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What's in the Sky is a monthly newsletter showcasing various objects and events visible in the sky for the upcoming month. It is written by FoGAP member Jim White for local newspapers. Note: Not all objects discussed may be visible during Observatory shows. Object visibility depends on location in the sky, rise and set times, and weather. Some objects may only be viewable during the early morning. Welcome to December, the last month of the year, the Holiday season, and the winter solstice. December does not have a lot of clear skies, but has plenty to see when the clouds do part! December 21 marks the winter solstice, when the Sun reaches its lowest point in the sky, and daylength reaches its minimum. On the 21st the Sun will rise at about 7:44am and set at about 4:24pm, for a day length of about 8 hours and 40 minutes. Daylength will begin to slowly increase after the 21st, adding a few seconds each day. At the start of December, we’ll have a bright, waxing crescent Moon. On the 4th, we’ll see full Moon, followed by December’s new Moon on the 19th. On December 3, the bright Moon will move in front of the bright star cluster the Pleiades, starting at about 5pm, finishing at about 8pm. It may be difficult to view, as the bright Moon may make it hard to see the stars as they disappear and reappear behind the Moon. On the 8th, the Moon will lie above Jupiter, in the eastern evening sky. On the morning of the 14th, the waning crescent Moon will present a nice view, just to the right of the bright star Spica in the constellation Virgo. Another nice view will occur on the evening of December 26, with the waxing crescent Moon lying just above Saturn, low in the southern sky. The Geminid meteor shower will peak on the night of December 13-14. The Moon should not be a big factor, being low in the morning sky and only about 25% illuminated. Saturn remains in the evening sky, easily visible, in the south and southwestern evening sky. This month our other gas giant, Jupiter, makes its debut in the evening sky. Look for Jupiter rising in the east by 7:30pm early in the month, and dominating the eastern evening sky. Jupiter will be in the constellation Gemini, with the Gemini twins, Castor and Pollux, above the gas giant. Train a pair of binoculars on Jupiter and see its 4 largest moons, called the Galilean moons. If you watch them on different nights, you’ll see that they change positions, indicating that they are orbiting Jupiter, as Galileo observed centuries ago.  I don’t usually stray from describing the night sky for these columns, but this month I want to write a few words about the loss of a friend, Steve Stout, long-time Director of the Goldendale Observatory in Goldendale. Steve passed away in late October, after I had already submitted my November column. Steve ran the Observatory from the time before it became a Washington State Park, through its beginnings as a unique State Park, until his retirement after 32 years running the Park. I started volunteering there in 1986, and spent many hours under the stars with him over the years. One thing Steve liked to do was describe his age not in years, but in “lunations” – a lunation being the time for our Moon to orbit the Earth. I calculated that Steve lived for 972.45 lunations. A life well-lived Steve.
What's in the Sky is a monthly newsletter showcasing various objects and events visible in the sky for the upcoming month. It is written by FoGAP member Jim White for local newspapers. Note: Not all objects discussed may be visible during Observatory shows. Object visibility depends on location in the sky, rise and set times, and weather. Some objects may only be viewable during the early morning. Welcome to November! One of our cloudier months, and certainly not one with a lot of clear skies. However, when the clouds to clear, early sunsets mean the ability to view the skies earlier in the evening. Get out when you can! Remember to “fall back” on Nov. 2 when daylight savings time ends. November’s full Moon will occur on the 5th, with new Moon following on the 19th. On the first of November, you’ll find the Moon just to the right of Saturn in the southern sky, a great way to pick up Saturn. On the 10th, the Moon will be just to the left of Jupiter in the morning sky. A waning crescent Moon will make a nice sight just below the constellation Leo on the morning of Nov. 13. The Moon will return to the evening sky late in the month. Look for a nice crescent Moon low in the south on the 26th. The Moon will again be near Saturn on the 28th and 29th. Saturn will remain in great position to see in November, the brightest “star” you see low in the south. You may be able to note its pale-yellow color. With a telescope, you can see that the famous rings are still “edge-on”, seen only as a thin line along Saturn’s equator.  Jupiter will re-enter the evening sky late in November, very low in the east. Jupiter is still mainly a morning object.
Other than Saturn and Jupiter, November is not a good month to view the planets. Venus, Mars, and Mercury are all lost in the Sun’s glare. November is the month of a famous meteor shower, the Leonids. The best time to see them is the early morning hours of November 17 and 18, or the evening hours of the 17th. Look for 10-15 meteors per hour at the peak. The Leonids are famous for some intense meteor storms. The parent comet is Tempel-Tuttle, which orbits the Sun about every 33 years. Like all comets, it leaves a dusty trail that the Earth encounters at the same time every year, resulting in the meteor shower as particles fall into our atmosphere and burn up. When we encounter the densest area of Tempel-Tuttle debris, every 33 years, we get a more intense meteor shower. At times, the Leonids have been so intense they have caused incredible meteor storms. In 1833, an intense Leonid storm is estimated to have had 50,000 to 150,000 meteors per hour! People were in awe, and some thought the world was coming to an end. The 1833 storm was viewed by future US President Abraham Lincoln in Illinois. Lincoln related his experience years later, in an anecdote he related during one of the darkest times of the American Civil War. The anecdote is mentioned in the collected works of Walt Whitman, who lived in Washington during the Civil War. Per Whitman, Lincoln related “When I was a young man in Illinois, I boarded for a time with a Deacon of the Presbyterian Church. One night I was roused from my sleep by a rap at the door. I heard the Deaon’s voice exclaiming ‘arise Abraham, the day of judgement has come’. I sprang from my bed and rushed to the window and saw the stars falling in great showers. But looking back of them in the heavens I saw the great old constellations with which I was well acquainted, fixed and true in their places. Gentlemen, the world did not come to an end then, nor will the Union now.” Enjoy November’s dark skies! What's in the Sky is a monthly newsletter showcasing various objects and events visible in the sky for the upcoming month. It is written by FoGAP member Jim White for local newspapers. Note: Not all objects discussed may be visible during Observatory shows. Object visibility depends on location in the sky, rise and set times, and weather. Some objects may only be viewable during the early morning. Welcome to October, the first full month of Autumn. Nights grow significantly longer this month. By the end of October, sunset comes before 6pm! Earlier darkness makes for good evening stargazing, when skies are clear. Nights are colder, but not as frigid as in winter. October will be an excellent month in which to view Saturn. The ringed planet made its closest approach to Earth in September, but is still close to Earth this month. And, it will be in better position for evening viewing. At its September 21 opposition, Saturn rose at sunset, and was at its highest in the night sky (and easiest to see) at about midnight. In mid-October, Saturn will be about 30 degrees above the horizon at 9pm. Look for Saturn as the bright “star” in the southeastern sky, below the great square of Pegasus. The bright planets Jupiter and Venus are still early morning objects in October. Bright Venus will be prominent, low in the east before sunrise. Jupiter will be high in the southeastern morning sky. Both will be very bright, outshining everything except the Moon in October night skies. Mars and Mercury will be low in the west after sunset, and difficult to see unless you have a clear view of the western horizon. In mid-October, the two planets will be very close to each other. Look low in the southwest after sunset. Mercury will be brighter, with dimmer Mars directly above it on the 18th. The Moon begins October low in the south, in Capricornus. It will be just past its first quarter stage. On the 5th, the almost full Moon will lie just above Saturn, and just above faint Neptune. October’s full Moon (harvest Moon) will come on the 7th. It will be a “super moon”, about 13% brighter than average. On the 9th, the waning gibbous Moon will cross in front of the bright star cluster Pleiades. Check it out with a pair of binoculars. On the 16th, in the early morning sky, look for the Moon above the bright star Regulus high in the southeast. On the night of October 22-23, the Orionid meteor shower will be at its peak. The Orionids originate from the famous comet Halley, which enters the inner solar system every 76 years. The comet is named after Edmund Halley, who first theorized that comets orbit the Sun and periodically return to the inner solar system. In 1682 he observed the comet that later carried his name, and calculated that it would return in 1758. Its return in that year proved Halley’s theory. Though not as prolific as the Perseid shower, the Orionid peak this year will occur just after new Moon, with no interference from moonlight.  As mentioned earlier, on October 9 you can check out the Moon crossing in front of the bright star cluster Pleiades. While that will be an interesting view, you can get a better impression of the star cluster on dark nights, when the Moonlight does not interfere. While you are doing that, see if you can find another pretty pair of star clusters, the double-cluster in Perseus. Check out the picture with this article for the location of these two gems.
I almost forgot, what about Halloween? On the 31st, the waxing gibbous Moon will be about 75% illuminated, providing a nice amount of light for treat-seeking youngsters. Enjoy the night skies of October! What's in the Sky is a monthly newsletter showcasing various objects and events visible in the sky for the upcoming month. It is written by FoGAP member Jim White for local newspapers. Note: Not all objects discussed may be visible during Observatory shows. Object visibility depends on location in the sky, rise and set times, and weather. Some objects may only be viewable during the early morning. September is here, a month for seasonal change. The autumnal equinox occurs on September 22, marking the start of fall. The Sun will be straight overhead at the equator, and we’ll have about equal amounts of daylight and night. Have you ever found yourself thinking, “boy, it is sure getting darker earlier” in late August or in September? That is not your imagination. The rate of change from day to night is greatest around the equinoxes, and less around the solstices. Around the Autumnal equinox, we lose about 3 minutes of day length each day, or some 20 minutes in a week. It is noticeable! By contrast, the rate of change around the solstices is only a few seconds per day. Saturn returns to our evening sky in September. On the 21st Saturn will be at its closest approach to us, called “opposition” as it will be opposite from the Sun in our sky. How close will it be? How about 794 million miles. That’s about 8 ½ times as far as we are from the Sun, or over 3,000 times as far as the Moon is from us. Saturn’s rings are hard to see this year, as the rotational axis of both Saturn and Earth are on the same plane, and we see the rings as “edge-on” or very close to it. We’ll have a better view of the rings in the next few years. We’ll have another interesting sight with Saturn though. On September 3 and 19, the shadow of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, will be visible as it passes over the planet. On the 19th, you can view the shadow transit at the Goldendale Observatory. Be sure to check the Observatory web page (https://www.goldendaleobservatory.com/) for more information. You will need a reservation to visit before normal closing at midnight, but can arrive after midnight to see the shadow. The Observatory will be open until 1:30am. September’s full Moon will be on the 7th, with new Moon following on the 21st. Fall constellations are in the eastern sky in September. Bright Saturn points the way to a couple of them. Look for Saturn low in the east or southeast. It will outshine any nearby stars. The dim constellation Pisces is to the left of Saturn, with Aquarius to its right. Above and slightly to the left of Saturn, look for the “great square” of Pegasus, composed of 4 almost equally bright stars that form a square. The “W” shape of Cassiopeia will be above and to the left of the square, and Cygnus the Swan will be above it, high in the eastern sky. If you have binoculars, look just to the left of the square, below and to the right of Cassiopeia. Scan with your binoculars, and look for an elongated, faint, fuzzy patch of light. That is another galaxy, the Andromeda galaxy, in the constellation with the same name. If you have a very dark sky, see if you can spot the galaxy with the naked eye. The Andromeda galaxy is the most distant thing we can see with the naked eye, at over 2 million light years away.  It was sad for me to see the passing of Jim Lovell, commander of Apollo 13, the 1970 Moon mission that was short-circuited due to an explosion on the spacecraft. Lovell and astronauts Jack Sweigert & Fred Haise amazingly managed to safely return to Earth, an incredible story documented in a 1995 film by the same name. Lovell flew in space 4 times, twice during the Gemini program and twice in Apollo. He did not land on the Moon, but circled it twice, once with Apollo 8, and also with Apollo 13. The Apollo 8 mission was by design, the first humans to leave Earth orbit. The second was by necessity – the crippled Apollo 13 needed to “slingshot” around the Moon in order to gain enough speed to return to Earth quickly, before the Astronauts ran out of power and oxygen. My hats off to an American hero.
I remember the entire Mercury-Gemini-Apollo program, culminating in 12 people landing on the Moon between 1969 and 1972. By my count, 34 different astronauts went into space in those programs, and 12 walked on the Moon. Only 6 are still alive, including 4 who walked on the Moon. Enjoy September’s night skies! What's in the Sky is a monthly newsletter showcasing various objects and events visible in the sky for the upcoming month. It is written by FoGAP member Jim White for local newspapers. Note: Not all objects discussed may be visible during Observatory shows. Object visibility depends on location in the sky, rise and set times, and weather. Some objects may only be viewable during the early morning. August is here. How can it already be the last full month of summer? Nights are growing longer and days shorter. On Aug 1, we have 15 hours and 40 minutes of daylength. By the end of the month, that will have shrunk to 14 hours and 47 minutes, a difference of a bit more than an hour. The good news with darkness arriving earlier is that you don’t need to wait quite as long for full darkness (also known as the end of astronomical twilight). Full darkness at the start of August will be at about 10:43pm, but will be about an hour earlier by the end of the month, occurring at about 9:30pm. A wonderful thing to view on August nights is our own galaxy – the Milky Way. We see the galaxy as a hazy band across the night sky, and it is best visible in August. Facing south on a moonless August night, the Milky Way soars high overhead. Look to the south, looking toward the “teapot” of the constellation Sagittarius, and you are looking toward the Milky Way’s center. Look straight overhead, and pick out the constellation Cygnus, the Swan, also known as the northern cross. The bright star Deneb is right in the middle of the Milky Way. Look to the north, and find the fainter Milky Way behind the “W” shaped constellation Cassiopeia. Marvel at the beauty of this river of stars!  The Milky Way is actually a spiral disc-shape, and we are within one of its disc’s arms. When we look along the plane disc, we see more stars than when we look 90 degrees from the disc’s plane. Even though we call the concentrated area of stars the “Milky Way”, in reality every star we see in the sky is within the galaxy. And we see only a small part of the galaxy, the stars closer to us. The galaxy is huge, some 100,000 light years from one end of the disc to the other. Since light travels some 186,000 miles a SECOND, we can see that the Milky Way is immense!
To best view the Milky Way, best to pick a dark night, when the Moon is not in the sky, and a dark site, with as little artificial light as possible. Also, let your eyes adapt to the darkness, by staying out of artificial light for a good 20 minutes. Finding a dark site is increasingly difficult with the ever-increasing amount of artificial light we live with nowadays. We are lucky in our area, with a lot of dark, rural locations and relatively small cities. Thanks to artificial lighting, people in most American cities are not able to easily view the galaxy we live in. Our Moon will be at the first-quarter stage as August begins. On the 3rd, the waxing gibbous Moon will lie just to the left of the bright star Antares, low in the south in the evening sky, in the constellation Scorpius. Full Moon comes on the 9th. On the 16th, the waning crescent Moon will lie just to the right of the star cluster Pleiades, in the early morning sky. The Moon will actually pass in front of the star cluster, a nice occultation. However, we’ll miss it, as the occultation will occur after sunrise. The thin, waxing crescent Moon will return to the evening sky late in the month. Look for the Moon between Mars and the bright star Spica, low in the west, after sunset on the 26th. The Moon will be back in Scorpius at the end of the Month, just past first quarter. Mars is technically still visible in August, although very close to the western horizon after sunset. The only other naked-eye visible planet in the month will be Saturn, which rises above the eastern evening horizon after about 10pm late in the month. Jupiter and Venus are visible in the morning sky, in the east. On August 11, Jupiter and Venus come close together in a nice conjunction. Right after that conjunction, on August 12 and 13, the Perseid meteor shower will peak. The Moon, which will be about 80 percent illuminated, will make fewer meteors visible. Brighter meteors will be visible, and viewing the Moon and the moonlit landscape on a warm summer evening can be quite pleasant. Enjoy the night skies of August! What's in the Sky is a monthly newsletter showcasing various objects and events visible in the sky for the upcoming month. It is written by FoGAP member Jim White for local newspapers. Note: Not all objects discussed may be visible during Observatory shows. Object visibility depends on location in the sky, rise and set times, and weather. Some objects may only be viewable during the early morning. July is here. Time for our nation’s birthday, and the first full month of summer. July 3 is the date for something you might not expect – on that date, Earth will be farther from the Sun than any other date in the year. Our orbit around the Sun is slightly elliptical, not a perfect circle. In early July we are on the outer edge of that ellipse, a bit farther than average. We are closest to the Sun in - you guessed it – January! Again, the bright planets are pretty much absent from the evening sky in July. Mars is still visible low in the west. Look for the red planet just to the left of the constellation Leo the Lion. Early in July Mercury will also be visible to the right of Mars and lower in the sky. Mercury will be very low, so look right after sunset. Mercury should appear a bit brighter than Mars.  If you are an early riser, you might catch Jupiter and Venus, low in the east before sunrise. They will be quite bright and easy to spot. Jupiter will be very low early in the month, rising higher in the sky as the month goes on. The two planets will grow closer as we see them in the sky. We’ll have a close conjunction of the two in early August.
If you are up that early, you might as well check out Saturn, high in the early morning southern sky. Saturn actually sneaks into the evening sky late in August, rising at about 10:45pm at the end of the month. July will be an excellent month to spot the International Space Station (ISS) as it orbits overhead. If you have not seen it, the ISS can be quite impressive, appearing as a bright star, silently zooming across the evening sky. The ISS is illuminated by reflected sunlight. When we are able to see it in the evening, the sun has not yet set at its location, some 200 miles above Earth. From our viewpoint, it will fade and disappear when its orbit carries it into the Earth’s shadow. The best times are when the ISS orbit carries it high above us in the night sky. Some good times to check it out are:
To see more options, navigate to the website heavens-above (www.heavens-above.com). Under “configuration” click on “change your observing location”. Under “select location” scroll down, past the map, and look for “enter place to search for”. Enter your location (i.e. “White Salmon” or “The Dalles” etc.) and select “update”. You could also use the map to get a closer location. Back on the main page, look for “Satellites” and “ISS” under “10-day predictions for satellites of special interest”. You will then see dates and times for viewing the ISS. Times might be slightly different than what I show (I’m doing this in mid-June) as satellites orbits vary a bit. Give it a try! What's in the Sky is a monthly newsletter showcasing various objects and events visible in the sky for the upcoming month. It is written by FoGAP member Jim White for local newspapers. Note: Not all objects discussed may be visible during Observatory shows. Object visibility depends on location in the sky, rise and set times, and weather. Some objects may only be viewable during the early morning. Welcome to June, the month of the summer solstice, when summer begins. Darkness comes late, but in the evening sky you can still spot reddish Mars, watch its conjunction with a bright star mid-month, or just marvel at the always changing pattern of constellations in the night sky. There is always something to see! Summer begins on the summer solstice, for us occurring on June 20. At that time, the Sun is as far north as it gets, about 67 degrees above the horizon at mid-day. We’ll have our longest day, with sunrise at about 5:15am, and sunset at about 9pm. After the 20th, the Sun will slowly begin to drop lower in the sky, and days will begin to shorten. It will start slowly though; around the solstices, the change in the length of day is pretty small. In fact, the word solstice is derived from a Latin term roughly meaning “sun standing still”. That is because, around the solstice, the Sun’s movement in its altitude above the horizon is very slight. The major planets have pretty much left the evening sky in June. Mars is still visible in the southwest, but is growing farther away and becoming fainter. By the end of June, Mars will be some 179 million miles from us, about twice as far as we are from the Sun. Mars is still easily visible to the naked eye though, and still has a reddish color. June presents a good time to note how the planets move across the sky in relation to the stars. Look for Mars, and see if you can also spot the bright star Regulus, in the constellation Leo. A good way to find Regulus is to look for the thin crescent Moon on June 1, and you’ll find Regulus right below it. Mars will be to the right of Regulus, and a bit lower in the sky. As the month progresses, Mars will move closer to Regulus, until on the 17th, Mar will lie just above Regulus. By the end of June, Mars will have moved noticeably to the east (left) of the bright star.  Jupiter and Mercury are also in the evening sky, although very low in the west. Look for bright Jupiter very low in the west-northwest after sunset. By mid-month it will be getting hard to spot. Mercury is very low in the west at the start of June, but will rise higher as the month progresses. Look for Jupiter and Mercury to be very close to each other on June 7. They should be easy to spot. After the 7th, Mercury will grow higher in the sky during June, although always low in the west. See if you can spot it, many people have never seen Mercury.
If you are up early, Venus and Saturn are prominent in our eastern morning sky. Venus remains low in the east for all of June. Saturn gradually moves higher in the sky, and moves to the southeast by the end of the month. June’s full Moon comes on the 11th, with new Moon following on June 25. As already mentioned, the Moon will be close to Regulus on June 1. The waxing gibbous Moon will pass the bright star Spica on the nights of June 5 and 6, and will be just to the right of the bright star Antares on the 9th. The Moon will pass Saturn in the morning sky on June 17 and 18. On the 29th, the Moon will be back in the evening sky, just to the left of Mars. The march of constellations across the night sky continues in June. Spring constellations, such as Leo and Cancer, are dropping low in the western sky. In the East, Lyra, with its bright star Vega, and Cygnus the Swan are both well above the horizon as skies darken. Looking north, Ursa major, with the Big Dipper, lies to the west of Polaris, the north star. The star at the tip of the Big Dipper, Alkaid, is almost directly overhead in June. Enjoy June’s night skies! |
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