NATURE
MONCTON INFORMATION LINE, December 7, 2018 (Friday)
Please advise editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com if any errors are noted in wording or
photo labeling.
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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** Clarence Cormier is has been having
a SHORT-TAILED
WEASEL [Belette à courte queue] in its now snow-white winter pelage
with black tail tip checking out his
bird feeder yard in Grande-Digue. In
true Weasel fashion, it seldom stays long enough for a photo, but Clarence did
get a documentary photo.
** The New Brunswick Winter Bird List
being kept by Gilles Belliveau now has reached 126. Check it out at http://nbwinter.gbnature.com
to see if you might be able to add any not yet
recorded bird species.
** Nature Moncton Christmas Bird Count
co-ordinator Roger Leblanc reminds folks that the important count is near at
hand. The official Moncton count day is
Saturday Dec. 15th, but count period for Moncton runs from Dec. 14th
to Dec. 18th, so it is important to record any birds not seen on
count day but in count week to report them to be included. It is also important for folks who would like
to participate by keeping counts at their feeder yards to report what they’ve
tallied as well. The instructions for
that are included in the Nature Moncton email mail-out.
** This week’s Sky-at-a-Glance is included in this
edition, courtesy of sky-guru Curt Nason. It’s finally looking like we’ll have some
evenings ahead to enjoy lots of the night sky objects without cloud cover and
before bedtime.
This
Week’s Sky at a Glance, December 8 – December 15
The excitement in the sky this week is twofold: a comet and comet (or asteroid) remnants. Comet 46P/Wirtanen has been in the news the past month as a possible naked eye sight in mid-December, with cautionary notes from experienced observers that it might appear large and therefore have a low surface brightness. Under such conditions, light pollution could mask it entirely. I saw Wirtanen from Saints Rest Beach, outside the Irving Nature Park in Saint John, on Wednesday evening. My initial view was with 15x63 binoculars and my first impression was that I could see hints of its green glow that appear in pictures. A trick we use to enhance star colours is to de-focus a telescope or binoculars so that the light falls on a larger number of cone cells in our eye. With the comet’s coma being nearly the apparent size of the Moon, perhaps that was the reason for that impression. Before observing it in my 8-inch telescope I saw it in the 8x50 finder, and I had occasional glimpses naked eye using averted vision (looking off to the side of it to take advantage of the more sensitive rod cells that circle our day-vision cone cells).
Over this week Comet Wirtanen passes rapidly east of the head of Cetus the Whale and into Taurus. Next weekend, when it is closest to Earth at a distance of about 11 million kilometres, it passes between the V-shaped Hyades star cluster and the compact dipper-shaped Pleiades star cluster. It is expected to brighten and look larger than the Moon over that time, which could reduce the surface brightness. Comet maps can be obtained from the Skyhound and Heavens-Above websites, but the most practical one for Wirtanen this week was produced by Bob King for the Sky and Telescope website.
The other highlight this week is the peak of the Geminid meteor shower, which occurs around 9 am Friday, December 14. Thursday night, Friday morning and Friday night are prime time hours. The Moon sets around 10:30 pm Thursday and an hour later on Friday. Find a location away from streetlights, get comfortable in a reclining chair, dress for warmth and use a blanket, and look up toward your clearest and darkest patch of sky. The Geminids progenitor is asteroid 3200 Phaethon, which is likely a dead comet.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:48 am and sunset will occur at 4:33 pm, giving 8 hours, 45 minutes of daylight (7:50 am and 4:41 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:54 am and set at 4:34 pm, giving 8 hours, 40 minutes of daylight (7:56 am and 4:42 pm in Saint John).
The Moon is a slender crescent this weekend after sunset and is at first quarter next Saturday. Planetary action has shifted to the morning sky with Venus blazing brilliantly and Mercury climbing to its greatest elongation next weekend, rising nearly two hours before the Sun. Jupiter is less than a fist-width lower left of Mercury and closing in. Saturn is too low in the west at sunset for observing, and Mars getting too small to reveal much detail in a telescope.
The William Brydone Jack Astronomy Club meets in the UNB Fredericton Forestry / Earth Sciences building on Tuesday, December 11 at 7 pm. All are welcome.
Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
Attached: Comet Wirtanen map by Bob King (skyandtelescope.com)
The excitement in the sky this week is twofold: a comet and comet (or asteroid) remnants. Comet 46P/Wirtanen has been in the news the past month as a possible naked eye sight in mid-December, with cautionary notes from experienced observers that it might appear large and therefore have a low surface brightness. Under such conditions, light pollution could mask it entirely. I saw Wirtanen from Saints Rest Beach, outside the Irving Nature Park in Saint John, on Wednesday evening. My initial view was with 15x63 binoculars and my first impression was that I could see hints of its green glow that appear in pictures. A trick we use to enhance star colours is to de-focus a telescope or binoculars so that the light falls on a larger number of cone cells in our eye. With the comet’s coma being nearly the apparent size of the Moon, perhaps that was the reason for that impression. Before observing it in my 8-inch telescope I saw it in the 8x50 finder, and I had occasional glimpses naked eye using averted vision (looking off to the side of it to take advantage of the more sensitive rod cells that circle our day-vision cone cells).
Over this week Comet Wirtanen passes rapidly east of the head of Cetus the Whale and into Taurus. Next weekend, when it is closest to Earth at a distance of about 11 million kilometres, it passes between the V-shaped Hyades star cluster and the compact dipper-shaped Pleiades star cluster. It is expected to brighten and look larger than the Moon over that time, which could reduce the surface brightness. Comet maps can be obtained from the Skyhound and Heavens-Above websites, but the most practical one for Wirtanen this week was produced by Bob King for the Sky and Telescope website.
The other highlight this week is the peak of the Geminid meteor shower, which occurs around 9 am Friday, December 14. Thursday night, Friday morning and Friday night are prime time hours. The Moon sets around 10:30 pm Thursday and an hour later on Friday. Find a location away from streetlights, get comfortable in a reclining chair, dress for warmth and use a blanket, and look up toward your clearest and darkest patch of sky. The Geminids progenitor is asteroid 3200 Phaethon, which is likely a dead comet.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:48 am and sunset will occur at 4:33 pm, giving 8 hours, 45 minutes of daylight (7:50 am and 4:41 pm in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:54 am and set at 4:34 pm, giving 8 hours, 40 minutes of daylight (7:56 am and 4:42 pm in Saint John).
The Moon is a slender crescent this weekend after sunset and is at first quarter next Saturday. Planetary action has shifted to the morning sky with Venus blazing brilliantly and Mercury climbing to its greatest elongation next weekend, rising nearly two hours before the Sun. Jupiter is less than a fist-width lower left of Mercury and closing in. Saturn is too low in the west at sunset for observing, and Mars getting too small to reveal much detail in a telescope.
The William Brydone Jack Astronomy Club meets in the UNB Fredericton Forestry / Earth Sciences building on Tuesday, December 11 at 7 pm. All are welcome.
Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
Attached: Comet Wirtanen map by Bob King (skyandtelescope.com)
Nelson Poirier,
Nature Moncton
46PWirtanen skyandtelescope
WEASEL. DEC 4, 2018. CLARENCE CORMIER
