NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
Feb 11, 2022 (Friday)
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Edited by:
Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com
**Pat Gibbs attaches a photo of the obelisk in her backyard so it will be easier to visualize, but what happened was this:
While looking
out her kitchen window Thursday morning she saw a Grey Squirrel come
bounding from the back treeline across the snow, straight to the obelisk.
It obviously remembered that before all the heavy snow she always tied multiple
suet bags on the obelisk's cross members, low enough for the squirrels and
pheasants to reach them (as well as throwing sunflower seeds next to the now
buried old Christmas tree leaning against the obelisk. One might just see the
very tip of tree branches sticking out of the snow which is now about 30 in
deep.) Pat has seen the pheasants and doves scratch at snow to uncover the
seeds and dig for the suet bags but the squirrel just came, looked, walked
around, stood on his hind legs to better see the (wrong) crossbar over his
head, never apparently realizing that if it only dug down a ways the (frozen)
suet bags are still tied to the lower crossbar next to its feet and just
visible above the snow. Pat comments it seems obvious that birds must be
smarter than squirrels? And that smarts don't correlate with brain size? Or maybe it is smart but lazy and decided it was just easier to find food
elsewhere?
Just
thoughts about squirrels, valid or not, while getting breakfast!
**It’s
Friday and time to review what clear night skies this coming week may hold for night viewing courtesy
of sky guru Curt Nason:
This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2022 February 12 –
February 19
Binoculars are great instruments for observing the brighter star clusters and
nebulae in the night sky, and Orion is a great place for binocular treasures.
Its most prominent naked eye feature is the angled line of three stars that
make Orion’s Belt. This trio, part of a star cluster called Collinder 70, will
fit easily within almost any binocular view. They are hot giant stars with the
one on the right, Mintaka, being a little dimmer than Alnitak on the left and
Alnilam in between. Although they appear to be near each other, at a distance
of 2000 light years Alnilam is nearly three times farther than the other two.
Between Alnilam and Mintaka binoculars will show an S-shaped asterism, Orion’s
S, which peaks above his belt.
Below the belt is a string of a few dimmer stars that makes Orion’s sword, one
of which looks fuzzy to the eye. Binoculars reveal this to be the Orion Nebula
or M42, a vast cloud of gas and dust where stars are forming. Just above the
nebula is an asterism that resembles a person running or perhaps the figure in
a WALK sign. Several double or multiple stars can be seen in this general area.
Binoculars will also enhance star colours so check out Orion’s two brightest
stars, blue-white Rigel and orange Betelgeuse. De-focussing your binoculars
slightly will enhance the colours even more.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:26 am and sunset will occur at 5:40 pm,
giving 10 hours, 14 minutes of daylight (7:30 am and 5:47 pm in Saint John). Next
Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:15 am and set at 5:51 pm, giving 10 hours, 36
minutes of daylight (7:19 am and 5:57 pm in Saint John).
The Moon is full on Wednesday: the Snow Moon, Hunger Moon or Snow Blinding
Moon. With later sunsets it won’t be long before we lose Jupiter to evening
twilight as it heads toward solar conjunction on March 5. Venus is now at its
brightest for this morning apparition, sitting seven degrees north of Mars on
Sunday. Mercury is at its greatest elongation from the Sun on Wednesday,
visible a little more than a fist-width lower left of Venus and Mars. Saturn
rises just 20 minutes before sunrise so it will be unseen over the week.
On Sunday evening at 8 pm, tune in to the Sunday Night Astronomy Show via the
Facebook page or YouTube channel of Astronomy by the Bay.
Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
