The beaks of the “M” point to the constellation Andromeda.Ĭontrary to popular belief, Polar is not one of the brightest stars in the sky (it occupies the 49th position, in decreasing order of apparent brightness).īelow the North Star, and if the horizon is clear, we will see Ursa Major at low height, with its tail turned to the left.Ībove the western horizon, we can see the beautiful constellation of the Swan drawing a cross, where its brightest star, Deneb, is evident.Ī little further down, we will see the star Altair (from the constellation of the Eagle) and to its right Vega, very bright, standing out in the constellation of Lyra. Looking north, above the North Star, we will find Cassiopeia, drawing an “M” delineated by prominent stars. Autumn stars are those that are visible (from our latitudes) approximately between 22 pm and midnight, on any night in the middle of this season.Īs the hours pass, the entire celestial panorama shifts to the west, in such a way that around 4 am we will already be seeing the stars that, next winter, will be observable right after dinner. The procedure is simple and only requires some regularity.ĭue to the rotation of the Earth, every day heroes, mythologies and adventures that our ancestors imagined pass over our heads. Knowing how to locate the stars and constellations can serve as a source of fascination or orientation resource and, subsequently, to better reference the positions of planets and other interesting objects. The mild temperature of the autumn nights allows us to admire it in a comfortable way. On Sunday evening at 8 pm, tune in to the Sunday Night Astronomy Show via the Facebook page or YouTube channel of Astronomy by the Bay.The night sky is fascinating. For most of the week the zodiacal light might be visible in the east from rural areas. Mercury and Venus are too close to the Sun for observing. Mars is stationary on Sunday, beginning its westward retrograde motion relative to the stars. On Wednesday evening telescope users might see the shadows of two moons on Jupiter’s clouds with the shadow of Ganymede entering at 9:22 and that of Europa exiting at 10:00. Saturn is at its highest and best for observing at 8 pm, followed by Jupiter at 10:30. The Moon is at first quarter and near Saturn on Tuesday, and on Friday it slides below Jupiter. Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 8:05 am and set at 5:59 pm, giving 9 hours, 54 minutes of daylight (8:08 am and 6:06 pm in Saint John). Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:55 am and sunset will occur at 6:09 pm, giving 10 hours, 14 minutes of daylight (7:59 am and 6:16 pm in Saint John). A line from the bottom right star of the W to the top right and extended the same distance brings us to open cluster M52. Next, look above Andromeda for the familiar W-shape of Cassiopeia. Look to the left of the line over halfway between Almach and Algol, the second brightest star in Perseus, for the open cluster of stars called M34. The third brightest star of Andromeda is Almach, situated at the end of the string from Mirach. We see M33 face on, which makes it appear dimmer. In the opposite direction from Mirach, and at about the same distance as M31, is fainter M33, the third largest galaxy in our Local Group behind Andromeda and the Milky Way. The second star from Alpheratz along the brighter string is orange Mirach, and moving up two stars across the dimmer string we encounter the large Andromeda Galaxy, M31. The star at the northeast corner of the square is Alpheratz, the brightest star of Andromeda, from which spread two lines of stars. Angling to the left at the eye we come to a star at the horse’s snout, and extending by nearly half that distance is a larger globular cluster, M15. Extending that line by half its distance is where you will find a small blurry patch called M2, a globular cluster that is the second entry in the Messier list of DSOs. The southwest corner of the square is the base of the winged horse’s neck, and moving away from the square by a few stars takes us to the horse’s eye. Let us start by using the Square of Pegasus as a guidepost. This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2022 October 29 – November 5 ~by Curt Nasonĭeep sky objects (DSOs), composed of star clusters and nebulae, are often called faint fuzzies by amateur astronomers but many are bright enough to be seen with binoculars in a dark sky.
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