~ St. Maarten’s Backyard Astronomy for October 14 - 16 ~
Sun rises at 6:06am
Sun sets at 5:49pm
Lunar phase: 3rd quarter, waning half moon
Moon sets at 11:11am, Saturday
Moon rises at 10:18pm, Saturday
This weekend, we are blessed with a lovely half-moon, poised high in the western sky after sunset, lingering above the horizon and setting just before midnight. Enjoy the muted light of the moon and turn your attention to the stars also. This is a great time to find the constellation Aquarius, the Water Bearer.
You have likely heard the song, The Age of Aquarius, celebrating the supposed dawning of an era of harmony and understanding. From the Fifth Dimension’s mouths to God’s ears, to quote another song from that playlist: Let it Be. Wishful thinking aside, Aquarius has always had mythology tied to water, an abundance of water, which is sometimes a blessing and sometimes a curse.
The Greeks associated Aquarius with a great flood that wiped out all of humanity except for a gentleman named Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha – sound familiar? Meanwhile, the ancient Egyptians believed that Aquarius represented Hapi, god of the Nile River. This benevolent god brought the waters of life and good fortune. This explains why the Water Bearer is often seen holding a measuring rod, a tool they used to find the depth of the Nile River.
The best time to spot Aquarius is in the evening hours. It lies just east of Capricornus and just west of Pisces. Our friend, the Great Square of Pegasus, can be used to guide you toward Aquarius. It’s a region of the sky sometimes called “The Sea of the Sky,” because it looks dark and deep, with few stars. Early stargazers associated this region with water in a celestial sea. It is here we find Cetus the Whale, Pisces the Fish, Eridanus the River, and Piscis Austrinus the Southern Fish.
The brightest star in this “watery” region of the sky is Fomalhaut in the Southern Fish. Aquarius the Water Bearer is often portrayed as a man pouring a stream of water into the mouth of the Southern Fish. In the sky, you’ll see a zigzag line of stars leading from Aquarius to Fomalhaut, the only bright star in the celestial Sea. By the way, because it’s in such an apparently empty part of the sky, Fomalhaut is sometimes called the Loneliest Star.
If your sky is dark enough, you can see a little pattern of stars within Aquarius marking the Urn or Water Jar in Aquarius. Imagine a cascade of faint stars as water, visible in very dark skies, making a zigzag stream of stars, flowing down toward Fomalhaut. There are deep-sky objects in Aquarius, too. Search the constellation with good binoculars and you may find a number of Messier objects, including both star clusters and nebulae.
The globular cluster M2 is in there, shining at magnitude 6.5 even as it lies about 37,000 light-years away. There is also the Saturn Nebula, which looks like the planet Saturn because its gassy halo includes a thin extension on both sides that looks like rings. Another well-known nebula, the Helix Nebula lies in Aquarius. The Helix spreads out across 28 arcminutes, almost as large as a full moon. We include a photo of the Helix Nebula, quite a stunning sight.
Thank you for keeping up with the Night Sky articles, backyard astronomy designed for St. Maarten sky viewing. FYI: If you are out later on in the week, note that each star rises about four minutes earlier each day than written here, and the moon rises 50 minutes later. Night Sky is researched and compiled by Lisa Davis-Burnett. Earthsky.org is a key resource for information and images. Questions or comments? Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
