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Summer is definitely here and even an evening walk through the neighborhood will let you know it. The only bright spot is the stars in the sky that continue to shine in their predictable places and offer a glimpse of the grand plan of the universe-at least our part of it.
Summer skies harbor the splendid Summer Triangle asterism. If you are not sure what an asterism is, it is an additional pattern of stars within either a single constellation or multiple constellations in view. Constellations per se are measured in degrees of a circle and may encompass several degrees of the sky. For example, the largest constellation, Hydra, covers 1/32 of the dome of the sky. The water snake spreads beneath the constellations Virgo, Corvus, Crater, Leo, and Cancer. The long string of stars definitely is a monster, and the 17 brighter stars in it are the asterism.
The spectacular summer triangle is the brightest stars within the constellations Cygnus, the Swan; Lyra, the lyre, and Aquila, the Eagle. The view on a clear summer night can be breath-taking.
Another asterism in the summer night sky is the Teapot, part of the larger constellation Sagittarius, the centaur/archer that follows the Scorpion. The Scorpion has an asterism as its tail – the stinger stars are known as the Cat’s Eyes. It must have been fun to be the astronomers who named these groups. Perhaps you and your family would just like to name them things personal to you. No one can stop you from having your own; even the International Astronomical Union does not peer into your imagination.
July 4th celebrations offer an opportunity to view the large S or J of the Scorpion stretched above the southern horizon with a slanted row of stars ahead of it that represent the outstretched front claws of the scorpion. The stinger stars are at the opposite end of Scorpius.
Letting your vision track back to the Teapot you will see the stars that are Sagittarius, the Archer. The teapot shape is the bow and outstretched arm and arrow of the archer, who is half human and half horse, not half motorcycle. I suppose modern skywatchers would prefer the latter, but the IAU would not want to change it.
Scorpius has a very red star as its heart. This old supergiant star is so massive that if it were our sun, earth would be enveloped within it and we’d not be here. The star is named Antares, meaning anti-Ares, the rival of Mars because the star and the planet are sometimes seen in the same part of the sky and appear almost to equal each other in brightness.
The last Friday of each month is the night hike at Resaca de la Palma. There is a modest fee charged by the park and they like folks to pre-register. Prior to the hike, while waiting for the start of the trek, there will be an astronomy-related activity or story in the meeting room. The after-dark hike uses black lights to reveal interesting things glowing in the dark along the trail. At the end, hikers will find themselves at the Christina Torres Memorial Observatory. Personnel are on hand to share the sky view through the lens of a special telescope. Perhaps you would like to join the fun and see the sky through a good telescope and talk “star-stuff.”
Until next week, KLU.
