Sun rises at 6:43am.
Sun sets at 6:09pm.
Moon phase: Crescent moon, waning.
Moon rises at 4:50am.
Moon sets at 4:03pm.
Rise and shine!
Be an early riser and it will pay off big time! This weekend you’ll see the thinnest arc of the crescent moon snuggling up with Venus and Mercury in the predawn sky; get an idea of how it will look in the picture provided. Mercury will be at its farthest point from the sun this weekend, so it’s a great chance to see it away from the glare of its imposing neighbour.
All this week and next are still a great time to see all five naked-eye planets – Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter – all together in the same night sky. To see five planets at once, go out before dawn – from now until mid-February. Last week’s night sky column gives guidance to help you spot the planets (available online @thedailyherald.sx/weekender).
If you wake up before dawn and head out to star-gaze, your best reward will likely be a gorgeous view of Saturn in the south-eastern sky. Saturn can be found near the head of Scorpio by the very bright star Antares. Saturn is the sixth planet outward from the sun and the farthest world that’s easily visible to the unaided eye. You’ll need a telescope or good binoculars to see the planet’s wide, encircling rings, but Saturn is also nice to gaze upon with the eye alone. It shines with a steady light and golden colour.
Saturn is usually pretty bright, but fainter than Jupiter, Venus or Mars, so normally you wouldn’t easily pick it out among a sky full of stars. But beginning about now and on through the summer, you can view Saturn fairly easily, because Saturn appears as bright as the brightest stars. By May, Saturn will be even brighter than Antares, and on June 3, the ringed planet will be at its peak of brightness, because that is when it will be its closest point to earth. On that day, the earth will pass between the Sun and Saturn. Astronomers say the Sun and Saturn are in opposition, because the planet will appear opposite the sun in our sky, rising in the east as the sun sets in the west.
Saturn – like most objects in the heavens – is very orderly in its comings and goings in our night skies. It circles the sun slower than the earth, and its orbital path is much longer, so a “year” on Saturn is more than 29 of our years! That means we go around the sun 29 times while Saturn goes around just once. What a slowpoke!
On June 3 – the opposition date – Saturn will be at its closest point to Earth making it appear brighter than at any other time, but something else will be different about Saturn at that time. As we earthlings move on our track around the sun, the ringed planet will look from our vantage point as if it’s going backward in front of the fixed stars of the night sky for several months. This is similar to how you observe a car on the highway that you pass in your car. In truth you are both moving forward, but when you, in the faster car, pass the slower car, it appears to be moving backwards. In 2016, Saturn retrogrades from March 25 until August 13.
The Double Cluster
If early morning gets you down, stay up late and look for the Double Cluster in the constellation Perseus. It’s a wonderful sight to see, just get a scope and face north to northwest as darkness falls. The Double Cluster consists of two open stars clusters, known as “H” and “Chi” Persei. This weekend the moon is virtually absent, providing a very dark sky, so it’s a good time to view this faint but impressive pair of nebuli.
How to find them: Look for the constellation Cassiopeia in the northwest; the queen upon her throne, she looks like a “W” turned on its side. Just above Cassiopeia is a fuzzy patch. This is the Double Cluster, which blooms into a sparkling array of stars through binoculars or a small backyard telescope.
These two open star clusters reside an estimated 7,400 light years away. Each contains 300 to 400 stars. These stars are thought to be approximately three million years old … babies in star time!
The Double Cluster was charted by sky-watchers as early as 150 B.C. Hipparchus saw it, and Ptolemy named it as one of seven “nebulosities” in the Almagest, an ancient astronomy text used for over a millennium. The Double Cluster in Perseus ranks as a favourite among stargazers, a bejewelled place in the heavens to zoom in on with binoculars. Enjoy!
Researched and compiled by Lisa Davis-Burnett
