NATURE
MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, January 25, 2019 (Friday)
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For more information on Nature Moncton, check into the website at www.naturemoncton.com
For more information on Nature Moncton, check into the website at www.naturemoncton.com
Transcript by: Louise Nichols nicholsl@eastlink.ca
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** The Nature Moncton bird feeder tour
is on schedule for tomorrow, Saturday Jan. 26th. It may be slippery, but a nice break in the
weather is forecast. The meeting place
will be at the northeast corner of the coliseum parking lot at 8:30 AM, and we
will head as a group to the Renton’s in Stilesville where some baked beans will
be waiting along with culinary items brought by participants. I spoke with Jean Renton on Thursday, and she
reported her feeder yard is teeming with a diversity of patrons. After that, we will make a stop to offer the
ducks at Mapleton Park a bit of cracked corn, then on to Riverview and area to
a few feeder yards to end up at Pat and Nelson Poirier’s for late afternoon
lunch and hopefully, a finale of birds at the feeders. As always, all are welcome, Nature Moncton
member or not. A contact number during
the day will be 866-2752. Roads should
be okay tomorrow, but make sure to wear cleats on shoes for yards that may be
icy, but I suspect they will be well-salted.
** We have not had a big incursion of PINE GROSBEAKS [Durbec des
sapins] in
New Brunswick this winter; however, we can expect to see some on Saturday at
the Renton’s. Jill Greening from
Glaslyn, Saskatchewan, sends some photos of a dozen+ Pine Grosbeaks that are
regular patrons at a feeder there. It
would appear that a number of those birds are adult males.
** After a tip from hawkeye Daryl
Doucet, I was able to photograph a NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD [Moqueur
polyglotte] in
bushes behind Ford’s Pharmacy on Saint George St. on Thursday. Its purpose for being there was to forage on
multi floral rosehips, a sought after clinging winter fruit of bird fruit
connoisseurs. It did not seem amused
with the cool rain, but content to find the booty. This may be one of the two that are known to
be in the Jones Lake area.
** This week’s Sky-at-a-Glance is included in this
edition, courtesy of sky-guru Curt Nason. Note Curt’s comment that the moon will be
bracketed by the planets Venus and Jupiter in the early Thursday morning sky.
And yes, part of the report this week is in “February”
This
Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2019 January 26 – February 2
With Groundhog Day coming up next weekend it would be nice to talk about the groundhog constellation, but there is none. Technically, no rodents have been so honoured, although the second brightest star in Gemini is called Castor, which is the genus of beavers. Wait a minute, what about…? Well, some time ago the cute bunnies decided they didn’t want to be associated with rodents and called themselves lagomorphs. So, at the risk of being attacked by the killer rabbit in Arthurian legend, we will celebrate the advent of Groundhog Day by focusing on Lepus the Hare.
By 9 pm Orion stands high in the southern sky while Lepus cowers below his feet, hoping to avoid detection by Orion’s larger canine companion to the east. I see the constellation as three vertical pairs of stars, with the brightest pair in the middle and the widest to the right. With a reasonably dark sky you can see the bunny ears between the widest pair and Orion’s brightest star, Rigel. If you extend the middle pair down an equal distance a small telescope will reveal a fuzzy patch called M79. This globular cluster is unusual in that it is in our winter sky, whereas most of the globulars are seen among the summer constellations. M79 could be part of another galaxy that is interacting with the Milky Way.
If you draw a line from the top of the middle pair to the top of the widest pair and extend it a little more than half that distance, a telescope might pick up Hind’s Crimson Star, one of the reddest stars in the sky. Its brightness varies by a factor of 300 over 14 months, with the red colour being most pronounced at its dimmest.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:48 am and sunset will occur at 5:15 pm, giving 9 hours, 27 minutes of daylight (7:51 am and 5:22 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:40 am and set at 5:25 pm, giving 9 hours, 45 minutes of daylight (7:43 am and 5:32 pm in Saint John).
The Moon is at third quarter on Sunday and it is bracketed by Venus and Jupiter on Thursday morning. By the end of the week the two brightest planets will be ten degrees apart, with Venus heading toward a rendezvous with Saturn in a few weeks. Mercury is in superior conjunction on Tuesday, moving into its best evening apparition for the year in late February. Mars resembles a first magnitude red star in the southwest during the evening.
Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
With Groundhog Day coming up next weekend it would be nice to talk about the groundhog constellation, but there is none. Technically, no rodents have been so honoured, although the second brightest star in Gemini is called Castor, which is the genus of beavers. Wait a minute, what about…? Well, some time ago the cute bunnies decided they didn’t want to be associated with rodents and called themselves lagomorphs. So, at the risk of being attacked by the killer rabbit in Arthurian legend, we will celebrate the advent of Groundhog Day by focusing on Lepus the Hare.
By 9 pm Orion stands high in the southern sky while Lepus cowers below his feet, hoping to avoid detection by Orion’s larger canine companion to the east. I see the constellation as three vertical pairs of stars, with the brightest pair in the middle and the widest to the right. With a reasonably dark sky you can see the bunny ears between the widest pair and Orion’s brightest star, Rigel. If you extend the middle pair down an equal distance a small telescope will reveal a fuzzy patch called M79. This globular cluster is unusual in that it is in our winter sky, whereas most of the globulars are seen among the summer constellations. M79 could be part of another galaxy that is interacting with the Milky Way.
If you draw a line from the top of the middle pair to the top of the widest pair and extend it a little more than half that distance, a telescope might pick up Hind’s Crimson Star, one of the reddest stars in the sky. Its brightness varies by a factor of 300 over 14 months, with the red colour being most pronounced at its dimmest.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:48 am and sunset will occur at 5:15 pm, giving 9 hours, 27 minutes of daylight (7:51 am and 5:22 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:40 am and set at 5:25 pm, giving 9 hours, 45 minutes of daylight (7:43 am and 5:32 pm in Saint John).
The Moon is at third quarter on Sunday and it is bracketed by Venus and Jupiter on Thursday morning. By the end of the week the two brightest planets will be ten degrees apart, with Venus heading toward a rendezvous with Saturn in a few weeks. Mercury is in superior conjunction on Tuesday, moving into its best evening apparition for the year in late February. Mars resembles a first magnitude red star in the southwest during the evening.
Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
Lepus 2019
MUTIFLORA ROSE. JAN 24, 2019. NELSON POIRIER
NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD. JAN 24, 2019. NELSON POIRIER
PINE GROSBEAKS. JAN 24, 2019. VIA JILL GREENING
PINE GROSBEAKS. JAN 24, 2019. VIA JILL GREENING
