Greetings, stargazers.
A prominent winter constellation is Taurus, the bull. It is particularly easy to find this month, because Jupiter is right in the middle of it. At magnitude -2.68, Jupiter will be by far the brightest thing in the southeastern sky after sunset.
About 5 degrees below and to the right of Jupiter is Aldebaran, the brightest star in Taurus, and the 14th brightest star in the night sky. The name Aldebaran derives from the Arabic al Dabaran, which means the follower, as this star follows the Pleiades through the night sky. Aldebaran is a red giant star, so is much cooler, but much larger and more luminous than our sun.
If you are adept at seeing mythological creatures in the pattern of stars, Aldebaran is the eye of the bull. The bull is immediately to the west of Orion, so it leads him through the sky. But Taurus’ head is facing Orion, so he is apparently backing through the sky.
In mythology, the bull is Zeus in disguise. Only the front of the bull is shown because he is swimming while abducting the princess Europa. In some stories the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters, are riding on the bull’s back. My personal questions are: If Orion is trying to save the sisters from Taurus, or if Taurus is protecting the sisters from Orion?
The Seven Sisters, also known as M45, or the Pleiades, are perhaps the most well-known open cluster. I have heard this cluster mistaken for the little dipper on more than one occasion, because the six most prominent stars (or nine if you have exceptional eyesight) are in a tiny dipper formation. Through binoculars, scores of dimmer stars are visible. Photographs also show a wispy blue reflection nebula, where dust clouds reflect the light from the bright blue stars.
Another prominent open cluster in Taurus is the Hyades. It is closer than the Pleiades, so appears more spread out and doesn’t look quite as “cluster-like.” The Hyades is along the same line of sight as Aldebaran, but Aldebaran is much closer to us and not part of that cluster.
An open star cluster consists of a few hundred stars that all formed at roughly the same time and only vary in their masses. The most massive stars burn the brightest and hottest, so appear blue, and will have the shortest lives. These bright blue ones are the ones you can see in the Pleiades with your naked eye. The Hyades is a bit older, so it’s more massive stars have evolved off the main sequence of stellar evolution and are now red giants.
Useful links
Taurus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurus_(constellation)
Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS
https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/comet-atlas-c-2024-g3-catch-it-if-you-can/
Astronomy picture of the day
An Astronomer’s forecast for Durango
http://www.cleardarksky.com/c/DrngoCOkey.html?1
Old Fort Lewis Observatory
http://www.fortlewis.edu/observatory
hakes_c@fortlewis.edu
The biggest question this month is if we will be able to see Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS. It is a sungrazer that will reach perihelion on Monday, but the best views so far are from the Southern Hemisphere. It will be barely above our southwestern horizon in the evening sky next week and could put on a quite a show. Or it could simply disintegrate like the last sun-grazing comet, leaving us with nothing to see.
Venus is at its greatest eastern elongation. That means it appears as far from the sun toward the east as it will at any time in this orbit. This also means it is at its highest point in the evening sky. You can identify Venus because it is the brightest thing in the sky after the sun and the moon. If you look at Venus through a low-power telescope you can easily see the various phases, and now it will look like a first-quarter moon.
Saturn is a bit above and to the left of Venus and is always a good telescope target.
Charles Hakes teaches in the physics and engineering department at Fort Lewis College and is the director of the Fort Lewis Observatory.
