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The backyard astronomer: spooky eyes

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Gary Boyle
Backyard Astronomer

The night sky is a fantastic collection of tiny dots. Most of these light sources are faint while a few are noticeably brighter. In addition to seeing hundreds or even thousands of distant suns residing at extreme distances, we can see the planets of our solar system.

Referred by the Greeks as the “wanderers”, five planets can be seen with the unaided eye against the starry background unless they are too close to the sun such as Mercury and Saturn. For the next few weeks, you can still see three in the western half of the sky.

We start overhead with orangy-coloured Mars to the top right of Orion the Hunter. This planet was closest to earth a couple of months ago and now appears a bit fainter as our distance increases. The red planet sets around 3:30 a.m. local time. Moving farther west we see the giant planet Jupiter. Any telescope will reveal its cloud bands and four Galilean moons and sets around 9:30 p.m. locally.

Our third world is the brightest of the trio. Venus sets about two hours after sunset and is now moving higher in the sky each night as it escapes the solar glare. This planet is completely shrouded in clouds making it so bright that it casts a faint shadow as seen from dark country locations, away from any light.

Step outside on a moonless night and let your eyes “dark adapt”. After about fifteen minutes, hold up a sheet of white paper facing the planet. Place your hand about six inches away from the paper while moving it slowly left and right. You should see a faint shadow on the paper. If you are still uncertain where the planets are, check any astronomy app on your smartphone or tablet.

Here is where the magic comes into play. With Jupiter moving closer to the horizon each night and Venus marching up the sky, both will appear closest together on March 1st. With the two brightest planets of the solar system meeting in a small area of sky the width of the full moon, they will appear as “spooky eyes”. This is also called a conjunction as two celestial bodies appear close together.

The pair’s close approarch is by line of sight only, they will not physically get close to each other.  Venus will be 204 million km from us while Jupiter will be 864 million km away.

It is believed the Star of the Magi was the great conjunction in which Venus and Jupiter appeared so close, they looked like one object. This occurred on the night of June 17, 2 BC.

Clear skies.Known as “The Backyard Astronomer”, Gary Boyle is an astronomy educator, guest speaker, monthly columnist for the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada as well as a STEM educator. He has been interviewed on more than 55 Canadian radio stations as well as television across Canada and the U.S. Follow him on Twitter: @astroeducator, Facebook and his website: www.wondersofastronomy.com

Total Lunar Eclipse Nov. 8

In the early morning hours of November 8, 2022, North America will witness the last total lunar eclipse of the year.

This amazing sky show will play out with Eastern, Atlantic and Newfoundland time zones seeing most of the event until moonset. The rest of North America will enjoy the late but spectacular show. This is a very safe event as the full Beaver moon (full moon for November) will pass through the earth’s shadow for a maximum of three hours and forty minutes.

Eclipses do not occur each month, due to the slight tilt of the moon’s orbit around earth. Some months the full or new moon is positioned above or below the earth’s shadow cast into space. There are a few times each year when the Sun, Earth and Moon line up to give us a solar or lunar eclipse. Each can be partially or totally covered. Throughout antiquity, the “Blood Moon” was an omen of the impending doom of war or even demons. Superstition ruled the skies in the early days.

The reddish or brownish-orange tinge of the lunar surface seen during totality is caused by the solar rays refracting through the earth’s atmosphere, much like we see spectacular red sunsets at night. The next lunar eclipse will only be a slight partial of 12% on October 28, 2023, visible from the Atlantic provinces. The next total eclipse which all of North America can witness will be on March 14, 2025.

Eclipse times are:

Newfoundland and Labrador

Partial umbral eclipse begins: 5:39 a.m. Moon enters the earth’s shadow.

Total lunar eclipse begins: 6:46 a.m. Moon turns dark orange or red.

Greatest eclipse: 6:51 a.m. The eclipse moon begins to set in the west.

Total lunar eclipse ends: Moon ready set.

Partial umbral eclipse ends: Moon ready set. 

Atlantic Time

Partial umbral eclipse begins: 5:09 a.m. Moon enters the earth’s shadow.

Total lunar eclipse begins: 6:16 a.m. Moon turns dark orange or red.

Greatest eclipse: 6:59 a.m. The eclipse moon begins to set in the west.

Total lunar eclipse ends: Moon ready set. 

Partial umbral eclipse ends: Moon ready set.

Eastern Time

Partial umbral eclipse begins: 4:09 a.m. Moon enters the earth’s shadow.

Total lunar eclipse begins: 5:16 a.m. Moon turns dark orange or red.

Greatest eclipse: 5:59 a.m. Mid-point of the eclipse.

Total lunar eclipse ends: 6:41 a.m. Moon begins to leave the shadow as it sets in the west.

Partial umbral eclipse ends: Moon ready set.

Central Time

Partial umbral eclipse begins: 3:09 a.m. Moon enters the earth’s shadow.

Total lunar eclipse begins: 4:16 a.m. Moon turns dark orange or red.

Greatest eclipse: 4:59 a.m. Mid-point of the eclipse.

Total lunar eclipse ends: 5:41 a.m. Moon begins to leave the shadow.

Partial umbral eclipse ends: 6:49 a.m. Moon exits earth’s shadow.

Mountain Time

Partial umbral eclipse begins: 2:09 a.m. Moon enters the earth’s shadow.

Total lunar eclipse begins: 3:16 a.m. Moon turns dark orange or red.

Greatest eclipse: 3:59 a.m. Mid-point of the eclipse.

Total lunar eclipse ends: 4:41 a.m. Moon begins to leave the shadow.

Partial umbral eclipse ends: 5:49 a.m. Moon exits earth’s shadow.

Pacific Time

Partial umbral eclipse begins: 1:09 a.m. Moon will rise as the eclipse begins.

Total lunar eclipse begins: 2:16 a.m. Moon turns dark orange or red.

Greatest eclipse: 2:59 a.m. Mid-point of the eclipse.

Total lunar eclipse ends: 3:41 a.m. Moon begins to leave the shadow.

Partial umbral eclipse ends: 4:49 a.m. Moon exits earth’s shadow.

Known as “The Backyard Astronomer”, Gary Boyle is an astronomy educator, guest speaker and monthly columnist for the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada as well as a STEM educator.

James Webb Space Telescope – Success

By Gary Boyle – The Backyard Astronomer

It is often said, a picture is worth a thousand words and the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope did not disappoint. During the news conference on July 12, the world had a ringside seat to the most remarkable images of the universe ever taken. Over the hour, five images left us wanting more. This is only the tip of the cosmic iceberg.

The deep field image showed thousands of galaxies including a few that look stretched. This is not a flaw of the telescope. It is the distortion caused by gravity from a foreground large galaxy. Einstein predicted this warping or the curvature of the fabric of space-time, much like someone standing on a trampoline where the rubber mat is distorted. The larger the object, the bigger the distortion of light.

To show the power of James Webb, the area of space where the deep field image was taken was as small as a grain of sand held at arm’s length. This cluster is located 4.6 billion light-years away. That is the amount of time it took the light to reach us and when the sun and planets were slowly being created from the solar nebula.

Launched on December 25, 2021, the mighty Ariane 5 rocket delivered the seven ton telescope into space where it was deployed and gracefully continued its journey. It travelled for another 30 days to its final position known as Lagrange 2, a point in space some 1.5 million kilometres from earth or about four times the earth-moon distance.

Unlike the Hubble which was launched in 1990 with a flawed mirror requiring a repair mission in 1993 outfitting it with corrective lenses, James Webb is too far for a service mission. Who knows if there will be such a mission down the road if needed, but for now, there are no plans to ever visit the telescope.

The $10 billion project is a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency along with other companies. Canada’s contribution is the Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) used to point the massive telescope as well as the Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS).

Thousands of people worldwide worked on this project which began in 1996 when it was first called the Next Generation Telescope. In 2002 the name was changed to James Webb Space Telescope who was the NASA administrator from 1961 to 1968. These were the early days of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.

The Webb project suffered setbacks along the way such as a redesign and the Covid pandemic did not help matters. When completed, the 18 gold-plated six-sided honeycomb-style mirrors measure a total width of 6.5 metres wide compared to Hubble’s 2.4-metre wide single mirror. This results in more light-gathering power along with its infrared capability to observe heat signatures through clouds of interstellar dust.

Another critical part of the telescope is the sun shield measuring the size of a tennis court. Comprised of lightweight material with special thermal properties, the five layers will provide a shield from the sun’s heat and light as well as the heat of its instruments allowing the sensitive infrared to work without interference. The mirror will operate at -223 degrees Celcius and the rest of the equipment close to absolute zero or -273 degrees Celsius.

In the wise words of Carl Sagan, “somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known,” The James Webb Space Telescope has opened a news portal to discovery. Will we someday glimpse the first stars and infant galaxies dating back 13.8 billion years? Only time will tell.

Clear skies.

Known as “The Backyard Astronomer”, Gary Boyle is an astronomy educator, guest speaker and monthly columnist for the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada as well as past president of the Ottawa Centre of the RASC. He has been interviewed on more than 50 Canadian radio stations as well as television across Canada and the US. In recognition of his public outreach in astronomy, the International Astronomical Union has honoured him with the naming of Asteroid (22406) Garyboyle. Follow him on Twitter: @astroeducator, Facebook and his website: HYPERLINK “http://www.wondersofastronomy.com/” www.wondersofastronomy.com

A total lunar eclipse

A total lunar eclipse.

One of the best spectacles in the night sky is a total lunar eclipse. No special equipment is required to watch this cosmic lineup. In contrast to a solar eclipse, the lunar variety is very safe to witness and enjoy. On the night of May 15, the full Flower Moon with creep into the much larger earth’s shadow with the entire event lasting about three and a half hours.

Early civilizations called it the “Blood Moon” as our natural satellite would sometimes take on a reddish hue. Superstition tells the story of doom and gloom. The ancient Inca people would shake their spears and shout to scare off the jaguar they thought was eating the moon. Of course, it always worked. Other times the moon would turn a copper or burnt orange colour. This variation from one eclipse to another depends on how transparent or lack of our atmosphere is. The coloured lunar surface is the result of sunlight refracting or passing through our atmosphere, much like seeing a red sunset.

Although eclipses were terrifying events to various cultures, Christopher Columbus used a prediction from an almanac to save his shipwrecked crew from starvation. Months before the 1504 total eclipse, his crew was stranded off the coast of Jamaica. They were welcomed by the Arawak people and given food and shelter. Over time half the crew mutinied and began stealing and murdering some of the friendly Arawaks. Things became dire as the chief held back food resulting in starvation. Columbus knew of the predicted eclipse would occur in a few days and used it to his advantage. He fooled the chief into believing he had great powers to cause the moon to turn a fearful tinge of blood red.

On the night of February 29, the moon rose while entering earth’s shadow. This was of great concern to the villagers and they provided food to the crew once again. Columbus waited in his tent until the right moment as per the prediction. A few minutes before the end of totality, he announces that his gods had pardoned them. As he uttered these words, the moon begins to pull out of the shadow and appear normal once again. A rescue mission found Columbus and his crew at the end of June of that year.

We do not witness an eclipse every month because the moon has a slight incline of its axis as it orbits our planet. On a few special moments throughout the year the sun, earth and moon line up. Some events are total but others lineups result in the moon clipping the earth’s shadow. This is a partial eclipse and also occurs during a solar eclipse.

Although not necessary, try to head out of city limits and away from light sources for some great digital photography. Although a cell phone will record the eclipse, a DSLR camera on a tripod will be needed to capture the lovely Milky Way to the left of the eclipsed and much darker moon. Use a cable release to open the camera shutter for a few seconds during totality. Set the camera on manual and experiment with exposure times. Remember pixels are free.

The eastern and most of the central portion of North America will witness the entire eclipse from start to finish. For mountain and western time zones, the eclipse will be underway as the moon rises. Enjoy this must-see event if at all possible. The next total lunar eclipse will occur on November 8 of this year and favours the west coast.

Newfoundland and Labrador Time Partial umbral eclipse begins: 11:57 p.m. Moon enters the earth’s shadow.  Total lunar eclipse begins: 12:59 a.m. Moon turns dark orange or red.  Greatest eclipse: 1:41 a.m. Mid-point of the eclipse. Total lunar eclipse ends: 2:23 a.m. Moon begins to leave the shadow.  Partial umbral eclipse ends: 3:25 a.m. Moon completely exits earth’s shadow. 
Atlantic Time Partial umbral eclipse begins: 11:27 p.m. Moon enters the earth’s shadow.  Total lunar eclipse begins: 12:29 a.m. Moon turns dark orange or red.  Greatest eclipse: 1:11 a.m. Mid-point of the eclipse. Total lunar eclipse ends: 1:53 a.m. Moon begins to leave the shadow.  Partial umbral eclipse ends: 2:55 a.m. Moon exits earth’s shadow. 
Eastern Time Partial umbral eclipse begins: 10:27 p.m. Moon enters the earth’s shadow.  Total lunar eclipse begins: 11:29 p.m. Moon turns dark orange or red.  Greatest eclipse: 12:11 a.m. Mid-point of the eclipse. Total lunar eclipse ends: 12:53 a.m. Moon begins to leave the shadow.  Partial umbral eclipse ends: 1:55 a.m. Moon completely exits earth’s shadow. 
Central Time Partial umbral eclipse begins: 9:27 p.m. Moon enters the earth’s shadow.  Total lunar eclipse begins: 10:29 p.m. Moon turns dark orange or red.  Greatest eclipse: 11:11 p.m. Mid-point of the eclipse. Total lunar eclipse ends: 11:53 p.m. Moon begins to leave the shadow.  Partial umbral eclipse ends: 12:55 a.m. Moon exits earth’s shadow. 
Mountain Time Partial umbral eclipse begins: 8:27 p.m. Moon enters the earth’s shadow.  Total lunar eclipse begins: 9:29 p.m. Moon turns dark orange or red.  Greatest eclipse: 10:11 p.m. Mid-point of the eclipse. Total lunar eclipse ends: 10:53 p.m. Moon begins to leave the shadow.  Partial umbral eclipse ends: 11:55 p.m. Moon exits earth’s shadow. 
Pacific Time Partial umbral eclipse begins: 7:27 p.m. Moon will rise as the eclipse begins.  Total lunar eclipse begins: 8:29 p.m. Moon turns dark orange or red.  Greatest eclipse: 9:11 p.m. Mid-point of the eclipse. Total lunar eclipse ends: 9:53 p.m. Moon begins to leave the shadow.  Partial umbral eclipse ends: 10:55 p.m. Moon exits earth’s shadow. 
Clear skies.

Known as “The Backyard Astronomer”, Gary Boyle is an astronomy educator, guest speaker and monthly columnist for the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada as well as past president of the Ottawa Centre of the RASC. He has been interviewed on more than 50 Canadian radio stations as well as television across Canada and the US. In recognition of his public outreach in astronomy, the International Astronomical Union has honoured him with the naming of Asteroid (22406) Garyboyle. Follow him on Twitter: @astroeducator, Facebook and his website: www.wondersofastronomy.com