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How to learn the art of star-gazing ; Ather Shah and Ian Pinfold tell you how to find your way around the sky at night

Posted on: Saturday, 31 January 2004, 06:00 CST

Ever wanted to see Saturn's rings or wondered how to find the North Star? For more than 50 years the Birmingham Astronomical Society has been encouraging people to look up into the night sky and marvel at what can still be seen there despite today's light- polluted atmosphere.

We meet every Wednesday evening at Aston University where we have a library/clubroom as well as a mirror-making workshop in the basement for constructing your own telescope.

We also have monthly lectures from a wide range of invited guest speakers, together with a monthly newsletter and a quarterly journal. Check out our website.

A great way of learning more about the night sky is to attend local society outdoor events where you can star-gaze in the company of people who can tell you exactly what you may be looking at and how to see even more.

The BAS hold two regular SkyWatch evenings at the Lickey Hills Visitors Centre. We also have our own observatory.

But, getting to know your way around the night sky from your own back garden can be a good first step.

To get started, buy yourself a good star guide or a Phillips Planisphere (readily available from book stores) and a torch with a red bulb (or simply use an ordinary torch and paint over with red nail varnish). The star map will show you what you are looking at. The torch will allow you to look at your map while keeping your eyes tuned to the dark so that you can see the sky better.

Then, wrap up! A clear night sky in winter usually means a cold one so make sure you will be comfortable. Not being able to feel your fingers or feet comes later on when you are really hooked.

Next, find the darkest part of your garden that you can. Give yourself a few minutes to become accustomed to the dark.

Just use the naked eye to begin with. Try to recognise the star patterns that you see and then relate them to your star map and, maybe, memorise a few of the names.

Most of us know the Plough -trace its handle downwards to find Polaris, the Pole or North star. Learn to pick out the W-shaped constellation of Cassiopeia. You will be surprised at how quickly the various stars become familiar to you. Once you have an idea of what is up there, try looking through binoculars. A good pair of 10x50 or 10x30 will do just fine.

Tonight, at around 10pm if the sky is clear, you will see high in the SW a very prominent, three-quarters moon. To the south, you should spot a bright orange star. This is Aldebaran, in the constellation of Taurus, the bull.

A little north of Aldebaran you will find a small smudge of stars commonly called the Seven Sisters. This is because the keen-sighted can usually make out six or seven stars with the naked eye. It is actually known as the Pleiades, an open cluster of relatively young, hot, blue-white stars around 100 million years old.

Now try looking at it again with binoculars -suddenly a glittering array of 20--30 jewel-like points of light resolve themselves before your eyes. (Using even a small telescope may show up to 100 stars.) Look further south now until you come to the vast constellation of Orion, the hunter. Four stars pick out his rectangular outline with reddishorange Betelgeuse at his left-hand shoulder and blue-white Rigel at his right knee. Both are supergiants; their differing colours indicate their varying degrees of energy and heat. Straddling his middle is a belt of three stars and just below it may be glimpsed the Orion Nebula -a misty patch of light and the birthplace of stars.

To his left and trotting faithfully at his master's heels, Sirius, the dog star, shines low down in the south. It is the brightest star in the sky being only 8.6 light years away.

Turning upward and eastward now will bring you to two bright stars lying close together. These are Castor and Pollux, the heavenly twins, and they form the backbone of the constellation Gemini. This month you can also see the beautiful ringed planet, Saturn, near here. Its rings are wide and open at the moment and a wonderful sight through a telescope. Later this year Saturn will come under closer scrutiny when NASA's Cassini-Huygens space-probe flies by.

As for the rest of the planets, in February, Mercury and Pluto are difficult to see being low in the morning twilight while Neptune and Uranus are in conjunction with the Sun and so not visible.

Brilliant Venus rises in the SW soon after sunset but Mars is fading now and sets at midnight. On February 23 Venus will be three degrees to the north of a newish crescent moon and on the 26th Mars will be 0.9 degrees north. Good photo opportunities -if the clouds stay away.

Jupiter's visibility is best later on in the evening. As it moves round from the east, see if you can pick out the two main cloudbelts which show up as different shaded bands around the planet. Look for the great red spot or any of the four inner moons -Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. On the evening of the 8th Jupiter will be only three degrees south of our own waning moon.

There are no meteor showers to speak of this month but there is a comet -Comet 2002 T7 (LINEAR) which should be visible through binoculars as it travels along the border of Pegasus and Pisces. Consult your star map and, who knows? With a bit of patience and careful observation, you may be one of the few to spot it!

Full moon will be on the 6th and new moon is on the 20th so save any deep-sky observing for later in the month when the sky will be darker.

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