Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2001 15:22:54 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Shireen Gonzaga Subject: Re: Seen in the sky, but off topic MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > From: Tom Beal > maybe you can suggest a place on the east side > of DC that has- > a) very dark sky > b) clear view of the horizon, esp eastward One of my co-workers (I work in astronomy) once told me that all you really have to do is look at a map and find some country roads surrounded by farmland. That should give you an unobstructed view of the sky. Of course if anyone has specific recommendations (esp. for north Baltimore county, I'd be interested in hearing it as well. My friend recommended farmland just north of Reisterstown that I'll probably be using. Driving away from city lights can produce very impressive results. The only times I ever did it recently (I'm lazy...) was to view Comet Hale-Bopp (got neat photos of that) and Comet Hyakutake (wow! that tail extended over most of the sky even in moonlight!) I've stopped trying meteor showers because nothing ever happens when I'm out looking. As a rule, the good showers only happen when I'm asleep in bed! But I may try this time and jinx it for everyone .... > c) in accessible at 4 am? 4 am is a good time to start looking. The radiant point (where streaks appear to emanate from) is Leo, hence the name Leonids. Leo will be in the east around 4am on Nov. 17-18. That area of the sky coincides with the orbit of Comet Temple-Tuttle that left a few "calling cards" as it went by in 1866, small particles of comet-stuff that burns as it enters our atmosphere to produce the fireworks. Shooting stars are cool but there's more to see that night. Take a sky chart or planisphere and binoculars with you. The sky will be relatively dark because Nov. 18 is just 3 days after a new moon. The Milky Way galaxy will be fairly high overhead (toward the west) around 4am -- just scanning that strip of cloud-like ribbon extending across the sky with binoculars will stun you because that "cloud" will resolve into millions of stars. You can see the Orion Nebula in the "sword" of Orion with binoculars and even with the naked eye. The constellation of Cancer will be high in the east -- that's home to one of the best-known open clusters that can be seen with a pair of binoculars/ naked eye called the Beehive or Messier 44. Another open star cluster visible will be Hyades that makes up the horns of Taurus the bull with yet another open cluster nearby called Pleiades or the Seven Sisters. I'm not done with open star clusters -- the lovely open cluster Coma Berenices should be rising in the east. If you really want to be adventurous, you can also check to find out if any satellites can be seen in the pre-dawn sky. Go to http://www.heavens-above.com/ to find out what may be visible. I once saw the late Mir spacestation in the sky and it was awesome. I've also seen Iridium satellites that flare in brightness, really cool! Another thing worth checking is the solar activity reports in case there were some recent flares. (Sorry I don't have the link, if you're interested let me know and I'll get it from someone.) Acting on a recent tip, my stargazing friend and his family observed an impressive aurora borealis just a few nights ago from the farmlands north of Reisterstown. A word of caution. Your eyes need time to get dark-adapted. If you have a flashlight, use a very dim light. Or cover your big flashlight bulb area with transparent red plastic wrap. The red light is gentle on your eyes and will not affect your night vision. If you see car headlights approaching, turn away. All it takes is a momentary blast of bright lights to reduce the sensitivity of your eyes to stellar objects. OK, astronomy lesson over. Since this is a birding listserver, I suppose I should mention birds. You'll probably hear/see migrating geese overhead. They certainly wake me up at odd hours of the night. :-) cheers, shireen P.S. Useful link for meteor observing: http://www.skypub.com/sights/meteors/meteors.shtml -- Shireen Gonzaga Freelance Science Writer Baltimore, MD ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================