Wednesday, January 27, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Stars over Sisters
By ron thorkildson
Correspondent
There was once a giant
constellation that dominated
the southern celestial sphere
by area. It was known as
Argo Navis and represented
the ship used by “Jason and
the Argonauts” of Greek
mythology to search for the
highly prized Golden Fleece,
a symbol of authority and
kingship.
In 1752 French astron-
omer Nicolas Louis de
Lacaille sub-divided Argo
Navis into three adjacent
constellations now known
as Carina, Puppis and Vela.
Though these new star
groupings are now separate
constellations unto them-
selves, they still symbolize
parts of the original ship:
Carina the Keel, Puppis the
Stern, and Vela the Sails.
Carina and Vela lie too far
south in the sky to be seen
from our latitude. But the
northern portion of Puppis
can be viewed from Central
Oregon. That’s a good thing
because the finest deep sky
objects in the entire constel-
lation are found there. This
is because the Milky Way
runs through a large section
of Puppis.
The most impressive of
these objects are M46 and
M47, two open star clusters
located about 13 degrees due
east of Sirius, the brightest
star in the night sky.
M46 was discovered by
Charles Messier in 1771,
while he was searching for
comets. The cluster became
the 46th entry in Messier’s
catalog of non-stellar objects.
Danish astronomer John
Louis Emil Dreyer described
this collection of about 500
stars as “very bright, very
rich, very large.” It is esti-
mated to be approximately
300-million years old and
lies at a distance of about
5,500 light-years.
An interesting feature of
this cluster is that planetary
nebula NGC 2438 appears to
lie near its northern fringe.
Astronomers believe, how-
ever, the two objects are
unrelated since they don’t
share the same radial veloc-
ity through space.
Positioned just 1.5
degrees to the west of M46
is the younger and nearer
cluster M47, also cataloged
by Messier. But Messier
made a mistake by incor-
rectly recording the celestial
coordinates of this object as
referenced from the star 2
Puppis — there is no clus-
ter at that location. The
mystery was resolved in
1959 when Canadian astron-
omer T. F. Morris realized
that by changing the signs
of Messier’s coordinates, it
matched the location of star
cluster NGC 2422.
M47 contains only about
50 stars, but many of them
are brighter than those in
M46. The stellar population
of M47 is comparable to the
famous Pleiades cluster in
Taurus.
February is an excel-
lent month to locate the
Winter Triangle. Three of the
brighter stars the winter sky
has to offer mark the vertices
of this nearly equilateral tri-
angle. The western-most star
in the triangle is Betelgeuse,
the red giant star in Orion.
Approximately 27 degrees
to the east is Procyon, a
whitish-colored star located
in Canis Minor (the Lesser
Dog) about 11.5 light-years
from the earth. The third
vertex, lying farther to the
south, is brilliant Sirius in the
constellation of Canis Major
(the Greater Dog). None of
the fixed stars shine brighter
than this luminary. It lies at
a distance of 8.6 light-years.
An impressive lineup of
planets will occur during the
first 20 days of February. All
five of the visible planets
photo by eso
M47 is a nearby star cluster in the constellation of Puppis.
will appear simultaneously,
forming a nearly straight line
above the horizon in the pre-
dawn sky.
Jupiter is the planet
highest in the sky and far-
thest to the west, followed
by Mars, Saturn, Venus
and Mercury, hovering just
above the southeastern hori-
zon. On February 1 a wan-
ing moon, just one day past
third quarter, will lie near
Mars; by February 6 a very
thin crescent moon will
appear just above the planet
Mercury, making for a most
picturesque sight.
The last time all five vis-
ible planets appeared in the
same sky together was over
10 years ago.
A fading moon illumi-
nates the early morning sky
during the first week of the
month, then goes dark on
February 8. Earth’s only nat-
ural satellite slowly brightens
again, reaching first quarter
by February 14. From here
the lunar phase is said to be
in a waxing gibbous state
until February 22 when the
Full Snow Moon arrives.
Prevent a Litter,
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