Download January 2013 Night Sky - Explore More - At

January 2013 Night Sky
Happy New Year! The stars are putting on a good show, and with long, dark
nights it’s an excellent time to go out stargazing. It can be very cold though,
so wrap up warm and take a hot drink if you plan on being out a while.
The At-Bristol astronomers recommend warm cocoa in an insulating flask.
www.at-bristol.org.uk
Constellation of the month: Canis Major
There are several stories surrounding Canis Major, with the most popular saying that the
constellation represents Orion’s hunting dog. The well-known American poet Robert Frost wrote
this poem, inspired by Canis Major:
The great Overdog, That heavenly beast, With a star in one eye, Gives a leap in the east.
He dances upright, All the way to the west, And never once drops, On his forefeet to rest.
I'm a poor underdog, But to-night I will bark, With the great Overdog, That romps through the dark.
Image credit: Stellarium
Monoceros
Orion
Lepus
Sirius
M41
Puppis
Finding Canis Major
The most impressive part of Canis Major is
the star Sirius, the brightest in the night sky.
It makes Canis Major quite easy to find.
Look due south at around 11pm and so long
as you have a clear horizon you’ll have a
good view. Another way to find Canis Major
is to first track down Orion’s Belt, then draw
a line downwards from those three stars.
They point straight to scorching Sirius.
Look out for...
Columba
Sirius is the unmissable object here. It’s so
bright that sometimes on blustery nights it
twinkles a lot and is mistaken for a UFO!
If you have binoculars or a small telescope
you’ll be able to spot a cluster of stars called
M41 below Sirius. In total M41 contains
about 100 stars. Why not have a go and see
how many you can count?
News flash: NASA plan new Mars rover
The exploration of Mars has received a boost with news that a
new robot will be sent to the Red Planet in 2020 and should
arrive a year later. To save costs it will be based on the Curiosity
rover that safely landed on the surface on 6 August 2012.
The robot will use the same landing mechanism as Curiosity. Image: NASA.
The planets in January
Mercury
Venus
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
appears too close to the Sun to be visible this month.
unfortunately is not well-placed to observe.
is very low in the south-west around sunset.
is in the south / south-west, and is unmistakably bright.
may be seen low in the south before dawn.
Theme of the month: Twinkling stars
.
Have you ever heard that stars twinkle in the sky but planets don’t?
Well, this is mostly true. Objects in the sky seem to twinkle because
we’re seeing them though the Earth’s atmosphere. All those layers of
air are moving, which distorts their light and gives the twinkling effect.
The distant stars are very large but are so far away that to us they look
like pin-pricks of light. The planets in our Solar System are smaller but
much, much, MUCH closer! This means that we actually see them as
tiny discs and not dots of light like the stars, (although we can’t really
see this using just our eyes). The atmosphere still distorts their light, but
as they appear slightly larger this masks the effect.
Sometimes even planets can twinkle though. If
they’re close to the horizon then we see them
through even more atmosphere, and their discs
of light may not be enough to disguise the
twinkling!
www.at-bristol.org.uk
Moon calendar
05 January
Last Quarter
11 January
New Moon
18 January
First Quarter
27 January
Full Moon
Through a telescope the disc of Jupiter can be seen, but
can you see the star? It still looks like a dot because it’s
so far away. Image credit: Stellarium.
Would you like to know more?
Zooniverse is a collection of projects that lets you help professional astronomers and maybe make a real
Image credit:
Shuttle Crew andtoNASA.
discovery.
VisitSTS-119
www.zooniverse.org
get started.
Stellarium is a planetarium program for your computer, showing a realistic 3D sky just as you would see if
looking with your eyes or a telescope. Best of all, it’s completely free. Download it at www.stellarium.org
Heavens Above is a website for you to create customised sky maps and see when satellites like the
International Space Station and Iridium flares will be visible. Try it at www.heavens-above.com
Smartphone apps for astronomy are excellent ways to help you navigate the night sky.
Google Sky Map for Android and Planets for iPhones are free apps to start you off in the right direction.
The Bristol Astronomical Society is a group of local stargazers who are always keen to help beginners.
Find out more via www.bristolastrosoc.org.uk
Do you have an astronomy question for the At-Bristol Planetarium team?
E-mail [email protected] and our devoted astronomers will be happy to help!