Nature Moncton Nature News: July 26 2024

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

July 26, 2024

Nature Moncton members, as well as any naturalist in New Brunswick or beyond, are invited to share their photos and descriptions of recent nature sightings to build a fresh (almost) daily edition of Nature News

To respond by e-mail, please address your message to the information line editor, nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com .

Please advise both the editor at nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com and the proofreader nicholsl@eastlink.ca if any errors are noted in wording or photo labelling.

For more information on Nature Moncton, check the website at www.naturemoncton.com .

Proofreading courtesy of Louise Nichols at nicholsl@eastlink.ca

**When Brian Stone and Nelson Poirier recently visited the St. George marsh, they encountered a bright orange marble-sized gall on Wild Cucumber they had not seen before. They were surprisingly numerous.

BugGuide has offered a suggestion that fits very well with what they saw.

BugGuide points out that some rusts (a fungus) can cause stem galls on plants. In this case, the cuplike structures on the surface of the gall release fungal spores to give the powder-like effect on the leaves below the galls. I suspect the mystery is now solved!

**The Huntsman Marine Science Centre in St. Andrews is a very recommended site to visit, and one should allow lots of time to see the variety of exhibits so well displayed with interpreters to answer visitors' queries. The centre is home to two Harp Seals and one Harbour Seal, and 11 o’clock feeding time is not to be missed to have excellent observations of these sea mammals we don’t often get to see at such close range. There are several other live exhibits that allow close-up observations of fish that live in our coastal waters but again, we just don’t get an opportunity to see them close up in extremely well-done man-made habitat.

The visitors' centre is the public area, but the large non-public area houses an area of worldwide recognized research that is so crucial to the welfare of our sea-dwelling wildlife. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is a major research partner.

Brian Stone and Nelson Poirier visited the site recently and share some of the photographs of exhibits that capture some things visually, but so much more is shared by the interpreters.

Seahorses are a fish many of us have probably never seen. They are swimmers spending most of their time using their tail to hang onto algae. They do prefer warm tropical waters but can be found in the Bay of Fundy.

(Editor’s note: the editor was very fortunate some years ago to capture seahorses in a minnow trap at Bras d’Or Lake, Cape Breton, NS, and never saw them again until the Huntsman Marine Centre visit.)

**Friday has arrived already in this fast-moving summer and it's our day to preview what next week’s night sky may have in store for us courtesy of sky guru Curt Nason.

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, 2024 July 27 – August 3
After twilight look for orange Antares in the heart of Scorpius. High above the scorpion is a large house-shaped constellation called Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer. If your area isn’t light polluted you can see two lines of stars rising up and outward from the bottom of the house. The line on the right is Serpens Caput and the one on the left is Serpens Cauda. Together they comprise Serpens the Serpent, the only constellation that is in separate parts. Globular clusters contain many tens of thousands of stars and they orbit the centre of our galaxy, which is in the direction just above the spout of the Sagittarius Teapot asterism. Therefore, these clusters abound in the Sagittarius-Scorpius-Ophiuchus region of our sky and many can be seen in binoculars as fat, fuzzy stars.

Ophiuchus represents Asclepius from mythology, who became interested in the healing arts after killing a snake and watching another snake bring it back to life with a leaf. Asclepius brought many people back from the dead, including Orion after he was killed by the scorpion. Hades, god of the Underworld, complained to Zeus about a decrease in business so Zeus sent his pet eagle to kill Asclepius with a thunderbolt. The constellation of Aquila the Eagle is east of Serpens Cauda.

This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 5:56 and sunset will occur at 8:54, giving 14 hours, 58 minutes of daylight (6:03 and 8:57 in Saint John). Next Saturday the Sun will rise at 6:04 and set at 8:45, giving 14 hours, 41 minutes of daylight (6:11 and 8:48 in Saint John).

The Moon is at third quarter just before midnight this Saturday. On Tuesday and Wednesday mornings it enhances the already scenic view of Mars and Jupiter among the stars clusters of Taurus. By midweek Venus and Mercury will be at the same altitude low in the west-northwest, setting about 40 minutes after sunset, with Mercury a fist-width left of much brighter Venus and Regulus between them. The South Delta Aquariid meteor shower peaks around midweek, with the radiant rising in late evening to the right of Saturn

On Sunday evening at 8 pm tune in to the final summer edition of the Sunday Night Astronomy Show via the Facebook page or YouTube channel of Astronomy by the Bay. It resumes in mid-September. The Saint John Astronomy Club meets in the Rockwood Park Interpretation Centre on August 3 at 7 pm.

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