NATURE MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, January
8, 2021 (Friday)
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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
Transcript by: Louise Nichols nicholsl@eastlink.ca
Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)
** Jane LeBlanc got a documentary photo
of a HARBOUR
PORPOISE [Marsouin commun] off the
St. Martins beach on Thursday morning.
Jane comments that she thought there was more than one, but the same
notch on the dorsal fin in all photos suggests there was just the one. The Harbour Porpoise is a common sea mammal
off our coast, but it is easily missed as it slides in and out of the water for
a breath of air so quickly and back down, unlike some of the other cetaceans
that are more acrobatic.
** Anna Tucker photographed a pair of NORTHERN CARDINALS
[Cardinal rouge] at a
feeder on First Avenue in Moncton on Tuesday.
The more reports the merrier! We
have not seen our pair since Tuesday, and First Avenue is just across the lake,
some possible flaps away. Hmm . . .
** Brian Stone did a run along the
coast to the Caissie Cape wharf area on Thursday. Activity was on the slow side, but he did
find some very busy foraging COMMON REDPOLLS [Sizerin flammé]. See the
action at the link below.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/014065pyyaqbdkf/Redpolls.mp4?dl=0
Brian also noted some of the shrubbery coated with a layer of ice. This can be very problematic for birds when
plants get coated with ice which may explain the lively redpolls finding an
un-iced area.
** It is Friday and time to review what
we can see on cloudless nights in the sky courtesy of sky-guru Curt Nason. Jupiter, Saturn, and Mercury in one binocular
view this week could be a pleasant observation.
This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2021
January 9 – 2021 January 16
Looking at a constellation it is easy to imagine its component stars being
fairly close together in space, as if it is an actual body. Let us look at two
prominent winter constellations to see if that is true. Surely the three stars
of Orion’s Belt are equidistant; at first glance they appear to be almost
equally bright. Alnitak, the left star, is 1260 light years (ly) away, slightly
farther than dimmer Mintaka on the right. Alnilam, the middle star, is much
farther at 2000 ly. Saiph and bright Rigel, marking Orion’s feet or knees, are
reasonably equidistant at 650 ly and 860 ly, respectively. In the giant
hunter’s shoulders orange Betelgeuse is about 600 ly away and Bellatrix is 250
ly.
Following the belt to the lower left we arrive at Canis Major, the Big Dog,
with brilliant Sirius at its heart. Sirius is the brightest star of the night
sky and the closest naked-eye star we can see in New Brunswick at 8.6 ly (only
82 trillion kilometres), which is the main reason it is the brightest. If Rigel
were that close it would be about as bright as the quarter Moon. Adhara, in the
dog’s rear leg, is the 23rd brightest star and 430 ly away, Wezen in the dog’s
butt is 1600 ly, and the tail star Aludra is 2000 ly distant. Obviously, the
constellations are just chance alignments of stars from our viewpoint. The
distances cited here are taken from Wikipedia, but other sources could vary
significantly as stellar distances are difficult to determine precisely.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 8:00 am and sunset will occur at 4:53 pm,
giving 8 hours, 53 minutes of daylight (8:02 am and 5:00 pm in Saint
John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:56 am and set at 5:01 pm,
giving 9 hours, 5 minutes of daylight (5:58 am and 5:09 pm in Saint John).
The slim waning crescent Moon is near Venus on Monday and it is new on
Wednesday. Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury make an interesting array of triangles
from Saturday to Tuesday as Mercury slides up to the left of the other two.
With a clear sky and a good horizon you might catch all three in the same
binocular field before they set at 6 pm. Mars is high in the south in evening
twilight, glowing as brightly as Vega. Venus continues to edge sunward in the
morning, heading toward superior conjunction in early spring. Uranus is
stationary on Thursday (make up your own joke), resuming its slow eastward
motion against the stars.
With astronomy meetings and outreach activities on hold, you can watch the
local Sunday Night Astronomy Show at 8 pm, and view archived shows, on YouTube
at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAEHfOWyL-kNH7dBVHK8spg
Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
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