Author: Kyle Jeter

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Jewels of July’s night sky

Fireworks aren’t the only reason to look skyward this month.

This month’s challenge for beginners: the Summer Triangle and the Northern Cross. The asterism called the Summer Triangle consists of three bright stars (Deneb, Vega, and Altair) from three different constellations, with Vega being the brightest and northernmost of the three. Deneb, which is in the tail of the constellation Cygnus the Swan, also forms the top of an asterism known as the Northern Cross. The long axis of the cross represents the body of the celestial bird and the shorter axis part of its wings.

This month’s astrophotography challenge: As mentioned above, Deneb forms the top of the Northern Cross. Anchoring the opposite end of the long axis of the cross is one of the most beautiful double stars in our sky — Albireo. The striking difference in color between the two stars will be readily apparent through a telescope.

For a more difficult photographic challenge, the Ring Nebula is found south of the star Vega (the brightest Summer Triangle star). It appears as a little smoke ring in smaller telescopes, but more advanced astrophotographers can tease out its beautiful color. The Ring is an example of a Planetary Nebula, an erroneous historical name for the shroud of dying, low-mass stars.

Sky highlights this month:

  • July 4. Earth at
    Aphelion

    Because the Earth’s orbit is slightly elliptical, its distance from the Sun varies through the year by an almost imperceptible 3%. This year, the farthest the Earth will be from the Sun falls on the Fourth of July.

  • July 6. First Quarter Moon. This is a great phase in which to photograph craters along the line between the light and dark halves of the Moon’s face — the so-called terminator line.
  • July 13. Full Moon. This so-called Super Moon will be the largest Full Moon of 2022 due to the proximity of the Moon on that date (the Moon’s orbit is elliptical). It was nicknamed the Buck Moon by some Native American tribes.
  • July 15/16. There will be a conjunction of the Moon and Saturn in the early morning hours.
  • July 21. The conjunction of the Moon and Mars should be a pretty sight in the early morning hours of the 21st.
  • July 28. New Moon. As always, this is the best time of the month to travel to a dark area and go hunting for some faint Deep Sky Objects.
  • July 28/29. Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower. This is just an average meteor shower, but falling on a New Moon means that it will be at its best (without moonlight to wash out the meteor streaks). It is best seen after midnight in dark skies.

I hope that everyone is enjoying their summer and finding some time for stargazing. If you happen to be traveling to less light-polluted areas, be sure to download a stargazing app (or bring a star map) and maybe take some binoculars along. (Don’t forget the bug spray!) You might be surprised at how many of the beautiful gems and jewels of our celestial neighborhood are awaiting your discovery…

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May’s marvelous skies

What a month ahead for stargazers! The month of May offers a little bit of everything for us astronomy enthusiasts. There’s a meteor shower early in the month, a total lunar eclipse mid-month, and a parade of planets in the morning skies near the end of the month. Pretty cool!

This month’s challenge for beginners: It’s a great time of the year to follow an old saying and “arc to Arcturus.” Arcturus is the fourth brightest star in the entire night sky and has a beautiful orangish color (due to its relatively “cool” temperature).

First, find the Big Dipper by looking north. Then, follow the arc of its handle but extend the arc until you curve to Arcturus. If you continue the arc, you can then “speed on to Spica,” which is a brilliant-white star (due to its relatively hot temperature) located in Virgo.

This month’s astrophotography challenge: Take your pick — you can stay up late for the eclipse or wake up early for the planets. Either offers the opportunity for beautiful pictures with or without a telescope. Good luck!

Sky highlights this month:

  • May 6. Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower. This is a reliable meteor shower of a medium rate. This year it will be at its best due to moonlight not being a factor (a waxing crescent that evening, which will set early). For best results, view from a very dark location after midnight.
  • May 15–16. Total Lunar Eclipse. The full eclipse begins at 11:29 p.m. local time. Look for the Moon’s slight reddish hue as sunlight passing through Earth’s atmosphere gets scattered onto it. The eclipse maximum occurs at 12:11 a.m. The full eclipse ends by 12:54 a.m.
  • May 15–16. Full Moon. Of course, it’s also a Full Moon, because you can only have a lunar eclipse during a Full Moon. This one was nicknamed the “Flower Moon” by some ancient Native American tribes for the time of year when, obviously, many flowers are in bloom.
  • May 22–29. Conjunction Week! OK, that’s not an official title — just one I made up — but I think it’s apropos. In the morning skies of late May, we will be treated to a parade of all the naked-eye planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) and a crescent Moon (some nights). It should be magnificent and worth setting the alarm clock for a pre-dawn walk.
  • May 30. New Moon. This is the best time of the month to venture out to a dark area and view/photograph deep-sky objects (nebulas, star clusters, galaxies, etc.). Please consider joining the South Florida Amateur Astronomers Association for information on the best places for sky-watching (www.sfaaa.com).

It’s a terrific month for astrophotography. If you post any cool pics, be sure to tag the Parklander® and me on Instagram (@theparklander and @jeterk1971)— We’d love to see your work!

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April (meteor) shower, conjunctions, and more…

Interestingly, April begins and ends with a New Moon this year. I tell my students that “New Moon” essentially means “No Moon,” because the Moon can’t be seen at night during that phase. During a New Moon, the Moon is directly between the Sun and the Earth and is, thus, out entirely during the daytime. Of course, our calendar months are based on the cycle of the Moon’s phases. There are 12 complete lunar cycles in a solar year (along with a few extra days) and, hence, we have 12 months in a year.

This month’s challenge for beginners: finding Gemini, the Twins. First, find Orion. Next, draw a line from its super-bright star Rigel (below the famous Belt) through the bright, reddish star Betelgeuse (an equal distance above the Belt), and that line will roughly point toward Gemini.

Gemini has two bright stars, Castor and Pollux, that form the heads of the twins. Castor is whiter (think “Casper the Ghost”) and Pollux slightly more yellowish (like pollen). The Big Dipper roughly points toward Gemini as well (draw a line from the handle through the cup of the Dipper).

This month’s astrophotography challenge: See below. There is a plethora of potentially dazzling close encounters in the sky in April!

Sky highlights this month:

  • April 1. New Moon. No foolin’, this is a great time to go observing at a dark site as moonlight will not be a limiting factor.
  • April 4 — conjunction of Mars and Saturn. This should be a beautiful sight in the morning sky just before dawn for you early risers. These two planets will be very close together in the sky and of similar brightness. Venus will be nearby as well and will greatly outshine them both. Check it out!
  • April 4 — conjunction of the Pleiades and the crescent Moon. If you sleep through the morning’s conjunction, you have another chance on April 4 to witness a beautiful alignment. In the early evening sky, a thin crescent Moon will pass near the Pleiades star cluster. This promises to be absolutely gorgeous and presents a great opportunity for photographers.
  • April 16 — Full Moon. This is nicknamed the “Pink Moon” by some ancient Native American tribes for the time of year when certain pink flowers and vegetation would begin to bloom.
  • April 22 — Lyrid meteor shower. This is an average meteor shower in terms of the number of “shooting stars” you may see per hour. It is best seen in very dark skies after midnight.
  • April 29 — see Mercury! The closest planet to the Sun will reach its greatest distance (“elongation”) from the horizon this evening. Look for it around 45 minutes or so after sunset.
  • April 30 — conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. The two brightest planets (from Earth’s perspective) will cross paths in the morning skies before dawn.
  • April 30 — New Moon (again!). Perhaps you know that a second Full Moon falling in a calendar month is nicknamed a “Blue Moon” (OK, fellow nerds, I know that definition’s not quite accurate, but let’s go with it please!). In April, we have a second New Moon on the calendar. I’ve seen some refer to this as a “Black Moon.”

With all these great photography opportunities, April might be the time to dust off that DSLR or try out your cell phone camera on a steady mount. If you post any pics, be sure to tag the Parklander® and me on Instagram (@theparklander @jeterk1971) — We’d love to see your work!

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The skies of March

On many ancient calendars, March was the first month of the year. This makes sense because it was the time of year for new beginnings, such as the planting of crops. The last few months of the year get their name from that arrangement, by the way. Counting from March, September becomes the seventh month of the year, October the eighth month, and so forth. It’s also why Aries, the Ram, is usually written first when listing the Zodiac signs (if you’re into that sort of thing).

This month’s challenge for beginners: finding Leo, the Lion. One easy way to find Leo is to pretend that the cup of the Big Dipper has sprung a leak — the imaginary drip will take you straight to the lion. Leo has a very distinctive arc of stars that looks like a backward question mark and forms his head and chest. This asterism is called the Sickle. At the bottom of the arc is the bright, beautiful star Regulus. Meaning “little King,” it is also called the Heart of the Lion.

This month’s telescope/astrophotography challenge: the Beehive Cluster in Cancer. This cluster, M44 on the Messier list, is one of the brightest open clusters in the night sky. (Open clusters are relatively young stars that are formed from the same nebula of material.) It can be seen by the naked eye and, therefore, was known to the ancients such as Ptolemy. It will be high in the evening sky all month long — check it out!

Sky highlights this month:

  • March 1. Launch of an Atlas V rocket by United Launch Alliance from Cape Canaveral. This mission will send an NOAA satellite into geostationary orbit.
  • March 2 — New Moon. The best time of the month to look for Deep Sky Objects. So, take a telescope or binoculars and get out to a dark location.
  • March 18 — Full Moon. Nicknamed the Worm Moon by some ancient Native American tribes for the time of year when the ground softened enough for earthworms to be seen again.
  • March 20 — Vernal Equinox. Welcome to spring! Finally, the deep snows and icy roads of South Florida will begin to thaw… 😉. The direct rays of the Sun cross into the Northern Hemisphere on this date, and day and night are of (nearly) equal length.
  • March 20. Venus will reach its greatest distance (“elongation”) from the morning Sun on this date. Be sure to catch this brilliant white diamond in the sky just before sunrise.
  • March 30. Launch of a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket with a Crew Dragon capsule from SpaceX. This is a tourism mission planned by a private company called Axiom. This date may change.

March on, stargazers!

 

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Falling for February skies

From the Heart Nebula in Cassiopeia to the Rosette Nebula in Monoceros, there is a lot to love about the night skies of February.

This month’s asterism challenge for beginners: the Winter Hexagon. An asterism is a picture in the sky that is not an official constellation — it might be a small “picture” within a constellation (Orion’s Belt within Orion, for example), or it might consist of stars from two or more constellations. The Winter Hexagon falls in the second category as it includes bright stars from several prominent constellations.

Starting with Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, move clockwise to the hexagon’s vertices at Procyon, Castor and Pollux (a single vertex), Capella, Aldebaran, and Rigel. Connecting Rigel and Sirius completes the hexagon. Good luck!

Celestial highlights this month:

  • 1 — New Moon. It’s the best time of the month to look for Deep Sky Objects. The temperatures should be comfortable, so take a telescope or binoculars and get out to a dark location.
  • 2. Just after sunset, Jupiter and a very thin crescent Moon should make a beautiful pair in the Western sky. This “conjunction” will place them within about 4 degrees of each other.
  • 9. Venus reaches its peak brightness, as seen in the morning sky just before daybreak.
  • 16 — Full Moon. It’s nicknamed the Snow Moon by some ancient Native American tribes.
  • 16 — Mercury Mornings. Little Mercury is hidden by the Sun’s glare most of the year, but in mid-February, it will be about 26 degrees above the horizon just before the Sun rises. This is one of your best chances to see it this year.
  • 27. There will be a conjunction of Venus, Mars, and the crescent Moon in the Eastern sky before dawn. They will appear in a straight line low on the horizon.

Not just love is in the air this February. Here are some interesting launches:

  • The United States Space Force is planning two launches this month using a powerful Falcon Heavy rocket from SpaceX and an Atlas V 551 rocket from United Launch Alliance. We haven’t seen a Falcon Heavy launch since June 2019, so it is a long-awaited treat! No specific launch date has been set as of this writing.
  • There is also a tourism mission planned by a private company called Axiom, which will use a Crew Dragon capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket. Again, no launch date has been set as of now.

Hope you love these winter nights, stargazers!

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New year’s nights

Congrats on completing another journey around our local star! For the record, you traveled about 584 million miles (940 million Km) around the Sun at an average speed of about 66,000 mph (30 km/s). Alas, your FitBit probably didn’t even give you credit for that… 😊

This month’s constellation challenge for beginners: Orion. One of the most recognizable constellations in the entire sky, Orion the Hunter is a great reference point from which to begin surveying the winter sky. Orion’s Belt is an asterism of three bright stars in a line that is hard to miss. At a roughly equal distance above and below the belt are two of the top 10 brightest stars in the night sky — reddish Betelgeuse above and bright-white Rigel below.

This month’s telescope challenge for beginners: the Orion Nebula. There is a tiny smudge just below Orion’s Belt, forming part of his dagger, which is an enormous star-forming region. It can be seen with the naked eye, so even small telescopes will reveal it as a fuzzy little cloud (“little” because it’s 1300 light years away!). And for slightly larger scopes, look for four very luminous, newborn stars very close together at the heart of the cloud. They are in a somewhat trapezoidal arrangement and, thus, are called the Trapezium.

More celestial highlights this month:

  • 2 — New Moon. We start out 2022 with some particularly dark skies (minus the Moon’s glow) — enjoy!
  • 3/4 — Quadrantid Meteor Shower. With only a crescent Moon out, this should be a nice meteor shower to see from dark skies. Best seen after midnight, but, as always, no binoculars or telescope needed — just lay back and enjoy some “shooting stars”!
  • 4 — Perihelion. Believe it or not, this day marks the closest that Earth will be to the Sun in 2022. Earth’s orbit is nearly a perfect circle, so our slightly varying distance from the Sun during the year has a negligeable effect on our seasons. Remember, it is Earth’s 23-degree tilt that produces its seasons.
  • 7 — Mercury at its greatest elongation. We don’t get many chances to see Mercury compared to other planets (it hangs out near something called the Sun). But this evening will feature our Solar System’s fastest-moving planet at about its highest possible point above the Western horizon after sunset (still relatively low in the sky, though).
  • 17 — Full Moon. This moon was named the Wolf Moon by early Native American tribes.
  • Throughout January. Various launches are planned from Kennedy Space Center, though none seem to have a confirmed launch date as of the writing of this article.

Enjoy the brilliant and bountiful winter constellations and happy hunting in Orion. Wishing you and yours a pleasant journey on your next trip around the Sun.

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Discovering December sky delights

The longest nights of the year, cooler weather, clearer skies, and a dearth of mosquitoes — what more can a South Florida stargazer ask for?

This month’s constellation challenge for beginners:  Taurus. Taurus is one of the most ancient constellations and one of the most easily recognizable. A V-shaped star cluster called the Hyades forms the face of the bull and a ruddy-hued star called Aldebaran represents his reddish eye. Two long, straight horns complete the picture.

There is a plethora of celestial highlights this month:

  • 4 — New Moon. It’s the best time of the month to look for Deep Sky Objects. There will also be a Total Solar Eclipse … if you happen to be visiting Antarctica, the only place on Earth where it will be visible!
  • 6. A thin crescent Moon and Venus should make a gorgeous pair low in the western sky after sunset. This is the first of a triplet of “conjunctions” just a few days apart.
  • 7. The crescent Moon will be seen near Saturn in the early evening sky (though not as close as it was to Venus the previous evening).
  • 8/9. The final conjunction of the set will feature a wider crescent Moon appearing near Jupiter for a couple of nights in a row.
  • 13/14 — Geminid Meteor Shower. This is always one of the most consistent and beautiful meteor showers on the calendar (my personal favorite). The best time to catch it this year will be in the predawn skies. A bright Gibbous Moon won’t set until 3 a.m., hampering observations earlier in the evening. But the brightest meteors may be visible all night long. As always, dark skies are far preferable.
  • 18. The James Webb Space Telescope will be launched from French Guiana onboard an Ariane 5 rocket. This mammoth infrared space telescope has been dubbed the “successor to the Hubble” for its importance to astronomy. The launch may not be visible from Florida, but astronomy enthusiasts everywhere will be watching the 7:10 a.m. EST liftoff with great anticipation!
  • 19 — Full Moon. Some early Native American tribes referred to this as the “Cold Moon.”
  • 21 — Winter Solstice. This is the shortest day of the year and the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere (and the first day of summer in the Southern Hemisphere).
  • 21. This is the date of the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule to resupply the International Space Station.
  • 21/22 — Ursid Meteor Shower. This isn’t one of the better meteor showers of the year, but it still might be worth a look under dark skies. The meteors will seem to originate from Ursa Minor (which includes the Little Dipper) but can be seen anywhere in the sky.

Enjoy the long nights of December, stargazers!

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Stargazing in the November sky

This month, be sure to check out the bright and beautiful Pleiades Cluster, easily seen with the naked eye and gorgeous through binoculars or small scopes. For newbies to stargazing, try to find the “W” of Cassiopeia or the Great Square of Pegasus — two very easily recognizable “asterisms” in the fall sky. Jupiter and Saturn will still be visible in the evening sky as well. It’s also a great time to view the Andromeda Galaxy through a telescope, which will be highly placed in the evening sky and is the closest large galaxy to our own Milky Way.

Here are some more highlights:

  • 4 — New Moon. This will be the best time of the month to look for Deep Sky Objects.
  • 4/5 — Taurid Meteor Shower. A minor shower, but it coincides with the New Moon, so it might be worth a look, especially late.
  • 5 — Uranus at Opposition. In most backyard telescopes, this distant planet will appear as just a tiny blue dot, but this is the closest approach it will have to Earth this year.
  • 17 — Leonid Meteor Shower. A bright, waxing Gibbous Moon will spoil this popular meteor shower through most of the night, except for a short time in the early morning hours before dawn.
  • 19 — Full Moon. This month’s Full Moon is nicknamed the “Beaver Moon.”
  • 19 — Partial Lunar Eclipse. The Moon will pass into the Earth’s shadow in the early hours of the morning, reaching maximum coverage around 4 a.m.

Possible rocket launches for the month include the launch of the Boeing Starliner capsule on an Atlas V rocket and NASA’s Space Launch System for Artemis I, but no firm dates have been set.

Enjoy your autumn stargazing, friends!

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The skies of October

The drier, cooler weather of October brings with it improving conditions for sky-watchers!

Here are some night-sky highlights this month:

  • 6 — New Moon. With the moon absent in the night sky, this is the best time to make that (safe) trip to the Everglades to view “deep-sky objects” such as nebulas, star

clusters, and galaxies!

  • 7 — Draconids Meteor Shower. Although not one of the premier meteor showers, it’s one of the few that performs well before midnight. And, with moonlight being a nonfactor, it might be worth a trip to a dark location to try to witness a “shooting star” or two.
  • 16 — Launch of the Lucy Mission on a ULA Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral. Amazingly, this spacecraft will visit eight different asteroids over the course of 12 years, seven of which orbit the sun on either side of the planet Jupiter (so-called Trojan asteroids).
  • 20 — Full Moon, aka the Hunter’s Moon.
  • 25 — Mercury at its best. You don’t get that many chances each year to catch a glimpse of this small world, but the morning of the 25th is as good as it gets. It will be found low in the Eastern sky just before sunrise, so get the coffee brewing early!
  • 29 — The brightest planet in our sky, Venus, will dazzle throughout October but will reach its highest perch on the evening of the 29th. It will be visible halfway up the Western sky (470) just after sunset. If the sky is clear, you simply won’t be able to miss it! (And you will understand immediately why so many ancient cultures made it their goddess of beauty.)
  • 31 — Launch of the SpaceX Crew-3 Mission on a Falcon 9 rocket will send four astronauts inside a Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station. So, if all goes as planned, there’ll be a dragon in the sky this Halloween! 😉

Happy viewing, friends!

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