Stargazing activity is weather-dependent. Please dress for a chilly or cold evening.
Enjoy a free public stargazing event at the Montgomery Hill Observatory from 6:45 pm to 10:15 pm. View the skies with our two observatories and several telescopes set out for the public. Kids learn how to use telescopes and identify objects in the sky!
Hi MHO Stargazers,
Winter stargazing season is here! Hounds of Winter & the Great Bear Rising + the Little Bear
January evening skies will host some of the best Greek mythology figures, Pegasus, Andromeda, Gemini, Cassiopeia, Perseus, Taurus, Pleiades, and Orion.
The Hounds of Winter follow their master Orion the Hunter, Canis Major, and Canis Minor; within the constellation Canis Major, Sirius-A is the brightest star in the night sky. With a visual magnitude of -1.46, only a few of our Solar system planets are brighter. And Sirius-A is only 8.6 light years away from Earth. The other Hound, Canis Minor, has the 8th brightest star in the night sky, Procyon; it shines at a magnitude of 0.34 and is 11.4 light years away from Earth. If you connect the three stars, Sirius, Procyon, and Betelgeuse (in Orion), you will see the Winter Triangle.
Look to the north around 9 PM, and you can see the Great Bear rising, AKA Ursa Major. The Big Dipper makes up the tail and body of Ursa Major. Let's see if we can find Bode's Galaxy (M81) in the Big Bear using the C-14 telescope in the ROR observatory. The two stars in the Big Dipper (part of Ursa Major) are Dubhe and Merak; if you draw an imaginary line through these two stars and extend the line 34°, it will guide you to Polaris, the North star, the tail end of Ursa Minor - the Little Bear.
Look up to the eastern sky and see if you can find the Beehive cluster (M44) in the constellation Cancer; this open star cluster is a group of 1,000 young stars 570 light-years from Earth.
You can still view the planets Jupiter with its four moons and Uranus.
Keep looking up; you're bound to find something new.
Rick
For questions, contact Rick Francisco at ricardo.francisco@evc.edu
Parking: Free Parking after 6:00 PM in the parking lot #9A for this event.