Starry: Enjoy view, lights of Great Galaxy in Andromeda
Scientists have just discovered a star that’s around 13.5 billion years old.
Don’t forget to find our two evening planets, Mars and Saturn. Saturn is getting closer and closer to the western horizon and red Mars is high in the western sky. And if you’re missing Jupiter, we passed between the giant planet and the sun on Monday.
Now turn around and face east. Just above the eastern horizon, you’ll see a bright red star. That's Aldebaran, the red eye of the constellation Taurus the Bull. Aldebaran is the 13th brightest star. Our autumn skies have the fewest bright stars of the year, but that makes them easy to learn. There are only two of the ten brightest stars in the sky tonight, and six of the twenty brightest stars. Three of the six brightest stars make up the Summer Triangle located in western November skies. The Triangle’s brightest star is Vega, the fifth brightest star. The star to the left of Vega is Altair, the 11th brightest star and the one farthest north is Deneb, the 19th brightest star. The other three bright stars are Aldebaran in Taurus the Bull and two stars most people have never heard of, for a very simple reason. They're too far south.
Mainland stargazers can never see five of the twenty brightest stars. We see all of them here on Guam including these two bright ones to the south. Fomalhaut, the 18th brightest star is almost due south this week and five fist-widths above the southern horizon. The other ‘southern star’ is Achernar and it's the 9th brightest star. Achernar is two fist-widths to the left of due south and one fist-width above the horizon at 7 p.m.
Constellations associated with Greek hero
Now let’s do a little constellation hunting. All six of the constellations associated with the Greek hero Perseus are now in our early evening sky. They are Perseus the Hero, Andromeda the Princess, Cassiopeia the Queen, Cepheus the King, Pegasus the Flying Horse, and Cetus the Sea Monster. I told you earlier this month how to find five of them.
Now it’s time to locate Andromeda the Princess. Andromeda’s constellation is a dim elongated triangle that hangs down from the lower left star of Pegasus the Flying Horse. To easily find her, measure 4 fist-widths to the right of due north; face that way (that’s northeast) and look almost straight up. That big square of stars is the Great Square of Pegasus. See if you can find the elongated triangle of stars that hangs from the lower left star of the square. That’s Andromeda.
Great Galaxy in Andromeda
Now look for a lopsided ‘three’ made of bright stars that will be to the left and four fist-widths above the horizon. That’s Cassiopeia the Queen, Andromeda’s mother. Use the upper triangle of the ‘3’ to point toward the left side of Andromeda’s triangle. Do you see that fuzzy patch of light? That’s not an out-of-focus star; that’s the Great Galaxy in Andromeda, our galaxy’s closest large neighbor in space.
Although it’s lovely with the unaided eye, it’s utterly magnificent through binoculars. Just remember that the photons of light that allow you to see the Andromeda Galaxy left that galaxy over two and a half million years ago. When that light was generated, your planet was inhabited by mammoths, saber-toothed tigers and the very first humans. So, go out one night this week and pick out the players of a famous myth. And then have a look at some really old light. Enjoy!
Pam Eastlick is The Star Lady!