Fun Under the Night Sky

When I was a child of about eight years old, our class was frequently taken down the hall to the school's library room. Each of us was expected to get a book, read it, and write an essay about it or do an oral book report. During one of those trips to the library, I selected a book about star gazing, was fascinated by it, and have been hooked on the subject ever since. I begged for a telescope, and received one as a Christmas gift one year. It was small, and cheaply-made for children so it couldn't do a lot, but I did get some great views of the moon with it. My parents were afraid for me to be outside after dark even in our relatively-safe neighborhood, so my time with the telescope was carefully metered-out in small doses.

Over the years, I read more books and expanded my knowledge of the heavens. Senior-level students in my high school had to write a long, detailed term-paper as a "final project," and mine was about black holes. As a young adult years later, I met someone who shared my passion for star-gazing and we became friends. The two of us star-gazed together on numerous occasions. He had a really good telescope which he had built, himself. He had taken an old cardboard tube in which carpet had been shipped, bought a mirror from a mail-order company that sold astronomical supplies, mounted it in the tube, and then built a frame from scrap wood to hold the tube. With the purchase of a rack-and-pinion focuser and a couple of eyepieces from the supply shop, he had a great do-it-yourself telescope that was much cheaper than a ready-to-use telescope would have cost!

He finally decided he wanted a slightly bigger one (with an 8" / 20cm) mirror, so he sold his original 6" / 15cm f/5 telescope to me. We star-gazed with them often, looking at the rings of Saturn, details in the clouds of Jupiter and the surface of Mars, nebulae, galaxies, double-stars, and all sorts of wonderful things! Several other people wanted to join us, so he and I started our own astronomy club in the area. I wrote a monthly newsletter for the club, and we had much fun together over the years. We hosted several star-gazes where the public was invited to attend, and numerous Comet Halley parties when the comet came close to Earth back in the 1980s. The local television station even interviewed me during that time, and I appeared in a two-to-three minute segment on the news about the comet... LOL! We also hosted events for solar and lunar eclipses. I finally moved away from the area, but last I heard, the club was still thriving, but under a different name with the new leadership.

I finally sold that telescope to a friend and down-sized to a smaller, more portable telescope, which I only use on rare occasions nowadays (partly because I am always on Steemit and Discord... LOL). For anyone curious, it is an Astroscan and is — quite literally — no larger than a backpack.

~ Anyway, on to the main points of my post! ~

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned how the planet Venus is currently appearing as a bright "Evening Star" in the sky shortly after sunset (read more in my 'Venus, Evening Star' post). Those who wish to see more planets can do so, as there are three other bright ones that appear as the night progresses!

While Venus is still slowly setting in the west, one can look towards the south and see another bright star-like object that is the planet Jupiter. Further towards the east is the planet Saturn, making a lovely arc with the other two. Jupiter is not quite as bright as Venus, but is still brighter than most of the other stars. Saturn is not quite as bright as Jupiter, but still rather bright.

If one points a good pair of binoculars at Jupiter, a small disc can be seen. A telescope, however, would magnify the planet larger and would allow some of the detail of the clouds that cover the planet.

Jupiter has dozens of moons orbiting it, but four of those are bright-enough to be seen with binoculars. They appear as small "stars" very close to the planet's disc. Those four moons, discovered by Galileo and thus called the Galilean Moons, are named: Io (pronounced: ee' - oh), Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Depending on how powerful the binoculars are, one might be able to see a view similar to the diagram at right. Of course, larger binoculars will show a closer, clearer view, but are harder to hold steady unless one is using a tripod. If all four moons are not visible, then one of them is likely behind the planet and will reappear later.

As these four moons orbit the giant planet, they can be seen to shift in position. If one observes them and marks their position in a drawing on a piece of paper, then observes them a few hours later or the following night, the change in position is easily evident! This activity can be fun for an adult, but is also a great teaching experience for children.

Saturn is famous for the rings surrounding it, but those cannot be seen in binoculars; a telescope is required. The same as Jupiter, Saturn also has dozens of moons orbiting it. Only one of Saturn's moons, however, is visible in binoculars and backyard telescopes. That moon is named Titan, and is easily visible as a small "star" near the planet in a similar fashion to Jupiter's Galilean Moons.

Once Venus has set, Jupiter and Saturn will have climbed higher into the sky. Following them in the celestial parade is Mars, the planet that is more like Earth than any other planet in our solar system. Mars has two moons, but neither are visible in binoculars. Because of the coloring of the soil on Mars, the light reflected from it is reddish-orange in color, so Mars is easily identified by a lovely orange glow. It has been especially pretty — breathtaking, actually — in recent nights when I have seen it!

Since all the planets are orbiting the sun, their positions will change with respect to the stars as time passes. So, the positions shown in this post are only what is seen during July 2018. Anyone coming back to this post months or years from now will find the planets in different positions. Those different positions can easily be found in sky maps or via "planetarium software" such as I mention at the end of this post.

In a similar manner to cloud-watching, star gazers have fantasized for centuries about shapes visible in the sky by "connecting the dots" among the stars. There are 88 recognized figures in the sky, as categorized by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), and those are called constellations. Shown below is an artist's rendering of how the ancient Greco-Roman civilization viewed the sky. Other cultures around the world, such as India and China, perceived different figures than those imagined by the Western World. One can see, below, the constellations of Scorpius (the scorpion) and the centaur (a mythological creature that is half-man, half-horse) Sagittarius aiming an arrow at the scorpion to be sure he behaves.

These two constellations are part of the "Zodiac," a strip of twelve constellations through which the planets pass, and also the central concept behind the idea of astrology. I think it might be a good time to mention the differences between astronomy and astrology.

• Astronomy is the scientific study of the universe, the stars, the planets, their motions, and their physical attributes. Astronomers try to determine how far away objects are, what chemical elements they're made of, how their gravitational pull affects the others, and so forth. Astronomy concerns itself with facts.
• Astrology is the belief that hidden secrets to human personality and world events can be decoded from the positions of the stars and planets at a given time. Astrology is a belief system which may, or may not, have validity and is experiential in nature on a personal level.

While outside looking at Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars, another fun thing to do is to try to find the constellation of Scorpius. It is a group of stars shaped like the letter "J" below-right of Saturn. The ancient Greco-Romans thought it looked a bit like a scorpion, thence the name (Scorpius is the Latin word for scorpion). This constellation is always called "Scorpius" by astronomers, but astrologers call it "Scorpio."

The brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius is Antares, which means "Rival to Mars" because the brightness and color is similar to that of the planet Mars.

Besides the 88 constellations recognized by the IAU, other figures are popular, such as the Big Dipper. Those other figures that are not recognized as constellations are called "asterisms." One really cute asterism that is part of the constellation Sagittarius and is easy to find is The Teapot. The Teapot is to the left of Scorpius. The handle is on the left, the spout is on the right, and the lid is pointing upwards.

When looking towards the spout of The Teapot, one is looking towards the center of our galaxy, called the Milky Way. If one is in a relatively dark location without many street lights or houses nearby, one can easily see a long "cloudy" strip stretching up through the sky. That "cloud" is actually millions of stars, just like our sun, and telescopes can show the individual stars that comprise that strip. Our galaxy is big in diameter, but relatively thin, like a pancake. We are inside that pancake, so looking towards the center, all we see is a strip of starry goodness. Years ago, I heard someone describe the Milky Way as "steam rising from the spout of The Teapot." 😁


TIP: Once you have been in the dark for a few minutes, your eyes will slowly adapt to the low light conditions and you will begin to see faint objects that were not visible previously. At this point, any light that is white or yellow in color will ruin this "night vision" that you have temporarily acquired. Those who enjoy star-gazing on a regular basis often cover their flashlights with a reddish filter after they have reached their star-gazing location. Red-filtered lighting can be achieved several ways:

• Commercially-made red filters can be purchased at many stores that sell hiking/camping supplies. Sometimes they are sold individually, and sometimes they are sold with a flashlight.
• You can save money $$$ on a filter if you can find a plastic bag or a scrap of thin, red cloth. Depending on the thickness, you might have to double-over the material a time or two, then secure it to the end of your flashlight with a rubber band.
• If you plan to star-gaze often, you can set aside a particular flashlight to use outdoors at night and paint-over the end of it with red nail polish. Wait a few minutes for it to dry, then add another coat, and repeat until it is as dim as you wish for it to be.

 Those of you who have stuck with me this long are probably wondering, "What the heck is this 'Stellarium' thing that she keeps referencing underneath her images?"  It is a computer program that is available as a free download from Stellarium.org It is an open-source software, and versions are available for Linux, Mac, and Windows computers. I have used it for years and love it. Anyone who does not wish to download software to their computer (or mostly use smartphones & tablets) can find sky maps online; just enter "sky map" or "star chart" into your favorite search engine to locate them.