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astronomy, binoculars, planets, stargazing

Getting up Early?

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Check Out Some Planet Action!

Every day is Astronomy Day, although we officially celebrated it  last weekend. But, any day you can check out the Sun (or the Moon, if it’s up), or any night that you can step out and observe something cool in the sky makes it Astronomy Day.

These four bright planets cluster closely together in predawn skies during May 2011. Courtesy Sky & Telescope.com

We’ve been plagued with snow the past two days (although, as we say here in the West: “We need the moisture”), so haven’t been able to do much observing.  Today, there’s a big bright thing in the sky and it’s making water out of snow as I write this.  So, tonight should be a fairly clear night for some good viewing.

If you have occasion to get up early in the morning and you have a good view to the eastern horizon, you WILL be treated to a nice view of four planets, especially if you bring along your binoculars or happen to have a small backyard-type telescope handy. Hey — there’s got to be some reward for getting up before the crack of dawn, right?

Here’s what’s up:  Venus and Jupiter are visible in the pre-dawn sky, together with — if you can spot it (and here’s where the binos or scope come in handy) — Mercury. Together they make a little triangle in the eastern sky.  Venus and Mercury stay within 1.5 degrees of each other for another week, while Jupiter climbs higher into the predawn sky. By mid-May, you’ll be able to spot Jupiter before Venus despite the fact that it’sless than one-quarter as bright.

A week later, Venus and Mercury create a second planetary triangle with Mars, which is quite faint (just 1/100 as bright as Venus). The triad is tightest, just over 2 degrees wide, on May 21st. Venus and Mars close to within 1 degree of each another on the 23rd, by which time Mercury has begun a slide toward lower left.

To top off the solar system action, look for a thin crescent Moon nearby on May 29-31.

The friendly folks at Sky & Telescope.com have a cool animation of these sky events, so check it out!

While you’re out that early (around 4:30 a.m.), also take some time to check out some gorgeous stellar sights.  First off, the summer triangle is visible — look for bright Vega high in the sky. That also means the Milky Way is arcing across the field of view Arcturus is setting the west, and the Big Dipper is low in the northeast — for all you Northern Hemisphere viewers. If you’re in the southern hemisphere, the constellation Sagittarius should be high overhead and the Milky Way should look gorgeous!  If you need a star chart, go here or here to download Stellarium, a free star chart program.

binoculars, stargazing, stargazing equipment

Improving on the Mark 1 Eyeballs

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Binoculars.

That’s the answer to one of the first questions people ask about astronomy: “What do I need to look at the night sky?” This is, of course, assuming that they already know they can simply walk outside and look up at a starry evening. Don’t laugh. You’d be surprised at the ideas people hold about the sky. Planetarium people get lots of questions from the public about how to do astronomy. So do professors of astronomy at universities. Sometimes they’re good questions, sometimes they’re not.

But, I digress.

Here’s the way it works. You get a yen to look at things in the night sky. Maybe you saw a killer pic of some galaxy or planet in the newspaper or at the planetarium. You want to see it for yourself. So, you head outside, look up, and wonder to yourself, “Well, maybe if I had a kick-butt telescope system, I’d be able to see more stuff.”

Wrong. Well, sort of. Sure, you could see more with a telescope — but do you know where to point it? Do you know if that killer object you saw on the HST website is even visible from where you live? And, how would you go about finding it among all those stars?

There’s a little-appreciated fact of life about astronomy that eludes the instant gratification crowd. And, that fact is this: first you go out and look up. Then you decide you want to learn more about the night sky. You’re never going to see the sky as those pictures in the paper and magazines and TV shows make it look.

Never.

It’s true. So, if all you’re after is looking at killer pics of distant space oddities, then there is a wealth of web sites, books, DVDs, CD-ROMs and other media that collect great pics for your browsing pleasure. Go for it. That’s what they’re there for. And doing astronomy that way is one way to explore the universe.

Still… observing the sky doesn’t have a lot to do with those pictures. Observing the sky, at least in the beginning, is all about looking at the whole sky each night, and pushing the limits of your vision to find out how much YOU can see. And what you can learn about what you can see.

The first thing you learn is that you don’t know very much — but that you sure do like looking at those twinkling points of light up there. They sort of call your name. They lie in patterns that catch your eye. If you look long enough, you start to notice other things up there — faint fuzzy blots of light. Could be star clusters. Could be nebulae. You’re not sure.

That’s when those telescope ads start calling your name. However, resistance to them is NOT futile. You will not be assimilated like a drone into the ranks of the “gotta have a telescope” grunts until YOU have learned the sky. You know why? Because once you get a telescope, you’ve limited your field of view. You’ve narrowed it down and put a piece of equipment between you and the sky. You’re allowing IT to define your view. There’s a time and a place for that. Don’t get me wrong — because I have three telescopes. But I also have two eyes that give me a pretty wide look at the sky. So, even though I stumble over three telescopes in the dark, it is equally true that some nights I go out observing without them.

When I want to magnify my vision — I reach for the binoculars and focus in on whatever it is that has caught my attention. Sometimes I just simply sweep the sky with the binos, peering through them to see what will catch my fancy. And then, if I see something through them that is still too faint and fuzzy, I reach for the telescope.

It’s my secret to enjoying the sky. Start with your eyes. And hang a pair of binos around your neck — they’ll come in handy more than you ever expected.