Wednesday, November 2, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Stars over Sisters
Sisters Country birds
By Ramsey Schar
By Douglas Beall
Correspondent
Correspondent
As 2018 advances into
the second-to-last month
of the year, the sky orients
itself in new ways, bring-
ing with it spectacular starry
treats. There are new things
to see and discover in our
dark, infinite sky.
Coming up in mid-
November is the annual
Leonid meteor shower. Over
the years this spectacle has
produced some of the most
appreciable displays in his-
tory and is considered an
incredible event to watch
when this occurs.
As the earth crosses
the orbital path of comet
Tempel-Tuttle, it inter-
cepts some of the comet’s
debris which is vaporized
as it enters the earth’s atmo-
sphere. The Leonids are
bright and often deep blue in
color and travel at speeds of
around 44 miles per second,
making them some of the
fastest streakers in the sky.
Every 33 to 34 years
the earth passes through a
particularly dense cloud of
cometary rubble that lights
up the sky with thousands
of meteors per hour. When
this happens, the event is
known as a meteor storm.
A display must generate at
least 1,000 meteors an hour
to be called a storm. The lat-
est Leonid storm occurred in
2001 and many of those who
witnessed it described mete-
ors that fell like rain because
of how many there were.
The next chance for a storm
won’t come again until the
year 2034 or 2035.
This year’s shower will
produce only about 15 mete-
ors per hour, best viewed
at midnight on November
17 through the morning of
November 18. A waxing gib-
bous moon, however, will
reduce this paltry rate.
Autumn is an ideal
time to view the beautiful
Andromeda Galaxy. Also
known as M31, this object
is classified as a deep sky
object and is located in the
constellation of Andromeda.
It lies between Pegasus to
The high-pitched trill
heard within tall Northwest
conifers in spring is often
the Townsend’s warbler
‘Setophaga townsendi.
Arriving early, the male
will sing to mark his nesting
territory. When the females
arrive they form monoga-
mous pairs and the female
builds a nest on the end of a
confer branch well up in the
canopy. Bark strips, grass,
moss, and twigs are used for
a small cup nest that is lined
with feathers and hair.
The female incubates 3
to 7 white-brown speckled
eggs for 11-14 days and then
PHOTO BY SEAN M. SABATINI
Meteors “rain” over Monument Valley Utah during the Leonid meteor
storm of 2001.
the south and the northern
constellation of Cassiopeia
and can be seen without
optical aid under dark skies.
Look for a dim blur or hazy
oval.
The Andromeda Galaxy
is the largest member of the
Local Group of galaxies that
includes it, our Milky Way
Galaxy and the Triangulum
Galaxy (M33), another spiral
galaxy. By way of compari-
son, our galaxy is approxi-
mately 100,000 light-years
in diameter, while M31 in
Andromeda is more than
twice as big. The smallest
member of the group is M33
at just 60,000 light-years in
diameter.
Lying at a distance of
just 2.5 million light-years,
many astronomers believe
the Andromeda Galaxy and
or own Milky Way will col-
lide in about four billion
years.
The five brightest plan-
ets, known as the naked-eye
planets, consist of Mercury,
Venus, Jupiter, Mars, and
Saturn. All of these can be
seen without optical aid,
explaining why they are
called the naked-eye plan-
ets. All of them are visible
for most of the year but are
typically not seen all in one
night. The position of a
planet moderately changes
against the background
every night, helping to dis-
tinguish it from a star.
Early in November, both
Jupiter and Mercury hug
the southwestern horizon 30
minutes after sunset. Using
a pair of binoculars will
greatly improve your chance
of locating them. Still hang-
ing out in the constellation
of Sagittarius, Saturn is
an easy evening find. But
it’s ruddy Mars, shining
brighter than a first-magni-
tude star, that continues to
put on the best show as it
hangs in the sky until about
1 a.m. local time before
setting.
The first week-and-a-
half of the month is a good
time to plan your nighttime
observing because skies will
be dark. As the month pro-
gresses, however, a wax-
ing moon will gradually
brighten the night sky, cul-
minating in a Beaver Full
Moon on November 22.
21
both parents feed insects to
the young for 10 days who
then fledge the nest. Insects,
including spiders, are the
majority of the Townsend’s
diet, although they visit
suet feeders during winter
months.
The Townsend’s warbler
will occasionally crossbreed
with the Hermit warbler
when the nesting areas are
close together only in our
Northwest forests.
Warblers are referred to
as a “fall,” a “bouquet,” “a
“confusion,” or a “wrench”
of warblers.
To view more, visit
http://abirdsingsbe-
causeithasasong.com/
recent-journeys.
PHOTO BY DOUGLAS BEALL
Townsend’s warbler.
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