Astronomy Basics:
Scanning the Night Sky
Away from an urban area, and on a cloud free night, you can see the Milky Way, the galaxy we live in, and so many stars you never believed could exist.
It is a great time to show the younger set things that they never noticed before.
There are constellations, great stars, planets, meteors and today satellites whizzing overhead.
While you are camping it is really a lot of fun to sit out at night and do some heavenly observations.
No, you don't have to go out and invest a weeks pay in a telescope. All you need is a good star chart and a little time. A pair of binoculars can help, but is not always necessary.
Out in the wilderness, or in the desert, you are removed from all of the urban light that drowns out most of the stars at home.
All of the light that comes from street lights, signs and homes tend to wipe out the starlight from most of the stars above us.
Because of this "light pollution" many young people have never seen all of the magnificent stars that make up our galaxy.
On two occasions in the last 25 years or so committed urbanites were introduced to this wonder.
The first was when the lights went out in New York and the other was immediately following the Sylmar earthquake in Los Angeles some areas had the power knocked out.
On both occasions many people were greeted with their very first view of the Milky Way. Some were in total wonderment at this silvery cloud made up of tens of thousands of stars.
The Constellations, Mythology and Astrology
Constellations are groups of stars that make up an image, usually of something out of mythology. It became a method of identifying the stars fom year to year as they progressed across the sky
All were identified and named going back to the Mesopotamian Empire and earlier. The twelve major constellations are: Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius and Capricorn.
If these constellations sound familiar, they are all incorporated into what is called Astrology.
An Astrologist uses the stars and planets to devise their predictions and personality traits, but other than using astronomical bodies and its knowledge, it has nothing to do with the science of Astronomy.
Every day there is a progression across the sky. What you see in spring is different from summer.
By winter, the sky is all different again. This is because of the earth's rotation around the sun. As the months go by, the night sky changes constantly.
By summer, it is all the same again. This ritual has gone on throughout the history of the Earth.
I recommend that you invest into a Night Sky Star Finder like the one pictured here.
They are found in many camping stores, some large book stores and in just about every college book store.
They usually cost less than $5.00 and can provide many evenings of enjoyment and learning while you are out camping.
They usually come with instructions that will help you align it with North and tell you how to dial in what the sky should look like.
Basically, they all have a moveable dial that you set for the time of night and the approximate date that you are looking.
To use it, first dial in the date and time of night you are looking. Then align yourself with the North Star. The chart will then match the sky and will identify all of the constellations and major stars.
You can use a flashlight to see the chart, but first cover the light with a red filter of some kind.
If you don't have anything in camp, try using a thin shirt of a red bandana. That way your night vision will not be ruined when you look up to find a particular star group.
Meteors
Every night we can view some small piece of space particle enters our atmosphere and burn up.
These vary in size from a grain of sand to a baseball. Very few ever are big enough to hit the earth. With 71% of the earth covered with water, even fewer hit ground.
There are about 30 regular meteor showers every year.
Some are particularly spectacular. They are best viewed when you are out in the wilderness and away from city lights.
Comets
Comets are natures "dirty snowballs", which is how they are described by some scientists. These are chunks of rock and ice that can light up our sky as they pass by the sun. Comets actually orbit the sun as do our planets.
As they approach the sun they heat up and release gas jets that create a spectacular display in the night sky.
Their orbits tend to take them millions of miles from the sun before they return.
This is why they only appear occasionally in our sky.
Northern Lights
This phenomenon is called the "Aurora Borealis". It is a naturally occurring light display every spring and fall in the atmosphere. It usually is only seen in the northern hemisphere and above the Arctic Circle, or the polar zone.
Auroras are produced by the collision of charged particles from Earth's magnetosphere, mostly electrons but also protons and heavier particles, with atoms and molecules of Earth's upper atmosphere.
They originate from the Sun and arrive at the vicinity of Earth in the solar wind.
Satellites
As you watch the night sky nowadays, you sometimes see a star like light wiz through the heavens but you know it’s not an airplane. It is probably a satellite.
There are hundreds of satellites in orbit around the earth at any moment and quite a few can be seen. They are all several hundred miles up and traveling at a rate of over 17,000 miles per hour.
Some are large and very reflective which makes them visible to us. Like the moon, they reflect the suns light very clearly.
Some are in a "Polar Orbit" so the travel in a North-South direction only. As the earth turns below them they will be over another part of the earth on their next pass. A pass around the world takes about 90 minutes, depending on their altitude.
Others are at an inclination to the equator and never pass over the poles. They are seen traveling in a North-East/South-West direction.
The largest satellite in space today is the International Space Station (ISS).
It is being built in cooperation with several nations.
The United States and Russia provide the launch capability to put the pieces in place and resupply the astronauts and scientists that live up there.
It is in an orbit at an inclination to the equator. It will pass over every part of the world from the tip of South America to Canada but it might take a few days to travel over where you are standing at the moment.
You can go to www.nasa.gov and click on "Shuttle and Station". If you then select "Sightings Page" you can go to a section that will tell you when the International Space Station will be directly overhead of where you will be on some night.