Hello there fellow stargazers!
Has the cooler air and shorter days started to impact your inner-autumn flow? You walk into your local coffee and pastry shops and they are offering wonderfully pumpkin-spiced beverages and pumpkin deserts, and we start to crave apple pie, warm deserts, and warm beverages as the colder nights creep in.
The walk-in closet becomes transformed as long sleeve shirts and sweaters make a come-back. Millions of new clothes combinations become available!
So, as the full moon rose this past week, have you noticed the beautiful golden hue about it? It has been a rich treasure to behold. The September Full Moon is the well-named Full Corn/Full Harvest Moon. The staple fall crops of corn, pumpkins, squash, beans, and wild rice are ready for harvest. Kind of gets you thinking about Thanksgiving already!
Farmers can work later into the night with the light of the moon shining down upon them; the week of the autumn equinox the Moon rises about the same time each night, versus 50 minutes later as usual. Try timing the moon rise this weekend to see if this holds true for you!
In other horizons, I have been glad to have the somewhat clearer skies of September to start to pull out my "Big Daddy" telescope into the driveway and start to spy the late summer and early fall deep sky objects. I have been trying to view the recently discovered supernova which lies in M51, the Spiral Galaxy, yet have still have not seen it! The first few nights of this past week it was cloudy and raining, and the last few clouds have obscured the night by about more than half. I do enjoy the slow-down and cooling of the weather, however I would really like the chance to catch a view of M51 before the Big Dipper ends up too far below the horizon.
So, with the telescope out, I decided to view the tried and true deep sky object of the bejeweled Butterfly Star Cluster in between the tail of Scorpio and the spout of Sagittarius. I was not disappointed; it is an easy find even with a pair of binocular or even a keen pair of eyes as a white smudge on a dark moonless night.
Next time we will seek out and finish with the Zodiac with the constellations of Aquarius and Pisces. These are the two most obscure constellations in the night sky, and an exercise in patience with the reward of tracing them out on the Fall horizon being some pretty killer bragging rights!
Be Well until then!
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Saturday, September 3, 2011
#21 The Scorpion and the Archer
Happy Labor Day weekend!
The summer is coming to an end, and the night sky is becoming clearer as the Monsoon storms are dissipating. Peeks of the fall constellations are teasing my already deprived spirit. Before we move onto the fall night sky, we must spend some time with two constellations that are a large part of the Southwestern night sky: Scorpio and Sagittarius.
Scorpio and Sagittarius are a great late summer and early fall focus, as they take up most of the south-western night sky. They hold wonderful binocular deep-sky treasures. You can see four "M" star clusters near or between these two Zodiac constellations. I enjoyed each of these star clusters with only a pair of field binoculars! It feels so nice to stand underneath the clear starry night sky again! My wife Cassie is currently on her "scorpion hunt" with the black light flashlight and has found quite a large one on the wall in our backyard. Interesting things these arachnids are, and glad not to have been stung by one.
Scorpio is not hard to miss, as it appears as an elongated "S" in the night sky. Towards the middle of the constellation you will the the beautiful "jewel box" of the summer night sky: Antares, or enemy of Mars, so named due to its pinkish coloration which is similar to how the planet Mars appears in the night sky.
Scorpio also has some wonderful binocular viewing points to be aware of. M4 is seen to the upper right of Antares (about 1 o'clock) as a beautiful globular star cluster and it is easily viewed with Antares as a viewing guide. The tail of Scorpio holds wonderful "double" stars, twin stars sparkling within the same field of view. Between Scorpio and Sagittarius sits M6 and M7, both about 9 o'clock from the prominent tail stars of Scorpio. M7 is a nice example of an open star cluster, and M6 is aptly named the Butterfly cluster; can you see the butterfly pattern?
Scorpio is known as the scorpion, and at one time had also included Libra as its own. Libra had been thought of as the scorpion's "claws" at one time, until Julius Caesar decreed the sign of the scales of Libra be created to symbolize justice and democracy. Thus, the scorpion lost its claws, but it is still very dangerous with its stinger and venom.
Scorpio is immortalized in the night sky as the one creature that was able to take down Orion the Hunter. Notice that Orion is the "king" of the winter night sky, and that Scorpio is the "king" of the summer night sky? This is so both do not again meet, as they are mortal enemies. Scorpio, at the call of Hera, landed the poisonous and deathly blow to Orion with a sting to the heel, yet took the brunt of Orion's club crushing down upon its rough exoskeleton, also causing death. Scorpio is placed in the night sky to remind those that have a tendency to boast about their skills that even the smallest sting can unravel their inflated words.
Sagittarius is our "teapot" in the night sky, complete with the sugar spoon to the upper left (about 10 or 11 o'clock.) Sagittarius holds the M22 globular star cluster which I call the "spoonful of sugar." M22 can be found just above the tip-top of the teapot lid and a bit to the left (about 11 o'clock.)
Sagittarius is known as a centaur, or a half-man/half-horse creature. This centaur is visualized as hunting with a bow and arrow in this constellation, which was not the usual hunting weapon of centaurs. Therefore, it is thought that Sagittarius is representative of the satyr Crotus. A satyr is a half-man/half-goat creature, with goat horns and a large goatee. The satyr's instrument of choice was pipes, and the satyr was known to possess musical magic, known to ably soothe irritated folks or muddle the mind with illusions.
Crotus was the childhood friend of the Muses, the source of inspiration for the human arts. He studied the fine arts of hunting, athleticism, music, and art and excelled at all. It is thought that Crotus invented rhythm as he clapped time for the muses during their lyrical songs. It is thought also that he invented archery. Crotus was placed in the night sky at the request of the Muses to their father, Zeus.
The summer is coming to an end, and the night sky is becoming clearer as the Monsoon storms are dissipating. Peeks of the fall constellations are teasing my already deprived spirit. Before we move onto the fall night sky, we must spend some time with two constellations that are a large part of the Southwestern night sky: Scorpio and Sagittarius.
Scorpio and Sagittarius are a great late summer and early fall focus, as they take up most of the south-western night sky. They hold wonderful binocular deep-sky treasures. You can see four "M" star clusters near or between these two Zodiac constellations. I enjoyed each of these star clusters with only a pair of field binoculars! It feels so nice to stand underneath the clear starry night sky again! My wife Cassie is currently on her "scorpion hunt" with the black light flashlight and has found quite a large one on the wall in our backyard. Interesting things these arachnids are, and glad not to have been stung by one.
Scorpio is not hard to miss, as it appears as an elongated "S" in the night sky. Towards the middle of the constellation you will the the beautiful "jewel box" of the summer night sky: Antares, or enemy of Mars, so named due to its pinkish coloration which is similar to how the planet Mars appears in the night sky.
Scorpio also has some wonderful binocular viewing points to be aware of. M4 is seen to the upper right of Antares (about 1 o'clock) as a beautiful globular star cluster and it is easily viewed with Antares as a viewing guide. The tail of Scorpio holds wonderful "double" stars, twin stars sparkling within the same field of view. Between Scorpio and Sagittarius sits M6 and M7, both about 9 o'clock from the prominent tail stars of Scorpio. M7 is a nice example of an open star cluster, and M6 is aptly named the Butterfly cluster; can you see the butterfly pattern?
Scorpio is known as the scorpion, and at one time had also included Libra as its own. Libra had been thought of as the scorpion's "claws" at one time, until Julius Caesar decreed the sign of the scales of Libra be created to symbolize justice and democracy. Thus, the scorpion lost its claws, but it is still very dangerous with its stinger and venom.
Scorpio is immortalized in the night sky as the one creature that was able to take down Orion the Hunter. Notice that Orion is the "king" of the winter night sky, and that Scorpio is the "king" of the summer night sky? This is so both do not again meet, as they are mortal enemies. Scorpio, at the call of Hera, landed the poisonous and deathly blow to Orion with a sting to the heel, yet took the brunt of Orion's club crushing down upon its rough exoskeleton, also causing death. Scorpio is placed in the night sky to remind those that have a tendency to boast about their skills that even the smallest sting can unravel their inflated words.
Sagittarius is our "teapot" in the night sky, complete with the sugar spoon to the upper left (about 10 or 11 o'clock.) Sagittarius holds the M22 globular star cluster which I call the "spoonful of sugar." M22 can be found just above the tip-top of the teapot lid and a bit to the left (about 11 o'clock.)
Sagittarius is known as a centaur, or a half-man/half-horse creature. This centaur is visualized as hunting with a bow and arrow in this constellation, which was not the usual hunting weapon of centaurs. Therefore, it is thought that Sagittarius is representative of the satyr Crotus. A satyr is a half-man/half-goat creature, with goat horns and a large goatee. The satyr's instrument of choice was pipes, and the satyr was known to possess musical magic, known to ably soothe irritated folks or muddle the mind with illusions.
Crotus was the childhood friend of the Muses, the source of inspiration for the human arts. He studied the fine arts of hunting, athleticism, music, and art and excelled at all. It is thought that Crotus invented rhythm as he clapped time for the muses during their lyrical songs. It is thought also that he invented archery. Crotus was placed in the night sky at the request of the Muses to their father, Zeus.
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