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Wednesday, November 4, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Stars over Sisters
By Zoey Lorusso and Lizzie McCrystal
Columnists
Astronomy is the branch of sci-
ence that deals with celestial objects
such as the sun, moon, stars, plan-
ets 4 the entire physical universe
beyond the earth. It9s a study that
can hold great fascination for any-
one who looks up into a dark sky
and wonders what9s there, and it9s
a study that can transform thinking.
Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler are
famous examples.
Because the dark of night is avail-
able to all, astronomy can be enjoyed
on a multitude of levels, from inves-
tigating its scientific aspects to sim-
ply being awed by the beauty of a
star-studded sky.
Highlighted this month is another
constellation of autumn: Aquarius
the Water Carrier. This stellar group-
ing can be difficult to spot, as it
doesn9t have many bright stars.
It is one of the constellations of
the zodiac and is situated between
Capricornus to the west and Pisces
to the east. The zodiac is a strip of
the celestial sphere centered on the
ecliptic where the sun, moon, and
planets are always found. To find the
constellation, look to the southwest
after nightfall.
The constellation9s two bright-
est stars, Sadalsuud and Sadalmelik,
both shine at about third magnitude.
They are 540 and 800 light-years
away, respectively. Key to identi-
fying the constellation is finding
the four-star Y-shaped asterism that
denotes Aquarius9 water jar. It is
located about five degrees due east
of Sadalmelik.
In February 2017, NASA
announced that dwarf star
TRAPPIST-1 has seven Earth-like
rocky planets. Of these, three are in
the star9s habitable zone and scien-
tists believe they may contain water.
Many dazzling deep-sky objects
are generously sprinkled through-
out Aquarius, the three brightest of
which are found in Messier9s cata-
log. The most impressive of these is
M2, an ancient and distant globular
star cluster. This cluster contains
about 150,000 stars and lies at the
outer edge of the Milky Way galaxy,
55,000 light-years away. It is com-
pact, significantly elliptical in shape,
and is estimated to be approximately
13 billion years old.
There are a variety of stories
involving Aquarius in Greek mythol-
ogy. One of them associates him with
Ganymede, son of Trojan king Tros,
who was taken to Mount Olympus
by Zeus to act as cup-carrier to the
gods. Illustrations sometimes depict
him pouring water from an amphora.
The Leonid meteor shower peaks
between the evening of November
16 and the morning of November 17.
While some of the greatest displays
of meteors in history are associated
with the Leonids, the rate this year is
only expected to be around 15 mete-
ors per hour. The meteors are caused
by debris left behind from comet
Temperatures
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M2, an ancient globular star cluster located at the outer edge of our Milky Way galaxy,
resides in the constellation of Aquarius.
Tempel-Tuttle that burn up upon
entering the earth9s atmosphere.
A penumbral lunar eclipse will
take place on the early morning of
November 30. Unlike an umbral
eclipse, the moon will darken only
slightly. Maximum eclipse will occur
at 1:43 a.m. PST.
All five of the visible planets
can be seen this month. Jupiter and
Saturn can still be seen low in the
southwestern sky after sunset. By
month9s end, both gas giants will set
by 8 p.m. local time.
But it9s Mars that dominates the
evening sky. On October 6, the Red
Planet approached to within 38.6
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million miles of the earth, giving
amateur astronomers with telescopes
great views of its surface features.
Although the two planets are cur-
rently receding from each other,
Mars remains bright this month and
good telescopic views are still pos-
sible. As for Mercury and Venus,
they are visible in the morning sky
just before sunrise.
Since the moon was full on
Halloween, it will be on the wane
during the first half of November.
After new moon on November 15, it
will wax until the full Beaver Moon
arrives on the scene November 30.
Don9t forget to keep looking up!
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