Nature Moncton Nature News: November 24 2023

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

November 24, 2023

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Edited by Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

** John Inman was able to photograph a Pine Warbler visiting his yard on Thursday.

John also photographed a juvenile Bald Eagle at a distance going up and down the shore of the Shepody River, eating prey on the wing, dropping it, and going right back after it.

**Lisa Morris photographed a Bald-faced Hornet's nest hanging on the very tip of a branch like a Christmas ornament in Centennial Park on the pathway by the old swimming pool. She comments it made her smile at nature’s gifts.

(Editor’s note: let’s hope the folklore about the height of a hornet’s nest and winter snow level is indeed folklore!)

**On Thursday, Elaine Gallant photographed a Merlin who was using the roof of the Pointe-du-Chene Catholic Church as a vantage point.

**Friday has arrived again, as it often does, and it's our day to get a preview of what next week’s night sky has in store for us courtesy of sky guru Curt Nason.

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2023 November 25 – December 2
By 1930 the borders of 88 constellations had been set to cover the entire sky by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the overlords of all things astronomical. Many constellations were created by stargazers in Babylonia more than 6000 years ago, later to be adopted and expanded by the Greeks. Claudius Ptolemy’s second-century treatise, The Almagest, included a star map which included 48 constellations, most of which survived the IAU. A few centuries ago many constellations were made up for the newly “discovered” skies of the deep southern hemisphere, and to fill in gaps in the familiar northern hemisphere. In New Brunswick we get to see all or parts of 66 constellations, but some are rather elusive.

Two of the gap-fillers lurk between the traditional autumn and winter constellations in the northeast these evenings, and they can be as difficult to see as their namesakes in New Brunswick. Stretching between Ursa Major and the Gemini-Auriga pair is a sparse zigzag of stars making the Lynx. Just as you are unlikely to see this cat near urban areas, you need to be in a rural region to spot Lynx. Between Lynx and the semicircle of Cepheus, Cassiopeia and Perseus is the enigmatic and tough-to-pronounce-after-a-few Camelopardalis, which of course is a giraffe. With its head near Polaris, a critter this far north should have been a reindeer. Before you have a few, go out and see if you can locate them.

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 7:33 and sunset will occur at 4:38, giving 9 hours, 5 minutes of daylight (7:35 and 4:46 in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 7:41 and set at 4:34, giving 8 hours, 53 minutes of daylight (7:43 and 4:42 in Saint John).

The Moon is to the left of Jupiter on Saturday, near the Pleiades on Sunday, and turning full on Monday. Saturn is highest and best for observing around 6 pm, followed by Jupiter around 11 pm. On Wednesday telescope users might see the shadow of Jupiter’s moon Io cross its clouds between 6:41 and 8:51 pm, at which time the Red Spot could be visible. Mercury sets an hour after sunset midweek, and binocular users might pick it out low above the southwestern horizon. Over the week we can watch Venus slide past the bright star Spica in the morning sky.

The Saint John Astronomy Club meets in the Rockwood Park Interpretation Centre on December 2 at 7pm.

Questions? Contact Curt Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.