Image source: Digital Camera World
Telescopes & Celestial Guides
How is the stargazing going? Seen any good constellations lately? Did you get a chance to take out the Christmas telescope yet? If you are reading this on Saturday, you may want to join the group at Rocket Ranch beginning at 7:00 PM until 9:00 PM. [UPDATE: The event was canceled due to weather.] You may be ready for a planisphere or star map now. A free one is available at Skymaps.com for the nighttime sky each month of the year. The instructions are easy to understand and it will definitely help you to locate the constellations shared in the column. And if you DO join us at Rocket Ranch you will be able to make your own year -round one and learn how to use it.
Of course, if you are looking in the sky after midnight then you need a planisphere for the sky any night of the year. If you use your favorite search engine to find Uncle Al's Planisphere and download it then you will have an adequate tool to explore the skies. It is best copied on cardstock; paper is too flimsy.
The point of light beneath that Wolf Moon Friday night was Jupiter will be rising in the east and this week is a perfect time to observe the motion of the four Galilean moons as they transit, cross in front of Jupiter, throughout the night. A telescope is better but good binoculars on a tripod will also work.
While you are out star gazing, you may also be able to watch the International Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope, or a variety of other space vehicles passing overhead. Go to the HeavensAbove website http://www.heavens-above.com/to sign up for notifications of which one will be in a sky near you. You may be surprised at how many objects there are falling around the planet just a few hundred miles up.
As our planet rushes around its orbit while spinning on its axis and we don't feel it, why this is so should give us something to ponder about during the year. What kinds of questions do your children have about our Earth/Moon/Sun system? Drop me an email and we can try to address them during the course of the year.
I try not to be disappointed when we have day after day of clouds and ghostly light reflected off them at night, preventing any star gazing. Putting things in perspective is all well and good, but when a person got a Christmas telescope to try out that doesn't help. If you are one of those folks who received a telescope for a gift, and don’t know how to use it, let me know and we will try to set up a session with the South Texas Astronomical Society folks at the local library to get you started. carolutsinger@att.net.
The waning crescent moon is a perfect time to use that Christmas telescope to explore the lunar surface. Craters are sharper along the terminator line where the lit and unlit portions converge. You might want to get a sky watcher notebook and sketch your observations. Would it surprise you to know that ancient manuscripts from early astronomers' notebooks are in museums and illustrate the motions of the moons of Jupiter and the craters on the Moon? It's true. Check it out, especially if we are clouded out again. https://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/galileopalazzostrozzi/object/GalileoGalileiDrawingsOfTheMoon.html
Until next week, do KLU.
