Sun rises at 5:37am
Sun sets at 6:40pm
Moon phase: 4th quarter moon, crescent waning
Moon rises at 2:30am
Moon sets at 2:25pm
As the sun sets on Saturday night, the sky’s tranquil blue is kissed with brilliant golden tones and touches of rose and vermillion. Then the brightest of stars begins to twinkle through the gathering darker shades of indigo and navy.
I remember as a child we used to challenge each other to see who could find the first star of the evening. Do children still do such simple rituals? Then I would lay down next to the outside wall of my house to gaze up at the stars to see them slowly moving above me. The wall served as a line of delineation, proof that the slow movement was not something I was imagining, but was a measureable thing – each star slowly marching from east to west, and I would see them pass behind the edge of the wall, knowing it wasn’t really the sky shifting but the earth rotating under those steady beacons millions of miles away.
I guess I was always a science geek, but to paraphrase John Lennon, “I’m not the only one.” I am glad to know our community has several of us science-y folks that enjoy reading each Saturday about the starry, starry nights that grace our skies. Happily, I have heard that many of you take the Night Sky articles out into the garden to guide your explorations of the stars, often alongside children who are keen to learn.
So this weekend, what can we see? Well, the fourth quarter moon will be rising very late and even then it is just a thin curve and so it will cast almost no illumination on us. That’s great for star gazing! So get the binoculars and/or telescopes out and aim for points of interest.
Just after sunset, Jupiter will be high in the western sky, a gorgeous bright planet with a family of little moons gathered around it. Jupiter will be in prime viewing range (that is not so high you have to crane your neck back to see it) around 1:30am when it hangs just over the western horizon. Focus in as much as you can to get those moons in view: they have the most poetic of names: Callisto, Ganymede, Io, Europa. Each one a world unto itself, each with a distinct appearance that we have awesome photos of – thanks to our unmanned space probes such as Voyager and Galileo.
In actuality, Jupiter has more than 65 moons! It’s almost like a sub-solar-system within the solar system. Jupiter’s four main moons, called collectively the Jovian satellites, were discovered 407 years ago by Galileo when he pointed a primitive telescope of his own making up at stars. He took meticulous notes on what he saw and his papers are still treasured in the Galileo Museum in Florence, Italy.
Galileo is a personal hero of mine, but for more traditional heroes, we look for perhaps the first mythic superhero: Hercules! His story is immortalized by having his own constellation, not to mention a Disney movie. To find the constellation of Hercules, look in the eastern sky just after dusk. The brilliant bluish star Vega is shining there and will guide you to the star pattern in Hercules known as “the keystone.” Once you find Vega, look above it and to the right. How far away from Vega should you look? About 15 degrees. How to know that distance? Use your “rock on” hand shape (see diagram). Hold your hand out at arm’s length with one extended finger on Vega and the other will point to the keystone.
Hercules is a constellation with many more stars than can be seen with the naked eye. Since the mid-1990s, scientists have identified 15 stars within the Hercules constellation that have planets orbiting around them. One of these planets resembles Saturn and another of these planets has a mass nearly the same as Earth. It’s fun to imagine what mysteries await us, lying out there to be discovered some day.
While you’re gazing at Vega and Hercules, look just to the south or right to find Saturn and its brilliant rings on display (via a telescope or good binoculars.) This is a sure delight for anyone to observe, and Saturn is out all night, still high in the western sky at sunrise.
Thank you for keeping up with the Night Sky articles. If you are out later on in the week, 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.
