Category Archives: stargazing

stargazing

Summertime Stargazing

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Northern Hemisphere Style

Well, it’s high summer here north of the equator, and for those of you without incessant rains coming down from the sky, the stars must be lookin’ pretty good right about now. I always like to go out and look for Sagittarius, which from my latitude is pretty far south and the tail just grazes the horizon. There’s a lot of stuff out that way — the center of the Milky Way lies in that direction, and so do a number of nice star clusters and some nebulae.  It’s one of my favorite places to look with binoculars.  The Milky Way also skims right over head later in the evening, and if I can find a spot in the grass without chiggers or mites or skeeters (mossies, for those of you in Australia), it’s really rewarding to lay back and just gaze at that (with or without binoculars).

I remember as a kid doing that “laying in the grass and looking up at the skies thing” and trying to count stars. An impossible task. There are a few thousand, not counting the ones you’d need magnification to see (either too dim or too far away or too crowded together in clusters and the Milky Way).  But, don’t let that stop you from trying.

Here’s a challenge for you:  get out there every night and look up.  Just do it. No excuses. Get a star chart (if you don’t have one, get one here: Skymaps. Print it out, study it. Then go out there and use it to identify a constellation or two. Maybe some bright stars.  If you’re daring, you might see if you can find some clusters. They’re out there. And if the weather is good for you (warm, dry, comfy), try it every night. Go on do it.  I dare ya.  Me?  I’ll do it, too. But first I have to find some clear skies. It’s been raining here for a week.  And, for the next seven days, I’ll be absorbed in moving to a new house. But, I’ll check in with you, to make sure you’re stargazing.  Watching the stars is free — and, as they say — in this economy — free is good.

stargazing

Rain and Stargazing

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What to Do

Of course, as soon as I exhorted people to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy by going out and stargazing, the clouds settled in over our region and there hasn’t been a dry, clear night for a couple of nights now. This happens occasionally, and so the intrepid stargazer has to have a backup plan for such times when the stars aren’t going your way.  For me, it usually means getting a book out or doing some Web surfing.  Or, I’ll settle in for an evening of CSI reruns.  (For those of you outside the U.S., CSI is short for “Crime Scene Investigation” — a show in multiple versions that purports to tell the “true” stories of what it’s like for forensics investigators who gather clues at crime scenes.  With a little drama. And some sexy clothing. And more than a little wit.  My favorite series is set in Las Vegas.)

Lately I’ve been kind of busy with work projects, so I haven’t had much chance to watch TV.  So, the stars would have been a good diversion from work. Nonetheless, there are some leisure-time activities related to stargazing that I CAN recommend if the cloudy nights come YOUR way.  Reading armchair astronomy books happens frequently for me.  (I’ve listed a number of my favorites among those I own over at the Spacewriter’s Store (no, you don’t have to buy anything — it’s just easier to point you there since the URLs are already there).  Sometimes it’s fun to get out Burnham’s Celestial Handbook and read up on some of the marvelous literary and scientific links the late author made to things we see in the sky.  It’s a treasure trove.

Or, I’ll pull out Phil Plait’s Death from the Skies for a biting look at what people think is happening in the skies that really isn’t happening at all. Or, sometimes I just want to read a little space opera, so I’ll pull a science fiction book off the shelf and lose myself in the Vorkosiverse or the Asimov-verse or someplace like that. A few nights of doing that, and hopefully when the clouds pull out and leave behind clear skies, then I’m ready to step out and look up!