Christmas Week Star Party

Christmas week star chart 2004

(NOTE: This is for Christmas 2004)

Every year we send out a Christmas newsletter to family and friends, and each year since the mid-1990s, we’ve included a star chart and a little description of stargazing activities to do in our annual “Christmas Star Party.” I thought it would be fun to share it with the blog readers, too!

This year we’re exploring celestial favorites, starting with Orion in the south-southeast. Look for the Orion Nebula below the three belt stars of Orion. On Dec. 24 the Moon is in Taurus, and is full on December 26. The planet Saturn almost lines up with Castor and Pollux, the two brightest stars in Gemini. The week after Christmas, look for Comet Machholz making its way through Eridanus (to the west of Orion) toward Taurus. Actually, Machholz has been and will be visible for quite a while, but for a couple of nights the Moon will interfere with seeing it in all its glory, so wait a few days after Christmas to see if you can spot it.

A special planetary exploration note: on Christmas Day, the Cassini mission to Saturn will send its Huygens planetary probe to Titan. On January 14, Huygens will be the first craft ever to land on an outer solar system moon and send data about what it finds.

Happy stargazing everybody!

You Never Know….

President of Chile, Ricardo Lagos, at the controls of one of ESO's instruments Courtesy European Southern Observatory

There are astronomers all around us. Carl Sagan once said that we are descended of astronomers. So, it makes sense that the guy standing behind you in the bank line, or the woman ahead of you when you get on the plane MIGHT be an astronomer. Whether or not they’re professional astronomers (meaning they get paid to do it as a living) or amateurs (meaning they do astronomy AND hold down an unrelated job or go to school or something)—that’s another question.

Recently the president of Chile visited the European Southern Observatory. It turns out he’s an avid amateur astronomer and took the opportunity of a private visit to ask a lot of good questions about the technology astronomers were using to scan the skies. (If you want to read more about his visit, click on the European Southern Observatory link above.)

That story reminded me of a favorite pastime of amateurs: finding out which other famous people are into amateur astronomy. It turns out there are a fair number of them in the U.S., and I’m sure many more around the world. There’s Johnny Carson (former king of late-night talk shows in the U.S.), who stargazes from his home in California. Anthony Williams, mayor of Washington, D.C., is reported to be a night skygazer. I’ve also heard that movie stars Steve Martin and Tim Russ (a Star Trek: Voyager actor) do their fair share of stargazing, and rumor has it more than one rock musician is also turned on by the stars! A friend once reported he saw actor James Earl Jones at a star party on the East Coast, and astronaut John Grunsfeld once held a star party on orbit in the space shuttle!

Kinda neat when you think about it—no matter who we are are or how famous we are, stargazing is one of those things that nearly everybody can enjoy and share!

Finding Your Way Among the Stars

Lately I’ve been working on some short programs that teach people how to star-hop around the sky. These are for planetarium use in those presentations we’ve traditionally called the “Green Arrow” shows. If you’ve been to a planetarium and have been taught how to find a few constellations, then you’ve experienced one of these unique lectures. Back when I used to work at a planetarium, those were my favorite shows to give because I got to interact with the audience in the dark and tell them great stuff like how to leap to Leo from Spica, and how to find the north pole star by using the pointer stars in the Big Dipper. I’d usually tell people that they were free to ask questions because, hey—it was a dark room and I couldn’t see them, and there was no such thing as a dumb question. That last statement was always a challenge to the smartypants in the crowd, who would sit there in the dark figuring out the dumbest-sounding thing they could ask, just to find out what I’d say. I was always waiting and had a whole arsenal of snappy answers for ‘em!

But, back to the starry skies. Stargazing and starhopping aren’t that hard, actually. But, I admit, it is a bit intimidating to go out on a clear night and try to find your way around, especially if you haven’t done it before. I usually recommend that people get starwheels or beginner’s books to help them get their bearings in the sky (In fact, I’ve reviewed some (also called “planispheres”) on my web pages at: Practical Astronomy and Beginner’s Products.)

I’m always looking out for new books and products that help people with a taste for exploring the stars. Of course, if you have a planetarium near by, it never hurts to go over for a “green arrow show.” They usually call them “The Sky Tonight” or something like that, and they’re usually about 15-30 minutes of easy-to-follow stargazing instructions. It’s not quite like being under the real sky, but it’s better than trying to read a book in the dark!

Okay, so let’s say you’ve been to the planetarium, or you’re one of those unlucky folks who don’t have one nearby, and you’re looking for a book to help you out. My favorites (which I’ve outlined on the web page linked above) are David Chandler’s Planispheres, H.A. Rey’s Find the Constellations, and a new entry on my web pages, Stikky Night Skies This link will take you directly to Amazon.com’s web page, which has some of the interior pages pasted up for you to look at.

The publisher sent me a copy a couple of months ago and I wasn’t sure what to expect. After all my years of teaching in the planetarium, it didn’t seem like you could duplicate the experience on a page. But, as I played with this book and went through its exercises a couple of times, I decided that while it’s not JUST like the planetarium, it is about as close as you’re going to get on the printed page. I like it!

It’s just the sort of thing you could read indoors on a bad-weather night to prepare yourself for the next time the stars are out. It’s really a delightful book, very clever in its layout and the way it teaches you how to starhop, and what to recognize in the night sky. I didn’t try it outdoors, but I would imagine you’d need a flashlight (with red gel on it so you don’t muck up your dark adaptation!), and bit of patience to try and see the pages because they are, after all, lots of little white dots on black paper. And that’s a fair approximation of the sky on a printed page.

Once you’ve learned a little starhopping from the H.A. Rey or the Stikky Night Skies or you’re planisphere, and you know a few constellations, it’s time to move on to some binocular astronomy. That’s where David Chandler’s Exploring the Night Sky With Binoculars” (described on this page ) will come in very handy.

I have to admit that when I’m out stargazing, I’m just as likely to head out without anything but my own Version 2.0 eyeballs (1.0 is without correction; 2.0 is with correction). Then, if I spot something I want to look at more closely, I run back in the house and grab the binoculars! These chilly winter nights (in New England!) aren’t too conducive to long sessions at the telescope, although I must admit, I DO want to get a peek through the scope at the Orion Nebula one of these nights!
Whatever your motivation for wanting to learn more about the stars, just remember, the first step is to out and look up! Sooner or later you’ll find yourself wanting to know more, and that’s where the planetarium, the books, the planispheres, and everything else will feed your quest for starry knowledge!