Category Archives: stargazing

astronomy, stargazing

What are You Lookin’ At?

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Stargazing Much?

Yes, I know it’s winter for those of us in the northern hemisphere, although the wintry weather should start giving way to the warmer stuff in a few weeks.  We had a taste of it this past weekend out here in the sticks where I live. The sky was clear and the Moon has been gorgeous.

Orion, courtesy Richard Drumm, the Astronomy Bum. (Click to enlargenate.)

This is the time of year when the winter constellations are starting to slip lower in the west earlier each evening. Orion’s still holding up his part of the sky — so, if you want to see a starbirth region and several bright stars, go check out the Mighty Hunter while he’s still available.

The starbirth region is the Orion Nebula (also called M42), and it’s the faint fuzzy patch located below the three Belt Stars in the center of the constellation. There are hundreds of young stars shining out in the Nebula, including the four brightest which are collectively called the Trapezium (the reddish blob in the image at left). They are relative newborn stars, still eating away at the cocoon of gas and dust that gave them birth.

A star map showing the constellation Orion and associated objects and stars. (Courtesy Wikimedia)
A star map showing the constellation Orion and associated objects and stars. (Courtesy Wikimedia--click to biggify.)

Astronomers have been studying the Orion Nebula in great detail, and have also found brown dwarfs and possible planetary systems in the region. What we can see easily through smaller telescopes and binoculars is part of a larger complex called the Orion Molecular Cloud, which contains a number of other objects you can see with medium-to-large telescopes. These would be the Flame Nebula, Barnard’s Loop, and the Horsehead Nebula. So, give that one a look, if you can, if for no other reason than the exotically named objects you can observe.

The bright stars are Betelgeuse and Rigel. Although not part of Orion (and not seen in this picture), you can’t miss Sirius (the three Belt Stars point right to it).  Sirius is the brightest star in the sky and is actually a binary star that’s really a white dwarf.  At 8.7 light-years distance, Sirius is one of the Sun’s closer neighbors.

Orion’s a good start for stargazing these chilly nights (and yes, it can get chilly even in warm climates), so go check it out. Bring along the binoculars if you can. And, if the Moon is bright, check it out AFTER you look at other parts of the sky (otherwise if you look at it first, you blow your dark adaptation).

Enjoy!

stargazing, venus

Yes, That’s Venus

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Now Appearing in the Western Sky After Sunset

Back in the days when I worked at a planetarium, we got a spate of phone calls from people worried about that “bright thing in the west that doesn’t seem to be moving”. Invariably, there’d be a caller who thought it was a UFO and that NASA was hiding something… (you’d be amazed at how those two do NOT correlate with each other).

Well, most of the time it turned out to be a planet, and usually it was Venus. It’s pretty bright and starlike and in the evening twilight, it stands out really well.

Venus and the Moon, by Theo Wellington courtesy Spaceweather.com
Venus and the Moon, by Theo Wellington courtesy Spaceweather.com

I suppose my friends at the planetariums and observatories are getting that question again this week (and probably have been for the past few weeks).  And, what people are seeing IS Venus.  Last night I went out for a brief bit and looked because it was appearing not far from the crescent Moon.  If you step out tonight (and it’s clear), you should see Venus and the Moon not too far from each other.

This image shows about how it looked from my place, although it’s really the view that Theo Wellington of Goodlettsville, TN saw from HIS place.  There’s a whole slew of images over at Spaceweather.com — go see what everybody else is seeing!  And if you can,  check it out for yourself!