pupil.
The other night we had some friends over for dinner and I thought that our guest would like to get a glimpse of Jupiter through the binoculars. Not realizing what was in store, I put the binocular on Jupiter and to my surprise in the same view with Jupiter was the beehive. And what a sight it was.
It was so pretty that I had a difficult time passing the binoculars to my guest. Under my breath I’m saying to myself, “Get your own.” But being the good host that I was, I let them look too, but for a short time only. As a child I never was one to share, and it looks like I have maintained that same quality as an adult.
Constellation of the Month
The Big Dipper is no doubt the best-known constellation in the sky, even more so than Orion or Pleiades.
I’m sure there are many people who know just one group of stars, and that is always the Big Dipper. This is how all the amateur astronomers find the North Pole star, by first finding the Big Dipper and the two bright stars in the bowl that point almost directly to Polaris.
This group of stars has many names around the world. In England it is called the Plough. Other people call it Charles’ Wain, or the Churl’s Wain. (Wain is a wagon; churl is a peasant.) But its official name is the Great Bear. In Latin it is Ursa Major. This is somewhat odd because a bear is one thing it does not resemble.
But the Big Dipper is only part of Ursa Major. There is a large area to the right and below which also belongs to this constellation. If you try to draw a bear out of this group of stars the Dipper is his back and tail. I have never seen a bear with a tail so long as portrayed on the sky maps. But the shape does look like a dipper. That must be why in modern times it is known as the Big Dipper.
The Big Dipper is a good source for an eye test. Take a look at the bend in the handle. If you have good eyesight you can see Mizar and its little companion Alcor. But it would take a telescope to split Mizar into a double star only one-15th as far apart as Mizar and Alcor.
On April 22 comes another of those times when we expect to see more meteors than usual. In this case it is the Lyrid meteors.
As their name indicates, these meteors spread out from the constellation Lyra. Take a look at your sky map for April and you will see that Lyra is low in the northeast. But if you wait a few hours later, you will notice that Lyra will be higher in the sky and therefor better viewing for the showers.
The first Sunday in April, the 6th, is the day to wind your clocks one-hour forward at 2 a.m.
The change is not made in American Samoa, Hawaii, most of Arizona and Indiana, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. In Britain this change is made a week earlier, on the last Sunday in March.
Whenever you turn them, it doesn’t take a clock to tell you that it is dark outside in order for you to take some time and admire the evening skies with your binoculars, telescope or just your bare eyes. But, it is a great relaxing time alone or with a friend.
Clear skies.
