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The Winter Sky
by Gerald RezesWinter arrives at 9:47 (PST) on December 21 which makes this night the longest night of the year. Winter is a great time for star gazing as long as the weather holds out and in Southern California this is usually the case.
There are too many propionate stars, constellations and astronomical objects in the winter sky to detail here. But the winter's featured constellation has to be Orion. The stars that make up Orion's figure are identified in many cultures as a hunter. Astronomically speaking, Orion is looks like a large hourglass pattern with three star making up his waistline belt. His right shoulder is marked by Betelgeuse, a large red giant star. In the opposite corner, Orion's left knee, shines Rigel a hot blue supergiant. There are three stars that make-up Orion's sword but actually, the middle "star" is the Great Orion Nebula (M42). This brilliant nebula is a hot bed of new star creation and is one of the easiest objects for the amateur astronomer to find and view in any telescope or binoculars.
Moon Phases
- Dec. 24 - First Quarter
- Dec. 31 - Full Moon
- Jan. 7 - Last Quarter
- Jan. 14 - New Moon
- Jan. 23 - First Quarter
- Jan. 29 - Full Moon
- Feb. 5 - Last Quarter
- Feb. 13 - New Moon
- Feb. 21 - First Quarter
- Feb. 28 - Full Moon
- Mar. 7 - Last Quarter
- Mar. 15 - New Moon
- Griffith Observatory
The before mentioned Betelgeuse along with Sirius and Procyon make up the asterism called the Winter Triangle. Sirius, the Dog Star, is the brightest star in the night sky; Procyon is a binary system with a white dwarf star. Rounding out the notable stars in the winter sky are Aldebara, Capella, Castor and Pollux.
Opposite the galactic center, the winter presents the Milky Way's outer arm spanning across the sky. With this river of stars, their are many Messier objects. The before mentioned Orion Nebula, M42, is probably the most famous winter object. Next perhaps is M1, The Crab Nebula, which is a circular supernova remnant from an explosion in 1054 AD. M45, The Pleiades, is sometimes mistaken for the Little Dipper but this open cluster of new stars is nowhere near the northern pole. There are several additional open clusters in the winter sky including: M41, M35, M36, M37, M38 and M67. Last, there are the Hyades, the nearest open cluster which makes up the "V" in Taurus.
Highlights:An annular solar eclipse will take place on January 15 in parts of Africa, India and China. January 29 is Mars's closest approach to Earth within the last 2 years. Mars will be 61.7 million miles from Earth peaking at magnitude -1.3. On February 16, Venus and Jupiter will be within 1/2 degree of each other in the evening sky unfortunately, the pair will also be only 9 degrees away from the Sun making the event a tough one to spot. Jupiter is steadily making its departure from the evening while Venus is rising to become the Evening Star. <Info obtained from space.com, author Joe Rao>