Sky Scene Oct - Dec 2000

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=22 BGCOLOR="#330099" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="040000d2erkqrf.gif"> <div> Derby and District Astronomical Society - Aries Magazine</div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=145 BGCOLOR="#333399" TEXT="#080000" background="03fa2c00erkjzj.gif"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Aries Astronomy magazine on line Derby a"><U>HOME</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="editorial.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Aries on line Autumn 2000 editorial"><U>Aries on line - Autumn 2000 editorial</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="double_stars.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Double Stars"><U>Double Stars</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Pluto and Back for bed"><U>Pluto and Back for bed</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="vla.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="VLA Radio telescope"><U>VLA Radio telescope</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Beginners nebulae"><U>Beginners - nebulae</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Forgotten Astronauts"><U>Forgotten Astronauts</U></A></div> <div> <B>Sky Scene Oct - Dec 2000</B></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=458 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="06a92963.gif"> <div> <I>Aries Astronomy magazine on line- Derby and District Astronomical Society</I></div> <div> <IMG SRC="04107040.gif" border=0 width="263" height="4" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Sky Scene</div> <bR> <div> <I><B>October</B></I></div> <bR> <div> The nights are getting much better in terms of astronomy, twilight ends at a reasonable hour and so now would be a good time for novices to familiarise themselves with some important and prominent constellations such as Pegasus, Perseus, Andromeda, Cygnus and Lyra. Get yourself a star map and get out there! The so called “Summer Triangle” of Deneb, Altair and Vega is still prominent, despite the fact that it is now autumn! It is worth scanning the area of Cygnus to marvel at the milky way and also to see if you can spot any of the dark nebulae that are visible (or invisible I suppose) in the area. Find some of the many Messier objects such as the Andromeda Galaxy (easily visible through binoculars even from Derby itself) or M15, a globular cluster. Instead of looking at the main constellations, why not focus on  some less well known ones, for example, Vulpecula. You will find a pair of binoculars helpful since this relatively modern constellation (invented in the 17th century by Hevelius) is faint and small. Let your eyes become fully dark adapted before starting your search. It lies between Cygnus and Aquila. Check out alpha, it is an orange-red double star. See if you can find M27 – the Dumbell Nebula, a planetary nebula. There have been two navae discovered in Vulpecula, keep your eyes peeled, you never know when the next one will occur…</div> <div> Mercury and Venus are not well placed, they set in the twilight, shortly after the Sun. Neptune and Uranus are in the South, mid evening, in Capricorn. Saturn and Jupiter are well placed for observation by midnight. </div> <bR> <div> <I><B>November</B></I></div> <bR> <div> Jupiter and Saturn are visible all night by the middle of the month. Also by the middle of the month, Mars rises in the small hours. Mercury is a difficult morning object, make sure that the Sun has not risen if you are searching for it using binoculars. By the end of the month, it will rise about  1 hr 20 min. before the Sun. us and Neptune are now setting by 9 p.m. In the Eastern sky, the familiar and bright winter constellations of Taurus and Orion are rising. Enough is known about these from previous “sky scenes” so I will turn to the northern skies for the constellation focus for this month. Draco, the dragon, is large in area but faint in stars. It is sprawled between the two bears and is said to represent the guardian of the golden apples in the garden of Hesperides. The main star is called Thuban and was the pole star around 4700 years ago. It is a binary star but you need a spectroscope to discover this since the components are too close together to see as separate entities. Gamma Draconis, named Eltamin, Was a highly important star to the ancient Egyptians. Apparently, in the period around 3500 BC it rose in line with the centre passages of some major temples and is thought to have been used to align one of Ramesses’ temples in about 2500 BC. It lies almost exactly at the zenith of the original Greenwich observatory and was extensively observed by James Bradley, the third Astronomer Royal, leading him to the discovery of the aberration of light. There are several meteor showers in Draco, the best known are the Quadrantids (max on 2-3 Jan, normal range 28 Dec. – 4 Jan.). Click <A HREF="http://www.e-smith.freeserve.co.uk/#Draco" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.e-smith.freeserve.co.uk/#Drac"><U>here to go to a report about a draconid meteor shower watch</U></A>, written by a member of the Chesterfield Astronomical Society.</div> <bR> <div> <I><B>December</B></I></div> <bR> <div> The best placed planets this month are  Jupiter and Saturn, their bright discs dominating the southern view. Mars is still an object for insomniacs, dedicated observers or those on night shift! Venus will be shining bright in the western sky , setting about 3 hours after the Sun. Taurus and Orion will be conspicuous in the south, with Pegasus slipping further to the west with each passing day. Lepus, the Hare, is a little known constellation below Orion. Its origins as a constellation are a little vague, there are several suggestions. In early Egyptian astronomy, it was part of the boat of Osiris and was a shed to the ancient Chinese! Julius Schiller portrayed it as Gideon’s Fleece. The main star is called Arneb and is just brighter than magnitude 3. It is yellow-white and has a faint companion – you would need at least a 6” telescope to see it convincingly. Beta, called Nihal, is also a binary, needing a decent sized telescope however gamma is a wide double star, just within binocular range. The colour contrast for this one is good, the primary is yellow-white, the companion is orange-white. R is a long period variable star also known as “Hind’s Crimson Star”. Hind described it as “… resembling a blood drop on the background of the sky.” It is easy to see in binoculars when at maximum brightness (sorry, I do not have details about whether or not it will be at maximum at this time, see if you can find it anyway). The other object of interest is M79, a globular cluster. It should just be visible in 10X50 binoculars as a hazy patch but its proximity to the Southern horizon makes it a difficult object for us here in Derby. </div> <bR> <div> I have not included any star charts here because there are plenty of astronomy books and places on the web  that you can get them. </div> </td> </tr></table></body>