Constellation of the Month: Corona Borealis

 

Corona Borealis, although a small constellation, is easy to spot in the June evening sky at northern temperate latitudes...if the skies are clear, that is.  It's situated between Boötes to its west (left) and Hercules to its right (east), with the rough u-shaped crown studded with stars...a very easy pattern to make out.   Easily the brightest star in Corona Borealis is Alphecca (also called Gemma), a binary system about 75 light years from us.  The simplest way to find Corona Borealis in the sky is to first find Arcturus, easily the brightest star in this part of the night sky and go a little up (north) and to the left (east) from it.  Corona Borealis is, in English, the Northern Crown, and it is fun to see as it passes directly overhead: maybe an hour or two before or after it hits the zenith might be the preferred observation time to avoid straining your neck! Now we're officially entering the summertime, and if you can stand the mosquitos, enjoy clear skies and are free of obstructing streetlights, then get hold of a star map and see how many summer constellations you can recognize...Corona Borealis should be one of the more obvious ones to find.  

Next month: another constellation...

June Features Five Planets Aligned in East Before Sunrise

I don't watch Lawrence O'Donnell's opinion show on MSNBC, nor do I follow him on social media.  However, for some reason I probably would rather not know, a posting of his appeared on my Facebook newsfeed page with a topic I wouldn't normally associate with him and his politically oriented output: astronomy.  It revealed that sky-gazers in this month of June 2022 are getting a special treat...if they are early-risers, that is.  The five planets visible to the naked eye...Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn...are strung out close to each other in the eastern predawn sky along the elliptic, in that order starting from the horizon in the constellation Taurus near the Pleiades (Mercury) and extending westward (up and to the right) in Aries (Venus), in Pisces (Mars and Jupiter, visually close together) and Aquarius (Saturn) on the far west end of the planetary spectacle.  The most difficult planet to spot will most definitely be Mercury, for while it will have enough brightness to be visible, to observe it I'll have to catch it just after it rises but just before the sun...and it'll be just above the east horizon so there can't be any impediments like trees or buildings.  I'm going to bravely try to get up early...totally against my current habits...and see whether I can't get a glimpse of our innermost planet: it will be down and to the left from very bright Venus.  Of course, if it's cloudy or foggy I'll have to try another morning.  But this planetary alignment phenomenon will be out there for most of the month.  By June 24th the moon will even be a part of it... 

Constellation of the Month: Aquila (the Eagle)

 

Aquila, representing an Eagle, is one of the more prominent constellations.  Part of this is due to its brightest star Altair (magnitude .76), which is only 16.7 light years away.  And part is due to Aquila resting on the celestial equator, which means that except from extreme northern and southern latitudes this constellation is visible high up in the sky when it crosses the meridian, with much less interference from urban lighting.  Altair is at the southern vertex of the Summer Triangle, an asterism composed of the first-magnitude stars Altair, Vega and Deneb.  The first time I went to the beach with Melissa was during the Memorial Day weekend in 1986, and the two of us stood at the edge of the St. Augustine public pier looking eastward, watching the relentless ocean waves below and waiting for Altair's late night rising, surrounded by people fishing...that was fun.  Aquila also has several deep-space objects, most of the brightest being star clusters.  When I pick a "constellation of the month", the only condition is that it crosses the meridian at 10 pm Daylight Savings Time...so like last year's August pick Sagittarius, Aquila does just that...but it's very visible for most of the year at some time during the nighttime hours from dusk to dawn...

Constellation of the Month: Ophiuchus (the Serpent-Bearer)

 

Ophiuchus, representing a serpent-bearer, is a large constellation in the summer evening sky, situated just north of the more prominent Scorpius and south of Hercules.  Although Ophiuchus possesses two second-magnitude stars (Rasalhague and Sabik) and Hercules has none brighter than magnitude three, the latter is easier to identify in the sky due to its more distinctive pattern.  On the western and eastern ends of Ophiuchus are, respectively, the two constellations Serpens Caput and Serpens Cauda, representing the snake/serpent he is holding.  Ophiuchus technically lies in that belt of the sky known as the Zodiac...the sun, moon, and planets pass through it between Scorpius and Sagittarius.  In fact, it is believed that in ancient times it was the thirteenth Zodiac constellation, but that it was kicked out of the "club" when the formerly sacred number "13" was relegated to taboo status with a change in religion.  My take on it is that if you go back thousands of years, you're going to observe a vastly different configuration of stars in the sky, due to their motions relative to Earth over that span...so how could anyone come to that conclusion about a current star pattern?  Anyway, Ophiuchus contains several Messier objects: M9, M10, M12, and M14, M19, M62, and M107...all of them globular clusters.  I have a telescope that I try to take outside to observe the night sky when I'm off from work, but I'm kind of clumsy in getting it properly trained on specific objects smaller than the moon.  And it seems that in recent weeks the night sky here in north-central Florida has been consistently cloudy and I've either been working or tired when at home...but the heavens can wait until my Earthly conditions improve, I suppose...

Next month I highlight another constellation...