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**What better way to bring on
Christmas morning than a brilliant male northern cardinal that greeted
Norbert Dupuis in his Memramcook east yard to decorate the yard naturally!
**Brian Stone shares a few
Christmas Eve wildlife photos from the Hampton area and his sister's Upham
feeder yard. A male northern cardinal, several mourning doves, American
goldfinches, a male hairy woodpecker, a small group of male and
female evening grosbeaks, a red-breasted nuthatch, some white-tailed
deer, and a muskrat. A couple of dark-eyed juncos managed to avoid
getting photographed but were active in the yard.
(Editor's note: note the black patch on the chest of one deer in Brian's photo. This distinct feature is present in a portion of New Brunswick's deer herd.)
**This Week’s Sky at a
Glance, 2025 December 27 – 2026 January 2
Around midnight in the first week of January the brightest star in the night
sky is due south, at its highest above the horizon. Astronomers would say
it is transiting the meridian when it crosses the north-south line. Many 19th
century observatories, including the one now called the William Brydone Jack
Observatory at UNB Fredericton, would collaborate in timing the transits of
stars to determine the longitudes of their observatories.
Sirius is called the Dog Star because it is part of the constellation
Canis Major the Great Dog, one of Orion’s hunting companions. If you are unsure
which star is Sirius, follow Orion’s Belt down to the left. The star is about
twice the size of the Sun and 25 times more luminous, but that is not why it is
the brightest. It is only 8.6 light years away, 82 trillion kilometres, and the
nearest naked eye star for us in New Brunswick. The name means “scorcher” or
“scintillating one” and it often twinkles wildly and colourfully, especially
when it is lower in the sky. I like to observe it with binoculars or a
telescope just to enjoy the light show. Look for the star cluster M41 about a
binocular field below Sirius. With the Sun passing above Orion in summer,
people once believed the hot days were due to extra heat from Sirius, hence the
term “dog days of summer.”
This Week in the Solar System
Saturday’s sunrise in Moncton is at 8:00 and sunset will occur at 4:40, giving
8 hours, 40 minutes of daylight (8:02 and 4:48 in Saint John). Next Saturday
the Sun will rise at 8:01 and set at 4:46, giving 8 hours, 45 minutes of
daylight (8:03 and 4:54 in Saint John). Earth is at perihelion early afternoon
on January 3, a mere 147.1 million kilometres from the Sun.
The Moon is at first quarter this Saturday and full early next Saturday
morning. On Tuesday we can watch it creeping up on the Pleiades star
cluster. Mercury will be a difficult binocular object, rising about 50 to 30
minutes before sunrise over the week. Saturn sets around 11 pm this week,
and Jupiter rises in evening twilight as it nears opposition on January 10.
On Tuesday telescope users might see the shadow of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede
crossing the planet from 6:04 to 9:20, with the moon itself trailing by about
an hour. After opposition the moons will precede their shadow. The
Quadrantid meteor shower peaks on January 3.
The Saint John Astronomy
Club meets in the Rockwood Park Interpretation Centre on January 3 at 7 pm. The
Sunday Night Astronomy Show resumes on January 4.
Questions? Contact Curt
Nason at nasonc@nbnet.nb.ca.
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
EVENING GROSBEAK (MALE). DEC. 24, 2025. BRIAN STONE
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