There’s no blood moon this week, but a waning gibbous moon phase will bring good dark sky viewing conditions ahead of the clouds late-week.
The Planets this week: Venus and Mercury remain very close together in the evening twilight. They had a close approach this past Friday and will remain near each other for this week. Look for them around 30 minutes after sunset in the western sky with Venus sitting just above the much dimmer Mercury.
The moon will have a run-in with Saturn during the early hours of Monday, with the two appearing only 5.5 degrees apart. They will rise together and be highest in the sky just before dawn so take a peak as you head out to work. Nearby you will also find Jupiter lagging just behind.
The moon will meet up with Jupiter on Tuesday morning passing just 5 degrees away. A quick glance through a telescope or strong binoculars will reveal Jupiter’s 4 Gallilean moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto) in an ever-changing dance around, in front of and behind the planet’s disc.
Naked Eye Object of the week- The Big Dipper: The Big Dipper may be the most recognizable constellation in the sky, only sharing it’s widespread fame with Orion. This week, and for the next several weeks, this easy-to-find constellation will be located high in the sky during the evening hours. The Big Dipper is just one small part of the much larger constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. This constellation dates back thousands of years and was one of the original 48 noted by Ptolemy in the 100’s. It is featured in many poems and books, and is the constellation depicted by Vincent Van Gogh in his infamous “Starry Night” painting.
There are seven stars that comprise the Big Dipper, although upon close examination you will find that one of these stars is actually two. Mazar and Alcor are a double-star that make up the middle of the handle of the dipper. Those with particularly good vision will be able to make them apart with the naked eye, but even a pair of weak binoculars makes it quite obvious. Mizar will appear blue and Alcor red, as it is a red dwarf star. Some ancient writings note that this pair may have been used as an eyesight test, particularly by early middle-east societies. An old story says that even the Romans used this as an eyesight test for their military but there is very little evidence this occurred.
The Big Dipper is also useful in finding Polaris, the current north star. Just follow the stars on the front of the dipper to the north and you will find Polaris, which also makes up the tip of the Little Dipper.
Get out this week and take a peak at this fascinating constellation
Telescope Object of the Week- A pair of galaxies: Located near the Big Dipper you will find a famous pair of galaxies. These are formally known as M81 and M82, but they go by a number of names. M81 is commonly referred to as Bode’s Nebula (or Bode’s Galaxy) and M82 is known as the “Cigar Galaxy”. They are a pair of relatively bright galaxies located in the constellation Ursa Major closest to the top right star in the Big Dipper called Dubhe. M81 is a bright spiral galaxy and ranks as the second brightest galaxy in the sky, only behind Andromeda. It has been studied extensively since it’s discovery in 1774 by Johann Bode, hence Bode’s Nebula. It can be seen easily with a pair of small binoculars, but a larger telescope is recommended to see more detail.
It’s companion M82 is located just 3/4 degree away and is a “starburst” type galaxy. M82 appears as a smoking cigar through a small telescope and has been dubbed the “cigar galaxy” because of this. It is the closest starburst galaxy to our own and owes that structure to gravitational interactions with the much larger and fairly close by M81. In 2014 a type 1A supernova occurred in this galaxy, dubbed SN2014-J, and was studied closely by local astronomers at the University of North Georgia.
Both these galaxies lie around 12 million light-years from Earth. You can find them in the constellation Ursa Major, currently high in the sky for most of the night. The easiest way is to draw a line from the top right and bottom left stars in the big dipper and follow it about the same distance between the two stars. This helpful graphic from NASA should make this easy. In areas with extremely dark skies these galaxies can be seen with the naked eye, but skies across North Georgia are generally much too bright and turbulent.
Even though clouds are expected for the latter half of the week you still have some time to get out and enjoy the wonder’s of the universe.
Have a great week and watch the skies!
