NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, Nov. 24, 2017
(Friday)
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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelson@nb.sympatico.ca
Transcript by: David Christie maryspt@mac.com
Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)
** Jamie and Karen Burris visited the Hillsborough Wetland
Park on Nov. 18. They saw a flock of 15 SNOW BUNTINGS [Plectrophane des neiges]
fly over and one lone AMERICAN WIGEON [Canard d'Amérique] on the pond, which may
be iced over by now.
** The SNOWSHOE HARE [Lièvre d'Amérique] pelage is changing
fast. One has been visiting Dave Christie’s yard for a few weeks. He got a photo
of it on Nov. 18, showing sharp brown summer remnants but when he saw it on
Thursday Nov. 23, the change to white seemed almost complete.
Dave reports that he had a YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER [Paruline
à croupion jaune] very actively foraging for insects in trees around his Mary’s
Point home on Thursday, and in a walk on the beach near high tide a lone
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER [Pluvier argenté] was still present. Dave is also a bit
surprised to have one COMMON DANDELION [Dent-de-lion] bravely blooming in his
yard, despite the on and off cold temperatures.
** This week’s SKY AT A GLANCE is added to this edition,
courtesy of Curt Nason. With the longer dark evenings at this time of year,
there is a lot more opportunity to cast an eye at the evening sky.
This Week’s
Sky at a Glance, November 25 – December 2
Stock market-minded astronomers could be inspired by looking to the
northeast after twilight. On evenings in mid-May, Ursa Major the Great
Bear is high overhead, dominating the sky. Taurus the Bull, meanwhile,
sets early, and then we have several months of a bear market for
stargazing. Later sunsets and extended twilight, with the compounded
interest of daylight time, means sparse hours for viewing the night sky.
Now that we are well beyond the autumnal equinox and have returned to
standard time, early darkness reveals the Great Bear has reached bottom
to the north after sunset, and the celestial Bull is rising in the east.
We are entering the bull market phase of stargazing.
Although we lose the globular clusters and nebulae that abound within
the Milky Way areas of Scorpius, Ophiuchus and Sagittarius, we can still
observe the summer treasures near Lyra and Cygnus before they set. The
autumn constellations of Cassiopeia, Andromeda and Perseus are peaking
in mid-evening, ceding their reign to the bright stars and open clusters
of winter’s Taurus, Orion and his dogs, Auriga and Gemini around
midnight. Early risers can start on the springtime galaxies in Leo and
Virgo before morning twilight. For astronomers, as the carol goes, it’s
the most wonderful time of the year.
I would like to end this market report with a bad pun but, fortunately
for you, none comes to mind. I find that unbearable.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:33 am and sunset will occur at
4:38 pm, giving 9 hours, 5 minutes of daylight (7:36 am and 4:46 pm in
Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:42 am and set at 4:34
pm, giving 8 hours, 52 minutes of daylight (7:44 am and 4:42 pm in Saint
John).
The Moon is at first quarter on Saturday, and on Sunday around 10:30 pm
it will be half a binocular width below Neptune. Mercury passes a few
degrees below Saturn in the early evening this weekend. Jupiter is
halfway between Mars and Venus in the morning sky, with Venus rising 45
minutes before sunrise by next weekend. Early in the New Year, Mars and
Jupiter will have a close conjunction, Mercury and Saturn will have
moved to the morning sky, and Venus will be at superior conjunction
behind the Sun.
RASC NB members will be holding a public observing session at the
Moncton High School Observatory on the evening of Friday, November 24
from 6:30 to 8:30. The Saint John Astronomy Club meets at the Rockwood
Park Interpretation Centre on Saturday, December 2 at 7pm. All are welcome.
Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
Stock market-minded astronomers could be inspired by looking to the
northeast after twilight. On evenings in mid-May, Ursa Major the Great
Bear is high overhead, dominating the sky. Taurus the Bull, meanwhile,
sets early, and then we have several months of a bear market for
stargazing. Later sunsets and extended twilight, with the compounded
interest of daylight time, means sparse hours for viewing the night sky.
Now that we are well beyond the autumnal equinox and have returned to
standard time, early darkness reveals the Great Bear has reached bottom
to the north after sunset, and the celestial Bull is rising in the east.
We are entering the bull market phase of stargazing.
Although we lose the globular clusters and nebulae that abound within
the Milky Way areas of Scorpius, Ophiuchus and Sagittarius, we can still
observe the summer treasures near Lyra and Cygnus before they set. The
autumn constellations of Cassiopeia, Andromeda and Perseus are peaking
in mid-evening, ceding their reign to the bright stars and open clusters
of winter’s Taurus, Orion and his dogs, Auriga and Gemini around
midnight. Early risers can start on the springtime galaxies in Leo and
Virgo before morning twilight. For astronomers, as the carol goes, it’s
the most wonderful time of the year.
I would like to end this market report with a bad pun but, fortunately
for you, none comes to mind. I find that unbearable.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:33 am and sunset will occur at
4:38 pm, giving 9 hours, 5 minutes of daylight (7:36 am and 4:46 pm in
Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:42 am and set at 4:34
pm, giving 8 hours, 52 minutes of daylight (7:44 am and 4:42 pm in Saint
John).
The Moon is at first quarter on Saturday, and on Sunday around 10:30 pm
it will be half a binocular width below Neptune. Mercury passes a few
degrees below Saturn in the early evening this weekend. Jupiter is
halfway between Mars and Venus in the morning sky, with Venus rising 45
minutes before sunrise by next weekend. Early in the New Year, Mars and
Jupiter will have a close conjunction, Mercury and Saturn will have
moved to the morning sky, and Venus will be at superior conjunction
behind the Sun.
RASC NB members will be holding a public observing session at the
Moncton High School Observatory on the evening of Friday, November 24
from 6:30 to 8:30. The Saint John Astronomy Club meets at the Rockwood
Park Interpretation Centre on Saturday, December 2 at 7pm. All are welcome.
Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
AMERICAN WIGEON NOV 18 2017 JAMIE BURRIS
Bear_Bull
SNOWSHOE HARE. NOV 18, 2017.DAVID CHRISTIE
