Notes From The Lawnchair |
February, 2012
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Two Nights, Two Sights
Okay! It’s cold. But I just may have something to brighten the mood. By the end of February, we’ll arrive at the “In like a lion, out like a lamb” stage and, that can only mean that Old Man Winter is soon to be replaced by spring’s sprouting buds and chirping birds. Daylight will last longer, ice and snow will uniformly begin melting away and Lawnchairs everywhere will gloriously emerge from hibernation. It may sound like a pipe dream as we dig out from the latest onslaught, but trust me on this, it’s going to change, and soon. By the end of February, there will be wondrous sights to behold in the western, post sunset sky. Specifically, there’ll be some excellent astronomical photo-ops on two successive evenings. The bright evening star seen setting in the west after sunset throughout February is none other than the Goddess of Love, Venus. Followed by the nearly equally bright Jupiter, just a tad higher in the southwestern sky, each are visited by a sliver-thin new moon on the early evenings of February 25th and 26th respectively. From the Lawnchair perspective, this is also best time to train an earth-based, backyard instrument onto our closest neighbor - during the early first (waxing) or late phases (waning) of the moon’s monthly cycle. When the moon is full, there’s a tendency for an eyepiece image to get washed out. In other words, it’s just too bright to see any real detail. But during the first and last quarter phases, the contrast is substantially increased and you can actually see features that just aren’t possible during a full moon. Most interesting are the areas where you can see how the light shines through the crevices between craters and mountain ranges into the unlit areas of the lunar surface. In small and large telescopes, as well as binoculars, the early and late stage moon phases are a fascinating place to begin a Lawnchair adventure. During the last week of February, specifically on the 25th and 26th, viewing the conjunctions between the moon and the very bright Venus and Jupiter provides opportunities to capture unique photographs of our solar system neighbors gathered for a family portrait. On either of those dates, catching all three in the same field of view should make for an interesting photograph. Try a variety of exposure times and aperture sizes and you may end up with a true keeper. For those of you who can combine your digital camera with a telescope, try a variety of wide angle and close-ups for that ultimate portfolio image. Now besides these wonderful planetary sights above the western horizon just after sunset, the Great Square of Pegasus can be glimpsed slowly descending down below the tree-line, followed by Andromeda and, of course, its jewels, the Andromeda galaxies. All are spectacular in both large and small instruments. M-31 is the larger, main component of the group. And just like the Magellanic Clouds that we can see from the southern hemisphere, M-32 and M-110 are Andromeda’s satellite galaxies orbiting the Milky-way’s slightly larger twin sister. All reside a whopping 2.2 million light-years away from us and what you see today, fantastically, is how they looked over two millions years ago. We won’t know for some time, obviously, if there have been any dramatic changes to our largest neighbor. So there are, indeed, some excellent reasons to brave the cold and brush any precipitation from the trusty Lawnchair this February. Perhaps risking being perceived as mentally unstable, go ahead anyway and invite some friends over for an evening of unforgettable sights. I can guarantee that the freezing temperatures will simply aide in preserving what will turn out to be treasured lifelong memories! Clear skies! The Lawnchair Astronomer |
In The News
In
the news: Twin NASA spacecrafts have just recently entered orbit around
the moon to begin mapping the lunar crust and study our closest
celestial neighbor’s interior structure and thermal
evolution. A combined MIT and NASA project, the aptly named
Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, launched last
September, will study, not only, the surface of the moon, but employ
sophisticated sensors to peer deep into the moon’s
interior. Scheduled to last another 270 days or so, the mission
will end with these two earthly emissaries becoming one with the moon,
as they eventually and quite dramatically, impact the surface.
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 On the evenings of February 25th & 26th, here is what the western sky will look like just after sunset. On the 25th, Venus is in close proximity to the sliver moon, while on the 26th, Jupiter meets up with our closest celestial neighbor. Both evenings present excellent opportunities to snap that ultimate Lawnchair photograph. |
