Star Check

Clear winter skies make for excellent star-gazing

We're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
—Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

While the rest of the natural world seems to take the winter off, this is the time when the night sky literally shines. Clear winter nights make February a great time to learn about and begin exploring the cosmos. With very little investment (forget the telescope, for now) and a little bit of effort (getting to a nice dark place) anyone can be an amateur astronomer.

It is taken for granted now, but man's desire to understand the cosmos and use the sky for navigation launched a race for knowledge and technology that continues today.

To begin identifying planets, stars, constellations, meteor showers and other cosmic events, one only needs a star guide and to know which direction is north.

There are a number of different star guides one can choose from, but I would recommend David Levy's Guide to the Stars and/ or the Peterson Field Guide to Stars and Planets. Both cost about $19.00 and can be found in area bookstores. David Levy's Guide to the Stars is a circular map to the stars that allows the user to align the time and date to get a map of the stars and planets. It is very easy to use, but provides little information other than the map. Peterson's Field Guide is a great resource, and these two guides are excellent when used together.

As for determining which way is north, you may want to figure it out using the stars themselves. The constellation Big Dipper has two stars which are known as the pointers—they make up the front part of the Big Dipper's ladle and they point at the North Star, Polaris, which is at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper. Polaris is within one degree of true celestial north, so if you are facing Polaris, you are facing north. Once north has been located, you can orient your star guide.

One major impediment to seeing the night sky is light pollution, caused by careless or excessive lighting. The glare created by excessive light is one component of light pollution; airborne water droplets and dust particles reflect this excessive light and create a condition known as skyglow. Light pollution not only obscures the night sky, but it also wastes electricity, effects visual acuity (and safety) at night, disrupts sleep patterns of people and animals, and may effect hormonal cycles as well.

Many communities, such as Tuscon, Ariz., where the Milky Way can be seen from downtown, are starting to address light pollution through regulation and technology. Some communities have enacted nuisance laws, which include encroaching light from a neighbor's yard as a nuisance. Some cities have also tried to reduce excessive illumination by using low-wattage bulbs and shielded light fixtures that focus light downward and do not give off a glare above the horizontal plane.

The New England Light Pollution Advisory Group has put together information on how you can reduce light pollution from your home at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/nelpag.html. On a clear, moonless evening under mildly polluted residential skies, we should be able to see at least 2,600 stars, and rural areas with less light pollution should be able to see four times that many. In our area, probably close to 100 stars are visible with the naked eye on a clear night.

As is so often the case, we are very lucky to live in this area because the nation's capital offers so many great resources to learn about the stars and planets. Two good places to start close to home are the Montgomery College Planetarium and the University of Maryland Observatory on Metzerott Road.

The Montgomery College Planetarium has a monthly program which in February will feature "African Skies," an exploration of African astronomical mythology. The program starts at 7 p.m. on February 15 (Galileo's birthday). Dr. Harold Williams, Director of the Planetarium, also suggests that people consider taking an "Astronomy 101" class at the college.

The Department of Astronomy at the University of Maryland/College Park hosts Open Houses at the Campus Observatory on the 5th and the 20th of every month. On Open House evenings, a guest speaker will give approximately a half-hour talk on an astronomy topic. The talk is followed by viewing of celestial objects through the observatory's telescopes, weather permitting.

Another good resource in our area is the U.S. Naval Observatory. Because of security issues (the Vice President lives on its grounds) the schedule has been changing, but as of press time, it is open every other Monday for tours from 8:30 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. There is about a 2 Ð 3 month wait for a tour. You can make a reservation for a tour at http://www.usno.navy.mil/tour_info.shtml.

The Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt offers public tours Monday through Saturday at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. All tours begin at the information desk inside the Visitor Center. Tours may include stops at Goddard's Test and Evaluation Facility, NASA Communications Network, Flight Dynamics Facility, and satellite control centers for such spacecraft as the Hubble Space Telescope. Call the Flight Center at 301-286-2000 for details and directions.

In the District, The National Air and Space Museum's Einstein Planetarium and the Rock Creek Planetarium offer great opportunities to learn more about the night sky. The Einstein Planetarium offers a number of different programs, including a free monthly lecture and a program called "The Stars Tonight," which explains what is presently in the evening sky. The Einstein Planetarium also offers a weekly skywatch report which will tell you what can be found in the sky for the coming week. You can get the weekly report at http://www.si.edu/resource/faq/skywatch.htm.

The Rock Creek Planetarium offers three programs weekly at 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, and at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesdays. These programs are geared towards kids 12 and under. Rock Creek Planetarium is located at 5200 Glover Road, NW, off Military Road. Call 202-426-6829.

To get information on upcoming meteor showers, check out http://www.amsmeteors.org/lunsford/.

For general information on astronomy, Dr. Harold Williams with Montgomery College has put together the following web site: http://www.mc.cc.md.us/Departments/planet/planet/Edu-res.htm.

Since February will begin and end on a new moon, those will be the best times to observe stars and planets. The moon will be full on the 16th.

Try to head out to Little Bennett Regional Park in Clarksbrurg, Md. if you are going to do some stargazing this month. The Park attracts many amateur astronomers and even has its own clear sky weather forecast at http://cleardarksky.com/c/LittleBennettMDkey.html. This website can tell you what the best times should be to see stars and planets. Little Bennett State Park is about 20 miles up Route 270 at 23701 Frederick Road (Rockville Pike). Call 301-972-6581 for directions.