** Sterling Marsh spotted a RED-TAILED HAWK [Buse à queue rousse] perched
appropriately on the Tantramar Community Pasture sign on Thursday, intently
watching the roadside for critters, then co-operatively posing for a photo
before giving Sterling a disgusted look and moving on to a nearby post to
continue its mission. Sterling comments he saw at least 5 NORTHERN HARRIERS
[Busard Saint-Martin] further down the same road.
** This week's Sky-at-a-Glance is added to today's transcription, courtesy
of Curt Nason.
This Week’s
Sky at a Glance, September 3 – September 10
This is the time of year when the evening sky seems static; the stars
are in the same place night after night when they appear in twilight. As
you can see below, the Sun sets more than three minutes earlier each
evening. With reference to the stars, the Earth rotates once every 23
hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds. But, since our clocks are based on a
24-hour solar day rather than the sidereal day, the stars rise about 4
minutes earlier each evening. (With Earth orbiting, it must rotate an
extra 4 minutes so that the Sun is highest at noon, on average.) The
rate of earlier sunsets this time of year nearly cancels that. Although
the stars rise earlier we see also see them sooner. That is a bonus,
because many of the finest objects to observe in a telescope are
prominent now, particularly the Milky Way.
The opposite occurs in spring when the later sunsets add to the earlier
rising of stars. The constellations seem to fly past over a month or
two, much to the chagrin of those who delight in observing the distant
galaxies that abound in those constellations. Earth’s motion around the
Sun results in many of the constellations being seasonal. For example,
we currently see Orion in the east before sunrise. Come December it will
be there after sunset and stick around in the evening sky until spring.
Those constellations near the north are circumpolar, meaning they never
set and we see them year round. There are 22 constellations in the
southern hemisphere sky that we see no part of at all from New Brunswick.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 6:43 am and sunset will occur at
7:53 pm, giving 13 hours, 10 minutes of daylight (6:49 am and 7:57 pm in
Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 6:52 am and set at 7:39
pm, giving 12 hours, 47 minutes of daylight (6:57 am and 7:44 pm in
Saint John).
The Moon is at first quarter on Friday, September 9, giving great views
through a scope all week. Mercury is too close to the Sun for viewing
and Jupiter is not far behind. Venus sets around 8:45 pm midweek, with
Saturn and Mars setting before 11:30. If you rise early with a clear
rural sky, try spotting the ghostly pyramid of the zodiacal light about
an hour before sunrise, straddling the steep angle of the ecliptic to
the east.
Apart from Nelson and Brian, did anyone catch the close pairing of Venus
and Jupiter last weekend? I started watching with binoculars around 6:15
pm, and an hour later in a telescope. Even in binoculars the contrast
was remarkable. Jupiter was pale and a distinct disc twice the width of
Venus, despite being six times farther away. I could see its two main
cloud belts as sky-blue lines. Venus was a brilliant, slightly out of
round disc, and over a couple of hours it passed above and beyond
Jupiter. They dipped behind a tree before I could definitely separate
them by eye, but by then I was wowing neighbours with views of Saturn
and Mars in the telescope.
Join members of RASC NB, the provincial astronomy club, at the annual
Fundy National Park Star Gaze on September 2-4. For details see: http://www.nb.rasc.ca/starparty/FundyStarGaze/fundystargaze.jpg. The
Saint John Astronomy Club meets at the Rockwood Park Interpretation
Centre at 7 pm on September 10.
Questions? Contact me at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
This is the time of year when the evening sky seems static; the stars
are in the same place night after night when they appear in twilight. As
you can see below, the Sun sets more than three minutes earlier each
evening. With reference to the stars, the Earth rotates once every 23
hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds. But, since our clocks are based on a
24-hour solar day rather than the sidereal day, the stars rise about 4
minutes earlier each evening. (With Earth orbiting, it must rotate an
extra 4 minutes so that the Sun is highest at noon, on average.) The
rate of earlier sunsets this time of year nearly cancels that. Although
the stars rise earlier we see also see them sooner. That is a bonus,
because many of the finest objects to observe in a telescope are
prominent now, particularly the Milky Way.
The opposite occurs in spring when the later sunsets add to the earlier
rising of stars. The constellations seem to fly past over a month or
two, much to the chagrin of those who delight in observing the distant
galaxies that abound in those constellations. Earth’s motion around the
Sun results in many of the constellations being seasonal. For example,
we currently see Orion in the east before sunrise. Come December it will
be there after sunset and stick around in the evening sky until spring.
Those constellations near the north are circumpolar, meaning they never
set and we see them year round. There are 22 constellations in the
southern hemisphere sky that we see no part of at all from New Brunswick.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 6:43 am and sunset will occur at
7:53 pm, giving 13 hours, 10 minutes of daylight (6:49 am and 7:57 pm in
Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 6:52 am and set at 7:39
pm, giving 12 hours, 47 minutes of daylight (6:57 am and 7:44 pm in
Saint John).
The Moon is at first quarter on Friday, September 9, giving great views
through a scope all week. Mercury is too close to the Sun for viewing
and Jupiter is not far behind. Venus sets around 8:45 pm midweek, with
Saturn and Mars setting before 11:30. If you rise early with a clear
rural sky, try spotting the ghostly pyramid of the zodiacal light about
an hour before sunrise, straddling the steep angle of the ecliptic to
the east.
Apart from Nelson and Brian, did anyone catch the close pairing of Venus
and Jupiter last weekend? I started watching with binoculars around 6:15
pm, and an hour later in a telescope. Even in binoculars the contrast
was remarkable. Jupiter was pale and a distinct disc twice the width of
Venus, despite being six times farther away. I could see its two main
cloud belts as sky-blue lines. Venus was a brilliant, slightly out of
round disc, and over a couple of hours it passed above and beyond
Jupiter. They dipped behind a tree before I could definitely separate
them by eye, but by then I was wowing neighbours with views of Saturn
and Mars in the telescope.
Join members of RASC NB, the provincial astronomy club, at the annual
Fundy National Park Star Gaze on September 2-4. For details see: http://www.nb.rasc.ca/starparty/FundyStarGaze/fundystargaze.jpg. The
Saint John Astronomy Club meets at the Rockwood Park Interpretation
Centre at 7 pm on September 10.
Questions? Contact me at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
Circumpolar constellations
RED-TAILED HAWK.a.SEPT 1, 2016.STERLING MARSH
RED-TAILED HAWK..SEPT 1, 2016.STERLING MARSH
RED-TAILED HAWK..SEPT 1, 2016.STERLING MARSH
