Wednesday, January 1, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Stars over Sisters
By Paola Mendoza
Correspondent
Though Auriga, The
Charioteer, isn9t the most
recognizable constellation
in the sky, it is one of the
bigger ones. It is the 21st
largest constellation in the
sky, occupying 657 square
degrees of the celestial
sphere. This star pattern is
well up in the northeast-
ern sky in the early eve-
nings during January, and is
nearly overhead at 10 p.m.
local time by mid-month.
PHOTO BY EMIL IVANOV
Auriga is bordered by
M37
is
a
rich
open
star
cluster
located
4,511
light-years
away in the
Camelopardalis to the north,
constellation
of
Auriga.
Lynx to the east, Taurus and
Gemini to the south, and her hand in marriage they involving his future wife.
Perseus to the west.
had to defeat Oenomaus When the wheels came off
Auriga9s brightest star is in a chariot race. The king his chariot during the race,
Capella, sixth brightest of all had already killed eigh- Oenomaus was dragged
the fixed luminaries in our teen suitors because he was to his death, thus allowing
sky. Although it appears to fearful of a prophecy that Pelops and Hippodamia to
be a single star to the naked claimed he would be killed marry. But Pelops reneged
eye, Capella consists of a by his son-in-law. But when on his part of the bargain,
quadruple star system orga- Pelops, son of Tantalus, killing Myrtilus instead by
nized in two binary pairs. entered the race, the gods throwing him into the sea.
These stars are so close to decided to intervene. Pelops His father Hermes then
one another that not even the was given a golden chariot placed him among the stars
largest telescope on earth that would be pulled by a as Auriga.
can separate them; their winged golden horse from
At 11:48 p.m. on January
existence is derived through Poseidon. To further ensure 4, the earth will reach peri-
spectroscopic analysis. victory, Pelops arranged for helion, its closest approach
Capella is 42.2 light-years Myrtilus to tamper with the to the sun, at 91,398,199
away and shines at a magni- wheels of the king9s char-
tude of 0.08.
See STARS on page 23
iot in exchange for favors
Three of the finest open
star clusters in the sky are
found in Auriga, and all have
Messier designations. In
order of decreasing bright-
ness, they are M37, M36
and M38. Besides being the
brightest of the three clus-
ters, M37 is also the richest.
Nineteenth-century astrono-
mer William Henry Smyth,
officer of the Royal Navy,
described M37 as follows:
<A magnificent object, with
whole field being strewed as
it were with sparking gold
dust&it resolves into infi-
nitely minute points of lucid
light&= The cluster is esti-
mated to be no older than
550 million years and lies
at a distance of some 4,511
light-years.
Sometimes referred to as
the Pinwheel Cluster, M36
is a much younger object
(25 million years old) than
M37; its distance is about
4,340 light-years. Age-wise,
M38 falls between M36 and
M37, believed to be about
250 million years old and
located approximately 3,480
light-years away. All three
of these objects are invisible
to the naked eye and require
optical aid to be seen.
In certain accounts of sky
lore, Auriga is referred to as
Myrtilus, who was the son
of Hermes and charioteer
of Oenomaus, king of Pisa
in Greece. The king had a
daughter, Hippodamia, who
attracted many suitors, but
in order for them to win
15
Two Outlaws earn silver
on the mat
Two Outlaws got silver
medals for Christmas.
The Outlaws wrestling
team took 11 wrestlers to
the Adrian Irwin Wrestling
Tournament at Mountain
View High School December
21-22. Leading the team
scores at the end was
Mountain View High with
453.5 points, Burns High was
second with 220.0 points,
La Pine took third with 208
points, Nyssa High earned
fourth with 193.5 and fifth
was Ridgeview with 183.5.
The Outlaws ended in ninth
place with 94.5 points.
<The Outlaws had a great
first day at the tournament,
Head Coach John Downs told
The Nugget. <Every Outlaw
wrestler was considered var-
sity and wrestled in the var-
sity competition, even if we
had two in a weight class.
Everyone was able to earn
their way to the second day
of competition. This doesn9t
happen very often when a
team can accomplish having
everyone still in the tourna-
ment on the second day. The
team wrestled very hard and
we had some great matches.=
The Outlaws had two
wrestlers in the 138-pound
weight class, sophomore
See WRESTLE on page 18
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