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july 2013

STARGAZING
FROM YOUR BUDS AT DABBLER

LETS TALK ABOUT STARS

When I was a kid I had a book all about the stars. Im not sure where it came from or when I got it, but it was definitely a grown-up book. Alphas and betas, ascensions and declinations, complicated star charts - nothing ten-year-old me had a chance of understanding. What it did have, though, were myths. Big, ornate drawings of Hercules strangling monsters, ancient kings, ravenous beasts, and plenty more to pique my ten-year-old imagination. Those mythic constellations never met up with the stars themselves until a few years into college. I signed up for an astronomy class with an identify the stars segment, which everyone (naturally) put off until the very last week of the fall semester. Huddled in a freezing parking lot waiting hours to be tested, we all formed a Stockholm Syndrome-y admiration for the constellations. Looking back, I didnt know how good I had it. I live in Brooklyn now, a magic land of tall buildings, light pollution and ubiquitous streetlights that limit my offhand stargazing to a dozen or so stars. Despite those challenges, the ones we do see are the storied ones. A given night will show me the Big Dipper, Polaris, Castor and Pollux, the Summer Triangle and more - easilyidentifiable stars and patterns with names and stories, stars that add so much to the night and yet are so often overlooked. I hope this months Dabbler will get you to look up next time youre stumbling home after dark. Whether youre in it for the science, the stories, or just want to know a little bit more about the world around you, hop to it!

HOW TO STARGAZE (A CHEAT SHEET)

Find the Big Dipper Find the constellations the Big Dipper points toward Download a sky chart for the month and learn to use it Download Pocket Universe and cheat your way around the stars Learn the myths Buy a pair of 7x35 binoculars Look at the moon Find Messier objects Make some friends!

CONSTELLATIONS
In the 2nd century AD, the Roman scholar Ptolemy published a work called the Almagest, a treatise on all things mathematical and astronomical. In the seventh and eighth books Ptolemy outlined 1022 stars, outlining their locations in 48 constellations. Its these 48 constellations that form the core of the 88 we have today. Hercules, Perseus, Oedipuss lyre Ptolemys constellations were rife with Greek and Roman mythology. While piecing together stories for the heavens had been a practice for the layman for thousands of years, the Almagests careful cataloging solidified it and brought it into the realm of science. Ptolemys 48 constellations didnt cover the entire sky, though. Spaces between constellations were left empty and unnamed, leaving later generations of astronomers plenty of space to stake their claims. In the 16th and 17th centuries, astronomy was all the rage. Advances in technology and celestial navigation made the heavens more important than ever, and astronomers rushed to include their own additions to the night sky in their published charts. Exploration of the Southern Hemisphere revealed stars the Western World had never seen. Dutch astronomer Petrus Plancius jumped on the chance to claim a few of his own and established more than a dozen new constellations, of which only a few are still recognized today (including Monoceros the unicorn, and Camelopardis the giraffe). Johannes Hevelius was a Polish astronomer who published ten new, mostly faint constellations, seven of which still grace the sky. He did most of his stargazing with the naked eye, boasting of his ability to see faint stars without a telescope. The Wild West couldnt last forever, though. In 1928 the newly-formed International Astronomical Union codified the sky into the 88 distinct constellations that we know today. Not enough for you? You might want to take a look at the Chinese constellation system, which boasts over two hundred tiny constellations!

Sky charts and all the rest

Once youve graduated from being able to spot the Big Dipper and friends, youll want to snag a sky chart to track down the rest of the celestial crowd. Skymaps.com provides the most amazing, 100% incredible, and perfectly fantastic sky charts. All for free! Uncluttered and easy to read, I cant recommend them highly enough. Folks with smartphones might want to check out Pocket Universe (iOS) or Google Sky Map (Android). While apps are fun, I recommend starting with paper. That little extra work goes a long way toward helping you remember!

Even the absolute worst pair of binoculars can take you to galaxies far far away (or at least the moon)
The best piece of equipment for the beginning stargazer isnt a telescope, but a pair of binoculars. Portable, easily adjustable and not nearly as pricy, binoculars do a great job of getting you acquainted with the night sky. Why binoculars? In late 1609 Galileo pointed his newly-minted telescope at the moon and began to tear down thousands of years of knowledge on the celestial sphere. His weapon of choice was about as powerful as the worst pair of binoculars you can buy today, so Im expecting big things out of you! The biggest advantage of binoculars over a telescope is their field of view, or the amount you can see at one time. Even though you dont get as much magnification as you would with a telescope, binoculars allow you to see a larger area at a single time. This makes it much easier to dart from object to object in the sky, instead of spending time fiddling and arranging and making sure youre pointing at juuuuuust the right spot. Before Galileo, common thought and scientific fact held that the Moon and all of the planets were perfect spheres, orbiting the Earth in perfectly circular orbits. The moons light and dark spots were supposedly caused by differences in how light was reflected or absorbed from this perfectly flat surface. With a little magnification, though, its easy to see that the moon is riddled with ridges and craters, interspersed with large flat tracts. Old time astronomys loss is your gain, though, so train those binos on our #1 satellite and follow the chart on the next page! (Yes, you can call binoculars binos. The world will also accept nocs. Ulars or ullies probably wont fly, but I wont blame you if you give them a shot.)

MONSTERS
One can even spot Jupiters four largest moons with patience and a steady hand (or a tripod). Ganymede, Callisto, Europa and Io, revealed by nothing more than a pair of $30 hand-held binoculars! Binoculars are even better if you live outside of a city. Previously blank spaces yield dozens more stars, and the faint glow of star clusters and other deep sky objects can become part of your nighttime expeditions. Hundreds of these objects are cataloged as Messier objects, and you can see them noted on star charts with an M and a number. With a list of the brightest and a chart of the night sky youll be tracking down shiny blobs in no time. (But really, check out the Moon! Youve basically got a handheld spaceship.) Binocular sizing Binoculars are sized according to two numbers, for example 7x35 or 10x50. The first number is the magnification, or how much larger an object will appear when viewed through the binoculars. While youd think a larger magnification is always better, theres a trick to it! Once you get to 10x or above, its tough to hold your binoculars steady enough to get a good, easy-to-view image. Since a big selling point of binos is portability and ease of use, stick to 7-10x. The second number is aperture, or how large the lens on the front of the binoculars are. A larger aperture means more light and a brighter image. Since youre on the prowl for tiny galaxies far far away, a larger aperture and more light-gathering ability is always better for astronomy. The downside is size - as the aperture goes up, so does the weight of the bionculars. Youll want to make sure your first pair is easy enough to tote around and hold steady. So what numbers should you be aiming for? Its all personal preference, but Id

FOUR-EYED

Bushnell Falcon 7x35

Not the highest magnification, but they wont require such a steady hand. $28.80 on Amazon.com

Bushnell 10x50 Wide Angle

As powerful as Galileos first telescope! I own... too many pairs of these. $31.99 on Amazon.com

Canon 10x30 IS Ultra-Compact

Image stabilization technology + lightweight + large field of view = perfect! $399.99 on Amazon.com

recommend a pair of 7x35 binoculars. Theyre cheap, theyre light, and a great compromise between magnification and stability. I have a few pairs of 10x50s, and Im always a little irritated at how the image wobbles. I just cant keep my hands steady enough, and there isnt always a surface to set them on! Dont sweat the details, though: no matter what pair you go with, youll be seeing over 30 times more stars as with the unaided eye. Not bad for a $30 investment!

a bear
by any other name
Fun fact: The Big Dipper aint a constellation.
Id bet good money that if you can only recognize one constellation in the night sky, its probably the Big Dipper. Theres one pretty big problem, though: the Big Dipper isnt a constellation! The Big Dipper is what we call an asterism, a pattern of stars that isnt quite elevated to the level of a constellation. The seven stars in the Big Dipper are actually part of a larger constellation of 20 stars called Ursa Major, the Great Bear. The blame for the Big Dipper being a bears butt can be placed squarely on the Romans. Around 150 AD, a Roman scholar named Ptolemy published a book that outlined the then-48 major constellations in the sky. Among those was Ursa Major, swallowing up our dear friend the Big Dipper. The Almagest - Ptolemys book - is one of the most famous and influential scientific works of all time, so it isnt much use arguing now. Whether a constellation or not, the Big Dipper has been recognized by civilizations across the world. Its the Seven Sages in India, a saucepan in Finland, the Northern Dipper in China, a cart in Hungary and a funeral procession in Arabia. The Big Dippers smaller sibling the Little Dipper is in a unique spot - the

stars of the asterism match up exactly with the major stars of the constellation Ursa Minor, the Little Bear. Orions belt is another well-known asterism. Oddly, the three stars that make it up arent even the brightest in the entirity of Orion - the brightest in the asterism is actually the fourth brightest in the entire constellation. Other, simpler asterisms also dot the sky. Theres the Summer Triangle, the Northern Cross, the Spring Triangle, and the Winter Hexagon. (Whoever named those needs a serious trip to the Imagination Factory.) Then, of course, theres the Ice Cream Cone. Hiding in the torso of Botes, the oft-mispronounced herdsman, the Ice Cream Cone is six stars punctuated with easily-findable Arcturus, one of the brightest stars in the night sky. No sense of humor? You can stick with calling it the Kite. So next time your friends are oohing and aahing over the Big Dipper, let them in on the bitter truth: its just the big bears butt in the sky.

spring

Changing
The Big Dipper travels, but not too far from home.
winter

seasons
In the Northern Hemisphere, everything in the sky revolves around Polaris, the North Star. Due to the Earths orbit around the sun, our nighttime constellations will be in different places (or even disappear!) depending on what time of the year it is. This chart shows you the normal positions for the Big Dipper in midevening for the given months. Even if its on its side or upside down, the Big Dipper is always a perfect guide guide to the night sky!

Polaris
summer

fall

STARS MISTAKEN FOR

PLANETS

The Greek word planetes, wandering stars, was coined to describe some particularly strange stars that seemed to move independently of the constellations. While the stars are far enough away for their motions to go unnoticed, the movement of our Solar System neighbors causes them to stumble nonsensically across the sky. While spotting planets can take work, Venus is an easy one. Depending on where it is in its orbit, Venus will appear either just before sunrise or just after sunset, always close to the sun. Its brighter than any star in the sky (except the sun) so its a tough one to miss!

extinct

constellations
It began with a bee. Finding an unnamed set of stars hiding between Aries and Perseus, Petrus Plancius popped it on a map in 1612 and labeled it Apes - the Bee. A dozen years later, though, Jakob Bartsch swooped in and relabeled it Vespa the Wasp. Ostensibly Apes was a little too similar to Apus, the Southern Hemisphere constellation for the Bird of Paradise. Bartsch couldnt rest for long, though, because in 1687, Johannes Hevelius christened it Musca, the Fly. At issue, though, was the fact that there was already a Fly in the southern hemisphere. Musca Borealis, then! The Northern Fly. Why each hemisphere needs its own fly is lost on me. Astronomy at large agreed, and before long both Musca constellations disappeared. Another extinct constellation is

star light
star bright
Argo Narvis, the only one of Ptolemys original 48 to not make the cut. Argo represented the 50-oared boat Jason and the Argonauts sailed in during their hunt for the golden fleece. A huge constellation, it took up around 5% of the night sky. In the late 18th century Nicolas Louis de Lacaille split it into 3 pieces - the keel, the stern and the sails - and the change stuck. A few years later part of the Argos mast was repurposed into Pyxis, the mariners compass. Dozens of others got the axe as well, from Cerberus to the lowly Earthworm, along with a number of constellations dedicated to the astronomers patron king, such as Georges Harp and the Glory of Frederick.
When the Greek astronomer Hipparchus was cataloging stars, he needed a system for keeping track of how bright they were. He decided the brightest were first magnitude, the faintest were sixth, and distributed the rest in between. Weve kept the same system up since then, refining it with intricacies like negative numbers, decimal points and logarithmic math. The bright star Sirius has a magnitude of -1.46, while the fainter Caph in Cassiopeia is 2.27. Remember, smaller numbers are brighter! Once you get to a magnitude of 2 or 3 stars are tough to see in cities without binoculars or well-adjusted eyes. In rural areas you should be all set up to around 6. These measurements are also known as apparent magnitude, since its the brightness as it appears on Earth.

SEEING RED
When youre out at night checking out the stars, its always best to stick to red light. It takes twenty to thirty minutes for your eyes to adjust to the darkness, and once youre there itd be a pity to shock them back into indoor mode. The cells in our eye that let you see in the dark (the rods) cant detect red light, so a red flashlight doesnt disturb them. A secret amongst thrifty astronomers is to wrap the front of a flashlight with red cling wrap. You can also get tail light tape from a local auto-parts store and tape right over the top. If youre feeling fancy you can also order a flashlight that comes with a red bulb. If youre relying on your phone to do the guiding, most stargazing apps have a night mode, where they replace anything white - text, lines, star marks - with red instead. Youll probably want to turn down the brightness, too, just to be safe. A little caution goes a long way in keeping your eyes adjusted and the stars bright! Believe it or not, this doesnt have anything to do with the red lights in darkrooms! Paper used for making photographic prints just happens to be less sensitive to red light, so photographers and astronomers accidentally ended up having something in common.

let there be LIGHT

Whether youre an amateur in a backyard or an astronomer in an observatory, light pollution is the worst. There are two ways light pollution hurts our ability to stargaze, one personal and one environmental. The first deals with our eyes. The back of your eyeball is coated with two kinds of cells that help you see - cones and rods. Cones do the heavy lifting during the day, sorting out colors, helping us focus on detail, and being able to work through bright light. While theyre great if youre doing your laundry or painting a masterpiece, they arent going to help much once the sun sets. When the light dims, rods start to take over. Theyre about 100 times more sensitive than cones to light, and will even respond to a single photon. As you might expect, rods are responsible for about 99% of nighttime vision. The only problem is that rods take a while to warm up. When you leave a bright room for the nighttime outdoors, it will take up to twenty or thirty minutes to get into prime stargazing mode. You might feel adjusted after a few minutes, but remember that a little

When you go out to stargaze, waiting half an hour can make all the difference in the world.
more patience yields many more stars. Lights positioned around your stargazing area will keep your eyes from fully adjusting to the darkness. Some enterprizing astronomers construct shields to hold around their heads that block nearby light sources, giving their rods a better chance to spring into action. The second way light pollution gets in the way is just plain making the sky bright. You cant stargaze when the sun is out, and if we light up the sky at night it works exactly the same way! This second one is a big problem for observatories. Observatories that were originally located in rural areas are being overrun with urbanization and all the light that comes with it. Palomar Observatory in southern California is a great example. The observatory worked hard to pass laws limiting light pollution, but they could only do so much. Within the next ten years the Palomar will be useless for deep-sky astronomy! So next time youre griping about city lights blocking your view of Orion, shed a tear for the multi-million dollar telescopes that cant hop a train to the countryside.

S&W Galaxy 6 LED Flashlight

Help keep your eyes adjusted to the night while checking out your sky charts! $23.00 on Amazon.com

a 10-second guide to the SUMMER SKY

Spica

VIRGO

Altair

SUMMER TRIANGLE
Arcturus

LYRA
Vega

BOTES

CYGNUS

Deneb

LITTLE DIPPER LEO BIG DIPPER

Polaris

CASSIOPEIA

Regulus

Made of seven stars that plenty of ten-year-olds can pick out of the night sky, the Big Dipper is the perfect starting point for a guided tour of the night sky. Because of the tilt of the Earths orbit,

some constellations come and go with the seasons. For most of the Northern Hemisphere, though, the Big Dipper is circumpolar (it never sets). Given a dark enough night and the ability to draw lines in the sky, youre halfway to

finding plenty of constellations. Next time youre out, use the charts on the following few pages to track your way between the constellations. Note: Leo isnt out until the fall, but we went ahead and left it in!

Little Dipper
Dubhe and Merak are the stars at the front of the Big Dippers bowl. Known as the Pointers, they help draw a line to Polaris, the North Star. Polaris is also the tail of Ursa Minor and the handle of the Little Dipper, so its two for one!

finding the

LITTLE DIPPER
Merak

Polaris

the Pointers

BIG DIPPER

LITTLE DIPPER
Caph

CASSIOPEIA
Once youve found Polaris, you can use it to track down Cassiopeia. Polaris should be right about in the middle of the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia, and Cassiopeia will look like a big, bright W sitting on its side.

finding

Polaris the Pointers

CASSIOPEIA

BIG DIPPER

TRACKING DOWN

VEGA & DENEB

LYRA
Vega

CYGNUS

You can find Deneb by drawing a line between the base of the Big Dippers handle, curving the line a bit to find Vega. While Denebs distance makes it seem much dimmer than Vega, its actually 4,000 times brighter! Along with a third stair, Altair, Deneb and Vega form an asterism called the Summer Triangle, which usually sits high in the sky late on summer nights.

Deneb

BIG DIPPER

LITTLE DIPPER

Spica

VIRGO
Arcturus

arcturus,

Arc to

speed to

BOTES

BIG DIPPER

This ones easy! Take the handle of the Big Dipper and continue the curve. The first bright star you see will be Arcturus, part of the constellation of the hersman Botes (boo-OH-tees). While Botes has been around for thousands of years, no ones sure exactly which mythological herdsman it refers to. Arcturus also has the pleasure of being the base of the most fun asterism in the sky, the Ice Cream Cone (Botes minus the two spurs off of Arcturus) Follow that curve a little further youll run right into Spica. Spica isnt the brightest star around (it ranks 15th in the night sky), but it does mark the constellation Virgo.

spiCa

If the Big Dipper sprung a leak, Leod get all wet. Drawing a line in the opposite direction from Deneb we come across Regulus, one of the brightest stars in the sky. Its so bright because instead of being just one star, its four! Two pairs of two orbiting each other about 77 light years away

LEO

finding

LEO BIG DIPPER

Regulus

celestial sphere
The heroes, villians, flora, fauna, and household objects and scientific implements of the Northern Hemisphere

WHOs who (AND WHATS WHAT) IN THE

While using an app or star chart to figure out where the constellations are is pretty fun, I think the real magic lies in the myths. Hunting dogs for Orion, two bright stars intertwined as Gemini, a fierce dragon curled around the North Pole - almost every constellation has a story behind it. The ones that dont are fortunately absurd in their own right. Microscopes, sextants, and other scientific implements honored by astronomers in the 16th-18th centuries.

ORION
Murdered by a scorpion after threatening to kill every animal, the great hunter is never in the sky at the same time as Scorpio.

CANIS MAJOR
Contains Sirius, the Dog Star and brightest star in the night sky. Latin for Greater Dog, Canis Major is one of Orions hunting dogs.

TRIANGULUM
Yes, theres a constellation thats nothing but a triangle. Southern Hemisphere, dont feel left out: you have Triangulum Australe.

LYRA
After the death of the musician Orpheus, Zeus ordered an eagle to carry his lyre into the heavens.

AURIGA
The charioteer! Auriga, son of Hephaestus, invented the fourhorse chariot that drove an Athenian usurper from the throne.

CASSIOPEIA
A noticeable W shape in the night sky, Cassiopeia was a vain queen placed in the sky as a punishment.

Aries
The ram who bore the Golden Fleece. In China it represents twin government inspectors.

HERCULES
Despite being awesome and strong, Hercules doesnt really have any bright stars.

Camelopardis
Thats what they called giraffes in 1613. It means (unsurprisingly) camel leopard.

Microscopium BoTES
Constellations invented in the 18th century have seriously boring names. Microscope? Try harder. A mysterious herdsman. Contains an asterism called the Ice Cream Cone. Pronounced boo-OH-tees.

CYGNUS
Featuring the asterism the Northern Cross, Cygnus is one of a million swans from Greek mythology.

GEMINI
Its two brightest stars, Castor and Pollux, were twins birthed by Leda of Leda and the Swan fame.

CEPHEUS
Husband of Cassiopeia and father of Andromeda, Cepheus didnt do much but chain his daughter to a rock.

DRACO
Known mostly for surrounding Ursa Minor (the Little Bear), Draco is looooooooooong. 14 main stars!

FURTHER
The Backyard Astronomers Guide
If you arent living in an observatory, you need this book. Terence Dickinson walks you through the night sky in every way possible, reviewing charts, maps, science, binoculars, and all the telescope goodies you could ever ask Santa for. $34.95 on Amazon.com

TAKE IT
NightWatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe
Terence Dickinson is the undisputed kingpin of introductory astronomy books. I cant even explain how amazing they all are. $24.16 on Amazon.com

Get thee to a dark place! Battlefields were a great location when I was a kid, as were ill-lit dangerous-seeming parking lots. If youre looking to be more sociable, most every astronomical organization hosts outings and events that welcome the public into their hobby. Not only will they know what to look for and where its at, but theyll also have equipment and the know-how to use it!
Worldwide

OUTINGS

Sky & Telescopes Organization Finder

Country-specific

Astronomical Club Directory (USA) The Guardians suggestions (Britain) NYC Amateur Astronomers Assoc. of NY AAANY meetings at Floyd Bennett Columbia Astronomy Public Outreach Stargazing on the High Line

on the web
Skymaps.com My favorite place for sky charts, also has a great store with plenty of products, books, and more Earthsky.com Not specifically set up for astronomy, but has great explanations on many stargazing phenomena NASAs Astronomy Picture of the Day If you didnt know about this before, your life just got a whole lot better CloudyNights.com Amateur astronomy forums Bad Astronomy A great blog by Phil Plait, a lover of stars and debunker of myths

Pocket Guide to Constellations of the Northern Skies

More useful than a pocket guide has any right to be! Once you can identify the constellations reliably, the Pocket Guide to Constellations can lead you on a tour of each constellations stars and deep sky objects, along with brief introductions to the myths. $8.78 on Amazon.com

Turn Left at Orion

Sporting the hefty subtitle Hundreds of Night Sky Objects to See in a Home Telescope - and How to Find Them, its basically mandatory if you have a telescope. $31.99 on Amazon.com