There is hope that Western Canada will come out of its polar vortex to allow astronomers outside without the freezing cold weather! The winter sky is quite beautiful!
One of my favourite winter constellations is Gemini. Its asterism represents two brothers from Greek and Roman mythology together in the sky holding hands. It is thought that H.A. Rey, author of Curious George, was the first to connect their hands in artistic impressions.
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| Gemini |
You can find this wonderful region of space nearly right above your head in the mid-late evening (8pm-9pm local time). If you can locate Orion, just look a bit above his head and to the east. The twin stars should be unmissable!
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| Gemini Map |
Although one Messier object can be found within the borders of Gemini, it is a great one. Messier 35 is an open cluster that really pops into any binocular or telescope field of view. It sits just above the foot of Castor (the northern-most twin).
Another interesting thing about Gemini is that its brightest star, Pollux, forms part of the great Winter Hexagon asterism. Along with other bright star vertices, Capella, Aldebaran, Rigel, Sirius, and Procyon, a large hexagon fills the cold winter sky. This is in contrast to the Summer Triangle that reminds us of warmer times.
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| Winter Hexagon |
Look for Gemini and see if you can connect the bright stars to form the Winter Hexagon. If you are feeling very ambitious, throw a pair of binoculars to your eyes and see if you can catch Messier 35 at the foot of Castor.
So, what else do we have going on in the sky this week?
Jupiter and Saturn are still kind of hanging out with our big light polluting, yet life giving star, the Sun. These large planets will start to emerge in the morning sky later in the month.
Uranus will be fairly close to the Moon during the night of February 17. Observers in the Eastern Hemisphere will be able to see them closer together in the sky. However, by the time the Sun sets, most of North America will be able to see our 7th planet less than 5° from the Moon. Find the Moon in your binoculars or telescope and scan west to see if you can find this lonely grey dot in the sky!
The very next night the Moon will be friends with Mars and they will be less than 4° apart in the night sky soon after sunset. You should still be to easily see Mars with the unaided eye at magnitude 0.8. It will be just as bright as the bright red eye of Taurus the Bull, Aldebaran.
The next evening, on February 19, the Moon will be at its first quarter phase. This is an excellent time to crack out your low focal length eyepieces and see some great craters up close and personal!
How about astronomy events in the news?
Wow!
We have had two Mars missions enter orbit into our red neighbour. A mission from the United Arab Emirates called 'Hope' was inserted into orbit on Feburary 9, 2021. This is a first for the country and the first Arab mission to Mars. The future is amazing!
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| Mars (Image Credit: UAESA/MBRSC/LASP/EMM-EXI) |
The very next day the Chinese mission, Tianwen-1 arrived and inserted itself into orbit.
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| Mars (Image Credit: China National Space Administration) |
If this isn't enough, NASA is hoping to reach Mars and land on its surface this upcoming Thursday with its Perseverance Rover and Ingenuity helicopter.
The future of space exploration is extremely optimistic! Scientific discovery from a diverse array of countries and organizations will only serve to enhance our understanding of the Universe. The world is in this together!
If this isn't enough to get excited about we will be having a guest speaker giving a talk on the chemistry on planetary atmospheres. The first ever astrochemist to graduate from Chicago State University, Ashley Walker, will join us for a free, online lecture on February 18, 7:30pm MST. This event is open to EVERYONE. If you would like to sign up for this event please follow the link below. We hope to see you there!
How are you going to spend time with the night sky this week? I encourage you to brave the cold and take in the clear, crisp night sky!
