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About Applegater. (Jacksonville, OR) 2008-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 2012)
Applegater Fall 2012 7 THE STARRY SIDE Morning glory and shooting stars bY GREELEY WELLS Here it comes: fall! Seemed like a short summer, and slow coming. Now we’re looking at cooling down already—I’m writing this in late July during rainstorms and cool weather! What is going on? At the end of August, though, when you get this issue, summer is still in the sky, thank goodness. Look up tonight: there’s the famous summer triangle I talk about before, during and after summer every year. And Pegasus is near the top of the sky attached to Andromeda, leading to Perseus and Cassiopeia and their wonderful stories I’ve repeated in this column a few times. In September these two share the top of the night sky; by October the huge square of Pegasus is straight overhead. That’s Arcturus bright and low in the west-northwest. And the big dipper, known in England as the plough, is swinging under the North Star, Polaris. Summer is leaving the sky but the summer triangle is not gone, and will still be visible at Halloween. Even in November when it’s getting wintery, the summer cross is not quite down in the west yet. At the same time in late summer, winter constellations are rising in the east. As I write this in July, I can see Orion and company rising early in the morning (between midnight and dawn), they are coming—we morning risers are witness! By October, Pleiades and Taurus are showing up in the east around 10 pm, leading the winter constellations. By 10 pm in November, Orion is up in his usual horizontal, lazy, lying-down posture, which he will improve as the season progresses. Over his head, to his left, are Castor and Pollux, the Gemini twins. The two bright stars named Castor and Pollux are their heads; their feet are just over Orion’s club Venus. Ha ve you noticed I don’t talk about Pluto Greeley Wells (is it even a planet?), Uranus or Neptune? Well, though you can see them sometimes with a telescope, and even occasionally with binoculars, they never really offer naked-eye images, which is what I’m interested in and try to share with you. OF NOTE Full moons this season i n c l u d e t h e Fr u i t Mo o n (September 30) and the Harvest Moon (October 29). The full moon on November 28 has three name choices: Frosty, Beaver or Hunter’s Moon. The crescent moon will be quite close to Mars after sunset on September 19. On November 11, a crescent moon makes a triangle with Venus and Spica in the dawn. The autumn or fall equinox is on Saturday, September 22. Days and nights of equal length mark this midpoint between the winter and summer solstices. Meteor showers seem to be prevalent this season. I hope To see more accurately, swing the illustration around to match your horizon line direction. you caught the Perseids on Illustration from Guy Ottewell’s Astronomical Calendar 2012 (www.universalworkshop.com). August 12, the most impressive that these are the ‘leading edge’ of winter’s where it will be next. As the sky brightens and most consistent shower of the constellations, with Orion as the king. keep looking and pretty soon you’ll be year. This year the sometimes spectacular THE PLANETS looking at a “day star”— a planet, actually. Northern Taurid’s may include some Venus is the glory of the sunrise In November, Venus almost kisses possible fireballs. They extend from late throughout the fall! In early September (the Saturn from the 26th to the 28th. The October to mid-November, but there’s 1st), it passes right between the Gemini rings of Saturn are also open so they are a full moon near the beginning of this twins after rising three hours before the easily seen in telescopes, and may appear period so the latter part will provide the sun. By mid-September (the 12-13th), it as bumps in binoculars. Both planets are best viewing. The peak of the showers is passes the dim Bee Hive Cluster in Cancer so close they may well be in one field of after the moon “interruption,” so that’s at dawn, with a nearby moon to heighten view—a great comparison possibility. Give good news. Some are predicting a swarm the experience. a look at all these close encounters if you of bright meteors and fireballs that may overwhelm even a full moon! But listen, October finds a blue-white Venus have the tools. Jupiter begins this season visible from this is theoretical so don’t put much money late night till dawn. In September, it rises down on a bet. The meteors will seem to earlier and earlier; at month’s end it’s rising radiate from Taurus, that “V” shape, in the after about 10:00 pm. October finds east. Wish us all luck. I love meteors, they Jupiter rising ever earlier, getting brighter, make me feel special somehow. Orionids may also be good this year and beginning to dominate the evening sky. In November, the planet is rising a around October 20-21, as the moon will couple of hours after sunset and is bright all set before their 11 pm or midnight peak. night and into the dawn, when it’s visible The radiant will be around Orion, moving with Venus and Saturn and even Mercury outward. The Orionids are usually bright [even lower] and reddish Aldebaran in meteors with persistent trails. This year’s Taurus’s “V”. On November 1, Jupiter is have been labeled “very favorable.” Oh boy! right next to the just-full moon. Halloween is October 31. All Saints Mars fades below the dusk horizon line in September. Saturn holds a dim, Day is November 1 and November 2 is All Souls Day. low position for the whole month. Mercury rises from obscurity at the Greeley Wells end of September’s sunsets. It makes a low 541-840-5700 dawn appearance at the end of November, greeley@greeley.me to the left of Saturn and lower-left of (which is just above his head). Out in front of Orion that beautiful “V” is Taurus the bull’s face. And further up are the Pleiades, the seven sisters of Greek lore. (Can you see seven? It’s a Greek eye test. Many not-so-good eyes see only six.) The bright star further left is Capella, part of the five- sided constellation Auriga. The Pleiades, Taurus, Gemini, Auriga: you could say closing in on a golden-yellow Regulus. On the morning of October 3, they are at their closest, with morning Regulus fading but Venus still bright enough for a daytime view after sunrise! This is pretty rare—the key to seeing a “day star” is knowing where it is. So if you sit or stand in one spot at dawn noting what’s close to the track of the planet, you’ll figure out approximately