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Cloudy Skies & Distant Galaxies

Naturally the thickly clouded skies have continued to return and curtail any star-gazing plans, but we will continue hope for breaks that will allow some sneak peeks, or at least, some rain. The mythical hero Hercules is one of the constellations we can enjoy during this time of the year. Rising out of the east, Hercules is above the horizon about ten o'clock P.M. this time of year. https://astrobackyard.com/m13-globular-cluster/T All the stars are nearly the same brightness to a viewer in South Texas. The shape resembles a spider or a distorted toad that is following Boötes, the Herdsman. Somehow imagining a super hero in that group of stars instead of a frog or spider is not easy to do. It does take a vivid imagination for sure.

Boötes is marked by that orange-y blazing star mentioned in many previous columns. Hercules and Boötes are not part of the same myth but do visit at the same time of the year. The kite shape of the Herdsman is relatively easy to discern on a dark cloudless night when the Moon is not in the way. See if you are able to locate these two constellations this week. https://www.space.com/bootes-constellation.html And since the Moon is at first quarter that means easier sighting of stars and constellations.

In the high southern sky, the second largest constellation of the official eighty-eight is Virgo. She has been rising higher and earlier each evening to grace the darkening night with her radiant blue-white star Spica. This widely known constellation has a variety of names, depending on the culture that identified it. The Egyptians called it Isis; the Greeks Persephone, the daughter of Demeter. The Saxons called it Eostre, from which the Christian celebration of Easter derives. Spica marks the sheaf of wheat carried in Virgo's arm. It rests quite near the ecliptic so you may occasionally see a planet nearby. Romantics might consider Spica to be a spectacular engagement ring instead of harvested wheat. https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/virgo-constellation/

The Virgo cluster of galaxies resides between Virgo and Coma Berenices. https://skytonight.org/index.php/com The cluster represents an estimated 3000 galaxies, including the incredibly lovely Sombrero Galaxy, M104. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230526.html

Below Virgo the trapezoid of Corvus the Crow stands just above Hydra, the Water Snake. The link to see the shapes will help you locate them in the sky. The stars are faint. This long curving constellation stretches from the southwest to beyond Spica in the southeast. Just above its back at midpoint is the constellation Crater, the Cup or Chalice.

There is much to explore on clear dark nights, even the Moon’s changing phases make an interesting challenge, as the terminator reveals or obscures the variety of craters and mountains and maria. Latin gives the accent on the mar part of the word for seas that early astronomers thought the dark areas on the lunar surface were. Today we know otherwise, but the traditional name sticks. https://science.nasa.gov/moon/daily-moon-guide/ is a trustworthy site for information related to lunar phases.

Remember that a SpaceX test is planned out at Boca Chica soon. It is possible to see the rocket in the sky from in town if you have an open view of the eastern sky. Whatever our attitude is about the event, it is amazing to see what human ingenuity has achieved and an exciting thing to see the white trail the rocket’s hot air leaves behind it as it rises into our south Texas sky. I remember seeing vapor trails of the first jet planes as they passed above us on the playground at our elementary school about the time the Soviet Union launched Sputnik that began the space race, never imagining we would one day send Americans to the Moon and launch rockets from our beach. Time has marched along and taken us along for the adventure.

Until next week, KLU and hope for rain if we don’t have clear skies. We need it desperately. The water on Earth is finite. It is the recycled water the dinosaurs drank and eliminated.