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Seeing through the Clouds
Weeks of no rain make us complacent about being able to stargaze and the April showers that we have been blessed with during the past couple of weeks have put a crimp in that activity. Clear skies tempt skywatchers for a few days, then clouds drift in to keep us guessing. Whatever the conditions are in the sky, one thing to count on is the colors. The sky is filled with colors, lights, predictable patterns, and beauty. Whether the sky is socked in with clouds or filled with dust raised by farming or construction, or from erupting volcanos, the sky provides spectacular sunrises and sunsets as light from the sun is bent and scattered towards the reds and oranges of the spectrum. The brilliant blue of a sunny day is the result of light being bent by Earth's atmosphere.
At sunset the purple along the horizon and up into the sky opposite the sun is the shadow cast by Earth into space as the sun slips beneath the horizon of the planet as it rotates from west to east. The reason we don't have a solar or lunar eclipse on a daily basis is the location of our planet in its orbital plane. The plane is tilted, and only occasionally is the moon eclipsed by Earth's shadow, or the Sun hidden behind the Moon to a viewer on Earth, when all the geometry is right. These eclipses occur on regular predictable patterns as well. The physics behind astronomy is so amazing and it is a wonder to me why more of the wonders of science are not appreciated in our daily classroom experiences.
Leo the Lion that is near the zenith and the meridian this time of the year. Leo harbors a host of heavenly galaxies that may be seen from a dark site (hard to find these days) using a decent telescope or binoculars. In front of Leo's head is the New General Catalogue (NGC) 2903 a beautiful spiral galaxy. Below his belly are Messier Objects 95 and 96. There are numerous galaxies in M96. Below Leo's hind leg are more, M 65 and 66, as well as NCG 3628. Leo has a plethora of gems to discover with a steady telescope and deer lease dark skies. Consider this: out of the eleven galaxies seen without the Hubble telescope, there are more than a trillion stars. And these are only a minute portion of the many billions of galaxies revealed via Hubble. Look for the C of his head, with blue Regulus just below the lower curve, marking his front paws, and the triangle of stars following that is his haunch and tail. The star at the tail is named Denebola.
Above Leo is a faint squashed triangle with a tail off to its right that is known as Leo Minor. Named by Hevelius, a quirky astronomer who delighted in naming faint groups of stars as small animals or astronomical tools in the 17th century. He added sextans, little fox, a lynx, and a lizard. Constellation hunting just might be a grown-up version of an egg hunt.
As spring nights eventually give way to summer skies, take a last look at Orion during the next few weeks. Continually chasing Taurus, surrounded by his hunting compadres Auriga and the Gemini Twins, they will be visible for a while longer.
Venus is higher in the west each evening, drawing even casual sky watcher’s attention. I remember when I first learned that Evening Star was Venus and would spot it while driving home and annoying my husband who thought I was not watching traffic (we were stopped at a red light though) and who commented that I needed to stop looking and pay attention. I had a good laugh about that one, you can be sure.
Until next week, DO let some stars get in your eyes, but not while driving.
