Goodbye, summer. Hello, winter … and Mars.
Believe it or not, even though it’s December, we still have some summer constellations residing in the western skies. At the same time the wonderful winter constellations, along with the planet Mars, are on the rise in the east. In between are some autumn star pictures on these frosty December evenings.
Just like professional sports seasons, there’s a lot of overlap with the constellation seasons. When I put on my stargazing parties, beginner stargazers are amazed that you can still see the “Summer Triangle.”
The Summer Triangle is not a constellation, but is made up of three bright stars from three separate constellations. They’re the brightest stars in the western sky, and each is the brightest in its respective constellation. Deneb, the highest star in the west, is the brightest shiner in the constellation Cygnus.
Within the stars of Cygnus is the famous and easy to see “Northern Cross,” with Deneb at the top of the cross and the dimmer star Albireo at the foot. To make the cross into a swan, picture Deneb at the tail of the celestial swan and Alberio at the head. Then look for fainter stars beyond and above both ends of the crosspiece.
The fainter stars, together with the three crosspiece stars, form an arc that makes up the wingspan of the swan. You can’t help but notice that Cygnus appears to be making a swan dive toward the western horizon.
That seems appropriate, since Cygnus will begin to disappear from the evening sky before the end of this month, setting before evening twilight as the Earth in its orbit turns away from the big heavenly bird.
In the southern sky after dusk is the Great Square of Pegasus, outlining the torso of the winged horse. Just to the northeast of the square is the constellation Andromeda, with the Andromeda Galaxy just above the princess. The Andromeda Galaxy is the next-door neighbor of our home galaxy, the Milky Way.
Our galactic neighbor isn’t very close, though. It’s well over two million light-years away (one light-year is nearly six trillion miles). Despite that distance, you can just see the Andromeda Galaxy with the naked eye in the dark countryside as a fuzzy faint patch of light.
Gazing in the east after evening twilight, you’ll be bombarded with all kinds of bright stars and constellations, especially later in the evening. You are witnessing the rising of the winter constellations, the best of the year in my opinion.
The constellations Auriga (the chariot driver) and Taurus (the bull) lead the charge. Just above Taurus is the best star cluster in the sky, known as the Pleiades or the Seven Sisters. This is a young group of stars, 410 light-years away, that looks like a tiny Big Dipper. After 8 p.m., Orion, the great centerpiece of the winter constellations, takes to the low eastern sky. The three stars in a row that make the belt of the great hunter will definitely jump out at you.
Also after 8 p.m. look for the brightest starlike object you can see in the east. That’s no star. It’s the planet Mars, heading for its closest approach to Earth in more than two years. The reddish hue is easy to see.
Actually, Mars and Earth are approaching each other, and will reach their minimum separation, a little more than 54 million miles apart, on Christmas Eve.
Mars won’t be as close as it was in August 2003, when it was slightly more than 34 million miles away. Nonetheless, our Martian neighbor will get your attention. With a small to moderate telescope you may see some darker patches on the planet that make up its extensive valleys.
Honestly though, you can’t see a whole lot of detail on Mars because it’s smaller than Earth, only about four thousand miles in diameter, and even though it’s the closest it’s been to Earth in a few years, it’s still a heck of a long ways away.
I’ll have more on Mars as we get closer to the holidays.
Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and is author of the book, “Washington Starwatch,” available at bookstores and at his Web site www.lynchandthestars.com.
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