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The Night Sky
March 2012
Give me five minutes, I’ll give you Saturn in 2012
By Deborah Byrd and Bruce McClure
Saturn eclipsing the sun, as seen by Cassini spacecraft in 2006. More about this image. Credit: CICLOPS, JPL,
ESA, NASA
The planet Saturn is relatively easy to
find in 2012, because it’s near a bright
star, Spica, in the constellation Virgo. This
star always returns to the early evening
sky in April – spring for the Northern
Hemisphere, autumn for the Southern
Hemisphere. Spica stays out all night long
– or nearly all night long – on April and
May nights. Likewise, April or May of
2012 will also be the best time to see the
ringed planet Saturn in all its glory. But
you can
you can see it tonight too.
In early February 2012, Saturn and
Spica are rising around midnight for all of
us on Earth. They reach their high point
in the sky an hour or so before morning
dawn. If you’re an early morning person,
before dawn the early months of 2012
should be just fine for viewing Saturn with
the unaided eye or the telescope. Even a
modest backyard telescope will enable you
to see Saturn’s glorious rings.
You can also try to glimpse Saturn
on nights when it’s near the moon. The
chart shown here, and links below, show
you how on February 11, 2012, Saturn
will pass closer to the moon than it has
for months. But look on either side of
that date, too. In fact, watching the moon
sweep past Saturn for several nights in a
row – in each of the next several months
– will give you the opportunity to experience the moon’s own motion in orbit.
As a ballpark guide, look for Saturn
(and Spica) to rise about two hours earlier
with every successive month. Saturn rises
around 12 midnight in early February,
around 10 p.m. in early March and around
8 p.m. in early April – these times are
approximately true as seen from all parts
of Earth. So Saturn will be coming into
easier view with each passing month in
early 2012.
By the time mid-April 2012 comes,
Saturn will rise in the east as the sun sets
in the west. Why? Because that is when
Saturn will be opposite the sun as seen
from Earth.
Did you know Harry Potter characters are based on stars?
By Ben Johnson
J.K. Rowling based the names of many
characters in Harry Potter on stars in
constellations. The characteristics of the
people and the stars usually mesh in some
way. Here are a few that Rowling based
on celestial objects.
Bellatrix Lestrage is the only female
death eater in the Harry Potter series. She
is named after the star Bellatrix, which is
the third brightest star in the constellation
Orion and the 27th brightest in the night
sky. The name Bellatrix translates from
Latin as “the female warrior,” and sometimes the “Amazon Star.”
Sirius Black is named after the Dog
Star, Canis Major. Sirius is the brightest
star in the night sky. Actually, it is not one
start but a binary star system. The Sirius
system is a variable binary star system
with Sirius A and Sirius B orbiting each
other. In Latin, Canis means dog and major means big. In the Harry Potter series,
Sirius Black able to change into a black
dog.
In the sixth book, Hermoine, Harry, and
Ron try to figure out who RAB was. The
initials stand for Regulus Arcturus Black,
Sirius Black’s younger brother. He was
named after stars the Regulus and Arcturus. Regulus is in the constellation Leo.
In Latin Regulus means little king. Arcturus is a star in the constellation Bootes,
who is a herdsman. Arcturus is known as
the watcher. Regulus Black watched over
the house elf, Kreacher. When Voldermot was going to hurt Kreacher, Regulus
watched over the elf. He was willing to
risk his life for Kreachers’ even though
most witches or wizards did not care about
house elves.
Draco Malfoy is named after the constellation Draco, which is near the two
dipper constellations. It takes the shape of
a dragon. The cat’s eye nebula is located
by the dragon’s neck. About five thousand
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Harry Potter constellation. Credit: Beastysakura