NATURE
MONCTON NATURE NEWS
Dec 2,
2022
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**More
Northern Cardinals -- come on down!
Cathie
Smith reports she has now a pair of Northern Cardinals visiting her Wendell
Street feeder yard in Riverview. They are coming to safflower seed.
**On Wednesday
afternoon Gordon Rattray observed a male Pileated Woodpecker; by the
fuzzy breast feathers, it was probably a juvenile, enjoying the peanut butter feeding
station. The woodpecker was really aggressive in pecking and pounding on
the board and stayed for nearly an hour. Gordon noted that even as he
moved about the yard coming and going about 25 meters away the woodpecker ignored
him. Gordon has noted in the last few days that the feeder was appearing
to get damaged and blamed the squirrels but now is convinced that the Pileated Woodpecker
has been making other visits.
**The number of Red-throated
Loons being spotted this year is very numerous if not unprecedented.
Aldo Dorio
photographed a Red-throated Loon off Hay Island on Thursday.
**It’s
Friday and time to check in on what next week’s night sky may have in store for
us. It’s looking like Mother Nature’s forecast may not be in our favour but
let’s be ready for that good night. All courtesy of sky guru Curt Nason.
This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2022 December 3 –
December 10
With the Great Square of Pegasus at its peak in the early evening it is a good
time to visit the autumn constellations with binoculars. The flying horse soars
upside down, and if you regard the two lines of stars in Andromeda as its hind
legs it looks like a rocking horse. Well, to me it does. The horse’s neck
stretches off the southwest corner of the square, and then it angles off to the
snout. Extending a line from the head to the snout by about half that distance
brings you to the globular cluster M15, looking like a fat star in binoculars
or something snorted from the horse.
The opposite star of the square is Alpheratz at the head of Andromeda. The
second star from there, along the brighter line of her body, is Mirach, which
looks orange in binoculars. Moving to the star above it in the second line of
Andromeda, and beyond to another star, puts you near M31, the Andromeda Galaxy.
In a dark sky you can see it as a faint smudge with the naked eye and it is
spectacular in binoculars. Going the opposite direction from Mirach, about
halfway to the tip of Triangulum and a tad to the left, is M33. This face-on
spiral galaxy is much tougher to see; you will need a transparent sky.
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:43 am and sunset will occur at 4:34 pm,
giving 8 hours, 51 minutes of daylight (7:45 am and 4:42 pm in Saint John).
Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:50 am and set at 4:33 pm, giving 8 hours,
43 minutes of daylight (7:52 am and 4:41 pm in Saint John). We are into a
two-week period, centered on December 10, when the sunset time varies by less
than a minute, although daylight time decreases slowly until the solstice. The
latest sunrise occurs during the first week of January.
The Moon is full just after midnight on the night of Wednesday/Thursday,
around which time it passes in front of (occults) Mars for about 28 minutes.
Less than two hours later, Mars is at opposition. Mars disappears at the lower
left of the Moon and reappears at the bottom. This event is worth staying up to
watch, especially with a scope or binoculars. Saturn is setting mid-evening
so observe it early, while Jupiter is at its highest between 7 and 8 pm. On
Friday evening binocular and telescope users can watch Jupiter’s moons Io and
Europa disappear behind the planet at 8:29 and 11:43, respectively; and since
you are up for the second one you can wait 20 minutes for Io to reappear from
the planet’s shadow.
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