Podcaster: Ralph & Paul
Title : Awesome Astronomy’s February Sky Guide
Organization: Awesome Astronomy
Link : www.awesomeastronomy.com
Description: What to look out, and up, for in February.
For the beginners this month we take a look at the constellation of Auriga the Charioteer with a trio of open clusters from the Messier catalogue and finishing off with the Flaming Star that originated in Orion’s Belt.
Next Jeni rounds up the planets that are visible in December: Jupiter, Mars & Saturn, before taking a look at this month’s moon phases – with a couple of conjunctions with Venus & Mercury and the occultation of star Xi 1 Ceti.
Finally we go deep into the universe with an open cluster, a beautiful multiple star system and the vast Rosette Nebula in the constellation Monoceros the Unicorn.
For those in the Southern Hemisphere, 365 Days of Astronomy also play Alice Enevoldsen’s What’s Up Tonight, Southern Skies Edition each month.
Bio: Awesome Astronomy is the show for anyone and everyone who has even the slightest interest in astronomy and science.
Join Ralph & Paul twice each month, for informative and fun astronomy programs telling you what to look out (and up) for every month. You can be guaranteed a passion for astronomy, simple explanations of complex and fundamental topics, space and science news, absorbing interviews with astronomers who make the news and listeners’ astronomy questions answered
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Transcript:
Paul: February and it may be colder than a penguin’s testicle and spring may still feel like a long way off but don’t despair, there is a great sky to be seen, we still have long dark nights and the sky is beginning to fill with planets. But before we see what the solar system has on offer let’s see what Ralph has lined up in his beginner’s guide.
Ralph: Well, this month we’re going to take a look in Auriga the Charioteer. This is an often overlooked constellation but it’s a got some real gems and can’t be missed because of the star Capella – the fourth brightest in the northern hemisphere and, after Sirius in the south, Capella will be the 2nd brightest star visible this month before midnight. Just look straight up and you can’t miss it. Looking into this constellation is looking deep outside the galaxy because our Milky Way’s centre, packed with stars and a supermassive black hole that we all orbit around, is in the exact opposite side of the sky to Auriga.
But in Auriga we have a rich array of open clusters that can easily be seen with binoculars or a small telescope and we’ll finish off with a bit more of a challenge to find a faint emission nebula more at home in Orion’s belt.
But starting off we have the relatively young cluster of stars known as Messier 36. To find this, look for the Magnitude 1.6 blue star Alnath, which forms the boundary between Auriga and the more familiar Taurus. About one third the distance along a line from Alnath to the bluey white star Menakalinan at the top of Auriga and just over a degree to the right of that point sits M36. If this cluster wasn’t 10 times further away from us than the brilliant Pleiades Cluster, they would look very much the same. But crank up the magnification when you find it to see these hot blue suns, more than 200 times younger than our own star.
Now we go for Messier 37. Draw a line from Alhena in the foot of the unmistakable constellation of Gemini (Alhena is the brightest star in the feet of the twins and white in colour) and follow that line half way towards bright Capella in Auriga. A degree below that mid point is the most dense and bright of the three major clusters in Auriga. This cluster appears to me like a small globular cluster but, with more than 30 times more stars than Messier 36, all packed into an area only slightly larger, that’s probably not surprising. Even if you struggle to find this cluster from my instructions, you should easily locate the spot during a wild scan of the region. And it really is a fine cluster in binoculars or a small scope.
The last of our trio of open cluster in Auriga is the aptly named Messier 38. Charles Messier obviously spent a busy period in Auriga! But to find M38 we need the bright silicon rich white star Theta Aurigae between Menkalinen and Alnath. Draw a line from Theta Aurigae to Orange Hasseleh on the right hand side of Auriga. At the midpoint sits Messier 38 – a colourful dense region of blue, yellow and red stars that make up the Starfish Cluster. Scan around the cluster and you’ll spot a smaller dimmer cluster called NGC 1907 – so this is a two-for-one.
Finally, we have a difficult nebula to hunt down. But around midnight this month, if you’re facing west and looking up at M38, just drop down by 3 degrees and you’ll find the region where Caldwell 31 or the Flaming Star Nebula sits. This is an emission/reflection nebula in which clouds of gas are energised by nearby stars and glow, and the dust there, combines to reflect this star light. In this case, the star in question is the magnitude 6 blue dwarf, AE Aurigae, which is surrounded by faint tendrils of glowing gas and dust 1,500 light years from us. Although only just further away from us than the Orion Nebula, the Flaming Star only appears about half the size and much fainter in the eyepiece. Interestingly though, the star that creates the nebula, AE Aurigae, is actually calculated to have originated in the Trapezium Cluster in the heart of the Orion Nebula 2 million years ago!
Anyway, I’d recommend a dark sky and an Ultra High Contrast or Oiii filter to help you tease out that faint nebulosity around the star. So, back to you Paul.
Jeni: After an autumn and early winter drought of planets in the evening we are finally getting some decent planetary action back in the sky. Most of the planets that have entertained the early risers are moving ever earlier we finally have some planets to fill our hungry eyepieces.
The star of the night is certainly the King who is once more back on his throne and ruling over all. Opposition is fast approaching for Jupiter, which happens on 8th of March. Currently by Leo’s rear leg Jupiter provides a nice line up of moons on the 19th with io Europa Ganymede and Callisto all lined up to the west.
Mars is the next highlight in the sky. Sitting in the centre of Libra the red planet is improving all the time. Opposition isn’t until the 22nd of may so Mars is still a long way from it’s best but as the month goes on larger scopes will start to see surface detail and by the end of February even smaller telescopes will be able to see some of the larger darker features.
Saturn, low down in the morning sky is one for the early risers still, while Venus and Mercury make a predawn pairing low in the east, difficult but worth a go.
The moon this month starts on the first at last quarter, reaches new on the 8th, first quarter on the 15th and is full on the 22nd. Look out for the last quarter moon close to mars on the 1st and a thin crescent moon joining Venus and Mercury on the morning of the 6th. On the 13th look out for the moon occulting the star Xi 1 ceti or HIP 10324 just after 7pm, the star should reappear around an hour later.
Paul: For our deep sky tour this month we are going to look at the constellation of Monoceros, the Unicorn stalking the hunter orion. It essentially fills the sky between distinctive orion and the stars Procyon in Canis Minor and Sirius in Canis Major, which along with Betelgeuse make up the Winter Triangle, centred on our mythical horned beast and like its summer equivalent has the milkyway running right through it.
There are several deep sky treats in Monoceros and a good place to start is with the constellations Messier object, M50. This is an open cluster around 3000 light years away that is often described as heart shaped. It is most easily found by starting at Sirius, jumping to Gamma Canis Majoris and moving 7 degrees north towards Procyon. It can be seen in binoculars as a blury star while a telescope will begin to resolve individual stars, or around 8 to 9 magnitude.
Moving from M50 towards Orions belt you should locate Beta Monocerotis, which is actually the brightest star in the constellation, despite being Beta. If you bring the power up on your scope you will see what William Herschel described as one of the most beautiful sights in the heavens as you will resolve a triple star system of three blue stars in a curved line. If you nudge your scope north of Beta, placing it on the edge of your finderscope you should locate a nice bright cluster NGC2232 which is visible in binoculars. It is an interesting cluster for several reasons, the stars do not appear to have dust discs around them and it is thought that despite their 300 light years distance these stars originated in the Orion Nebula.
We continue to head North for the last of our targets in this tour. You will want to draw a line between Betelgeuse and procyon and then look for the star Alhena in Gemini, this is the brightest star in Gemini nearest Betelgeuse. due south of Alhena on the line your drew will be three objects to complete our tour, Epsilon Monocerotis, NGC2244 and the Rosette nebula. The first is a great double star with contrasting redbrown and bluegrey colours. NGC2244 and the Rosette are a two for one deal a large diffuse nebula with an associated open cluster. The Rosette is a hard visual target despite it’s size which will fill a low power eyepiece. It has a low surface brightness and will require good seeing and transparency for good observation. A large scope will really reveal why it has the name rosette. In it’s centre like the stamen of the flower are the stars of NGC2244, an open cluster formed from the nebula of the rosette. Many of them are young o type stars burning with a surface temperature in the millions. The whole complex,cluster and nebula is about 130 light years across and over 5000 light years away. They make a great imaging target and February sees this constellation in it’s best sky for the year.
So happy hunting and I wish you clear skies.
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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