This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2019 August 31 – September 7
~by Curt Nason
From late summer into autumn, the Greek tale of Perseus and Andromeda plays out on the eastern stage of the night sky each evening. Princess Andromeda, the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, is chained to the rocky coast of Ethiopia as a sacrifice to a vicious sea monster, portrayed by the constellation Cetus the Whale. Our hero Perseus, on his way home aboard Pegasus after beheading Medusa, rescues the princess and wins her unchained hand in matrimony.
The constellation Andromeda consists of two lines of stars stretching toward Perseus from a common point. That point is the bright star Alpheratz, which is officially Andromeda’s head but it also forms one corner of the Great Square of Pegasus. The bottom line of stars is more prominent, containing the orange star Mirach and ending with Almach, which resolves as a pretty double star in a small scope.
The highlight of the constellation is M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, the nearest spiral galaxy to our own Milky Way. A telescope is not required to see this. It looks great in binoculars, and in a rural area on a cloudless night you can see it with the naked eye as a smudge of light. Place Mirach at the bottom of your binocular view and perhaps raise it a bit to see a slightly dimmer star in the upper line of Andromeda. Continue up about the same distance to another star and find the fuzzy expanse of the Andromeda Galaxy nearby. A small telescope will show two other galaxies, M32 and M110, in the same field of view. M31 is 2.5 million light years distant and heading our way. We will have a spectacularly starry sky in four billion years.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 6:37 am and sunset will occur at 7:59 pm, giving 13 hours, 22 minutes of daylight (6:44 am and 8:03 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 6:46 am and set at 7:46 pm, giving 13 hours of daylight (6:52 am and 7:50 pm in Saint John).
The Moon was new and at perigee on August 30, making for a great long weekend of dark sky observing and extreme tides. The Moon is at first quarter just after midnight on Thursday evening, giving stunning views through a small telescope of its craters and mountains over several days. Jupiter sets around 11 pm, and telescope users might see its Red Spot around 10 pm on Monday. Saturn is at its highest and best for observing at 9:30 pm. Mars is in conjunction behind the Sun on Monday, being joined the next day by Mercury in superior conjunction.
The annual RASC NB Fundy Park StarGaze will be held on August 30 and 31 at the Herring Cove campsite in Fundy National Park. There will be public observing at Dutch Point Park in Hampton on September 5 and at the Irving Nature Park in Saint John on September 6. The Saint John Astronomy Club meets in the Rockwood Park Interpretation Centre on September 7, possibly moving to September 14 if a previously mentioned observing event gets shifted to September 7 due to clouds.
Questions? Contact Curt Nason.