-->
 |
| My reminder note |
Stargazing has been one of
those things I’ve been putting off for later in life, when I can’t do other
things. I figure when I can’t get out and run and hike as well as I once did,
gazing at the night sky and devoting time to learning the stars would be a good
pastime. Even though I am supposedly not actively pursuing celestial knowledge,
I love learning about the stars and their mysterious and classical names. I try
to pay attention to space weather and set my alarm for the middle of the night
when a strong aurora or meteor shower is forecast. I watch the moon habitually.
So when I heard the buzz about the line
up of the planets taking place right
now in the morning sky, I knew I had to check it out. You can see the
planets at various places in the night sky, they are the stars that move,
counfounding early sky watchers. The stars are fixed in their spots in the sky,
and rotate around Polaris (the current north star) in their positions as a
whole. The planets don’t do this, and come and go from the sky as they move
along their own orbits around the sun. When we do see them, they travel along
the plane of the ecliptic, the flat plane on which all of the planets orbit the
sun. What the plane of the ecliptic
looks like in the sky is a broad arc from south east to south west (its also
where you will more or less find the constellations of the zodiac). Right now
there are 5 planets visible along this arc in the hour or two before dawn, from
east to west: Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Mars, Jupiter. Seeing them all laid out
like that across the sky really helps you visualize the ecliptic and figure out
where you should be looking if you are looking for planets (they won’t be found
anywhere else in the sky).
My local library has a lendable
telescope, many local libraries in Maine now have them thanks to a Cornerstones
of Science grant. I’ve been looking at it since they got it, and with all these
planets in the sky, I finally had a good and time sensitive reason to check it
out. After a test drive early evening moon viewing, I set up the telescope in
the only spot at my house with a view of the southern part of the sky, and set
my alarm for 5 am. The sky was dark and clear when I ventured out the next
morning and fixed the scope on the brightest thing in the sky. A round white
disc came into view, with three bright dots next to it and I realized I was
looking not only at Jupiter but three of its moons. I located Saturn and
finessed the focus knob to the outer reaches of its capabilities, wondering why
Saturn wasn’t round like Jupiter. As I feathered the focus I realized that the
oval smudge I was seeing was Saturn with its rings. The gap between the rings
and the planet came in and out of focus, and I stopped breathing for a moment
in astonishment. I was standing in my driveway, looking at my own little patch
of sky seeing something at best 746
million miles away with my own two eyes. I gave Venus and Mars a shot, but
nothing compared to seeing Saturn, and I spent the rest of the morning darkness
alternating between Saturn’s rings and enjoying my new found understanding,
gleaned from comparing planets in the telescope, that Jupiter is REALLY BIG.
I encourage you to get to your local library and check out a
telescope, or if you are lucky make connections with a local astronomy club. If
nothing else, on a clear pre dawn morning get yourself out of bed and find a
southern view. Arced across the sky you will see 5 of our sister planets on
full display. The show only lasts until February 20th, so don’t
wait.
References:
