The Night Sky September 2019
As the night sky creeps into early evening I have decided to dedicate this month’s article to all of the budding young (or old) astronomers of Embsay and Eastby. Astronomy can be very rewarding and a long standing friendship and fascination with the night sky can be with you forever. The more of us there are, the more chance we have of keeping our dark sky!
Absolute Beginners.
When we look out into the clear night sky we see so many stars. Everyone needs help in working out how to remember what and where things are. A very good start is to remember that the night sky acts like a big piece of paper pinned down with a drawing pin slowly moving around this point.
Some stars near the drawing pin will be seen all year round and others on the edge of our paper will go out of sight for parts of the year, reappearing at other times.
We also remember where many of the stars are by grouping them into patterns. If we can remember some of these shapes, we will be able to find our way around. Some of the shapes that are near the ‘drawing pin’ are always visible, including Cassiopeia, Perseus, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. This last pattern, Ursa Minor, is special because at the end of the shape is the place where we pushed the drawing pin in and the whole sky spins around this point.
The next important thing to remember is that stars are suns. Many are like our own but some are much smaller and others are huge.
Except for our own star- the sun - they are very, very far away.
Most (but not all) of what we see with our eyes on a dark night belong to a group of stars shaped like a big dish. Often we can see a band of light made up of millions of stars across our sky, like a carpet of sparkling jewels. This is our galaxy and our home, the Milky Way.
There are other things in the night sky apart from stars. There are objects that go around our planet. The biggest and brightest is our moon but we don’t have to stand still for long on a dark night to spot other fainter things move across the sky. The best one to try to spot is the international space station. We can use a mobile app (ISS Detector) to help us find the next time it passes overhead. We will know when we see it, as it can be the brightest thing in the night sky other than the moon. Fainter objects go around our Earth such as nearly 2000 artificial satellites and space junk that we can see catch the sun’s rays whilst in orbit.
We on the Earth go around our sun, just like other planets and their own moons. The planets look like stars. However, a general way of telling the difference is that stars twinkle and planets don’t. As the planets go around the sun some may not be visible because they are too close to the sun or they may even be on the other side of the sun. When they are in our night sky they can be amazing, particularly with binoculars or a telescope. Jupiter and Saturn are low in the south at the moment but once seen you will instantly be hooked, guaranteed! Many pieces of rock/ice circle the sun and sometimes cross the Earth’s path. Some pieces are very large and others are small. When we pass through this spot each year we are rewarded with a shower of bright streaks at night that can be spectacular.
There are other deep sky objects, including fuzzy shapes which are truly astounding if you decide to take the interest further. However, these have to be observed with the aid of a telescope. For now, if you are starting out, binoculars are a great way to study the night sky, no complicated setting up, just grab them and go!
Follow my articles each month and slowly you will get to know more about astronomy and cherish our very beautiful dark night sky.
If you have enjoyed reading this article, don’t forget you can refer to previous ones on my blog at:
Clear Skies.
Milan Davidovic
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