Applegater
Spring 2011 7
THE STARRY SIDE
Starry spring sky
By GrEElEy WElls
During spring we’re standing on
the Milky Way! It’s all around our horizon
line, going below our feet and out of sight.
So there’s a paucity of stars in large parts
of the sky. But two huge constellations
(and a handful of smaller ones) thrill us
this season.
The first is the Big Dipper, which
is at its highest in the north. If you follow
the ‘pointer stars’ down from the outer
edge of the Big Dipper, you’ll find Polaris
(the North Star, which is the end of the
Little Dipper’s handle). Go farther down,
and you’ll see Cassiopeia. The Big Dipper,
whose formal name is really Ursa (bear)
Major, is our first large spring constellation.
Now to find our second large
constellation, look in the other direction:
overhead. Find those same ‘pointer stars’
at the outside edge of the Big Dipper and
this time follow them upwards. That large
constellation they point to is Leo the lion,
but he’s upside down. So swing around
to see him right-side up. That backwards
question-mark is his mane. That bright star
at the bottom is Regulus, the point of the
question mark and the heart of the lion.
(Please note that my map is oriented to
get you started finding the North Star and
Big Dipper. You’ll need to turn the map
around at this point so Leo is right-side up.)
The zenith (the actual “top” of the
sky) is right between Leo and the Big Dip-
per, the two big constellations that begin
to make spring interesting. Each night
during Spring these two constellations
swing a bit farther down into the west. In
fact, each season the sky moves 1/4 the way
around Polaris, until we end up next year
at this time with the same configuration.
Now let’s look a little deeper into
space. On either side of Leo are two very
subtle but beautiful constellations: Bootes
and Coma Berenices. Find Leo’s mane on
the right, and a triangle of stars that make
up his rump on the left. Keep going left
and you’ll come to the very bright Arcturus.
That’s the “foot” of Bootes, a kite-like
shape going towards the north. (By the
way, that’s bright Saturn below and Spica
to the left.) Between Leo and Arcturus is
a very faint fuzzy area, but we Applegaters
should have a dark enough sky to see it.
That fuzzy area is Coma Berenices (the
hair of queen Bernice). It wasn’t always
called this; it used to be the fuzzy end of
the long tail of Leo until some priests, who
needed to impress their king to get out of
trouble, renamed the tail in honor of the
queen, who was famous for her hair. Now
continue looking in the same direction past
Arcturus, and you’ll see another faint but
beautiful constellation come into view:
Corona Borealis. It’s a semicircle, or a
backwards “C” or “U” depending on your
orientation to it. Corona means crown
in Latin, making it the northern crown.
The Cheyenne nation called it the “Camp
Circle” after the way they arranged their
camps.
Now that you’ve located those three
constellation—Bootes, Coma Berenices,
and Corona Borealis—to the east (left) of
Leo, let’s add two to the west (right): Gem-
ini and Cancer. Return to the backwards
question- mark, which is sometimes called
“The Sickle” though it really is Leo’s mane.
You’ll notice that Leo is looking at two of
our setting winter stars: Castor and Pol-
lux, the Gemini brothers. They’re setting
with Orion and the whole gang of winter
constellations we know and love. Finally,
I want to point out to you another subtle
beauty: Cancer. Cancer is on the same arc
between Leo and the Gemini twins. It’s
a smudge just like Coma Bernenicis, but
a little brighter and even more beautiful.
It’s often called the “Bee Hive” and it does
seem like a swarm of bees, very intense in
the middle and fewer towards the edges.
Congratulations! You have now
found a curved sweep of six constellations
leading one to the other, with Leo at the
center, Gemini at one end, and Corona
Borealis at the other. Binoculars or a tele-
scope are a treat with this group.
Now, what’s going on in the rest of
the sky? The whole southern sky is pretty
dim in spring, except for the planet Sat-
urn to the upper-right of Spica and about
equally bright. As I mentioned, in the west
the winter constellations are disappearing:
Orion and the group we discussed last
season, including the very bright Sirius,
are setting in the southwest. The Gemini
twins will be the last to leave in May, and
Leo will continue to get lower in the west.
June 20th marks the solstice: the end of
spring and the beginning of summer. And
high in the east, our Milky Way galaxy rises
once again. Welcome back!
THE PLANETS
JUPITER is in the sun by April 6;
our wonderful companion of the southern
sky is done with his show. He rises up in
the dawn in the second half of May with
many other planets. On April 21 Jupiter,
Venus and Mercury meet Mars in a diago-
nal line very close to the horizon,
rising to the upper right. That
day they are closest but they play
together all month, getting higher
in June’s dawn. Watch Jupiter
speed by every one of them! Even
the Pleiades get in the act in June,
and a crescent moon joins in the
fun June 25– 29.
SATURN is the only
planet that is far from the sun,
and Saturn now takes the place
Jupiter had all last season: high in
the south, and up all night in the
spring night sky. Rising around
sunset and up all night, it is the
brightest it’s been in several years-
-almost as bright as Arcturus to
the upper right and about equal
to Spica to the lower left. They
all rise in the sky together in May
and by the end of June they’ve
passed overhead and are moving
towards the west. On April 17
the full moon is in the neighborhood to the
lower right. There’s an excellent pairing
(just 1/2 a degree of separation) of Saturn
with Porrima (also called Gamma Virinis),
a double star in Virgo. They’ll be closest on
June 9, but they can be seen together with
the moon all month! They should all three
fit within a binocular or small telescope
field. Of course, this sight would include
Saturn’s rings, which have been on edge
(like looking at a plate with your eye next
to the table top) and are now widening
(imagine slowly standing up to see the plate
from above).
MERCURY spends these spring
months hobnobbing with the gang of four
planets in the dawn. The big finale is in
June, when Mercury is very bright and very
low on the dawn horizon just before sunrise.
Next in the gang of four are Venus, Mars,
and the fast-moving Jupiter heading farther
above and to the right, along the ecliptic
line. (The ecliptic is the band across the sky
where all the planets, moon and sun travel
with assorted other stars as a backdrop.)
By late June Mercury has fallen into the
sun. And
by the very
end of June
Mercury
rises in the
evening af-
ter sunset,
forming a
straight line
with Caster
and Pollux.
VENUS and Jupiter are the bright-
est of the dawn planet party. Venus spends
the spring sinking slowly toward the sun in
her bright glory. And by the end of June
she is also gone from view, disappearing
into the sun. By the way, that’s Aldebaran
nearby.
MARS and Jupiter are side by side in
the dawn at the end of April and beginning
of May, along with Mercury and Venus who
are close together and above right. Mars
spends the spring together with the other
three planets in the dawn, DANCING!
OF SPECIAL NOTE
All four planets will adorn the dawn
sky especially tightly together in a gathering
of a lifetime in May. They start off all very
low in the sunrise glow of April. But they
rise to dance and play with one another in
various interesting ways throughout spring.
Even for dawn-doubters it might be worth
getting up early for the show; if you watch
for several nights you’ll see the changes of
partners. On April 30 and May 1, come
out and see Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and
Venus in their show, with a tiny crescent
moon coming to the dance. Another cres-
cent and a different planet configuration
will occur on May 29 -31, with the Pleiades
joining the show. In June Aldebaran joins
the party too, just below the widening line
of the three planets that are left in the sky:
Venus, Mars and Jupiter (with the Pleiades
above Mars and Aldebaran below it).
The full moons of spring start with
The Egg, Grass, Easter or Paschal Moon on
April 18. May’s full moon is on the 17; it
is called The Milk or Planting Moon. June’s
full moon slides to the 15 and is known
as The Flower, Rose or Strawberry Moon.
These traditional names come from Native
American and Old English names.
The Eta Aquarids meteor should be
favorable this year on May 6, with very little
moonlight to interfere. To best view this
show, lie down warmly and comfortably
so you can see as much of the night sky as
possible. Then just wait and enjoy.
Astronomy Day is May 7! For more
information check out www.astroleague.
org.
This year’s only Friday the 13th oc-
curs in May. Iranian women stay indoors
on this day to avoid bad luck. Actually,
the 13th falls on a Friday more often than
any other day, usually once or twice a year.
Interestingly, the 1st falls more commonly
on a Sunday. Go figure.
Don’t forget the Summer Solstice on
June 21: the longest day and the shortest
night, approximately, of the year.
Greeley Wells • 541-840-5700
greeley@greeley.me