| Oct 28, 2010


By Fred Barrett

November’s column marks the start of my second year as your friendly, local astronomy scribbler. I hope that I have tempted more than a few of you to go out and look up at the beauty of our dark country skies. It’s something that city dwellers rarely enjoy. And don’t be afraid to drop me a line and tell me how I can make this column better.

On to business; let’s have a look at Cepheus this month!

In Greek myth Cepheus was king of Ethiopia and he had a wife, Cassiopeia and a beautiful daughter, Andromeda. Unfortunately Cassiopeia bragged one too many times that she and her daughter were more beautiful than the Nereids, normally friendly sea nymphs. When these daughters of Poseidon and part of his retinue complained to Poseidon, he became so angry that he sent a sea monster, Cetus, to kill Cepheus and his family. Andromeda was offered as a sacrifice to save the family. She was saved in the nick of time by Perseus. He had fallen in love with her and his reward was her hand in marriage.

Cepheus is near the North Star Polaris and is always in the sky. To find Cepheus first face north and look for the North Star Polaris (you can do this by following the 2 stars at the opposite end from the handle in the Big Dipper up to the last star in the handle of the Little Dipper: Polaris). Cepheus is south of the North Star (higher in the sky when facing north) and looks, at this time of year, like a high peaked house almost lying on its side. The star at the peak of the house, Gamma Cephei, lies about 13 degrees south of Polaris. It will be our new ‘North Star’ between the years 3000 and 5200 AD. Another star will replace it after that time. Why does the star over the north pole of Earth change? Like a spinning top, our Earth wobbles as it spins and our north pole slowly moves to point to different stars over long periods of time - thousands of years. Four stars make up the square body of the house and the one that sits at the bottom left corner of the house, Zeta, is part of a small triangle that contains one of the most important stars in the sky, a star called a Cephid variable. Refer to the star chart to get your bearings.

Still facing north, locate Zeta and look a little to its left. That star is Epsilon Cephei, the 2nd star of the triangle. Look up (south) a small distance and that star, Delta Cephei, is the Cephid. A Cephid variable type of star is important because the period at which its brightness changes allows you to find its real brightness and if you know that, you can calculate its distance from Earth. This is one of the major tools for finding distances to galaxies. A strikingly beautiful red star, the “Garnet Star” (Mu Cephei), can easily be seen in binoculars to the left and a bit down from Zeta. Now move a little more left and an open cluster, IC1396, should appear. While in the area, you should zip up (south) and have another look at Cassiopeia. I wrote about her in September; plenty of beautiful objects to see there!

There are three meteor streams this month. The peaks for the Southern and Northern Taurids occur on November 5 and 12 respectively. Gravitational pull by the Solar system’s planets, especially Jupiter, has separated the Taurids into two separate segments, North and South. They are weak in numbers but slow and bright and well worth watching for when you’re outside observing. This shower persists until late in the month. On November 17 the Leonid meteor shower peaks. The best time for this shower is after 3AM when the gibbous moon sets. Of course you can see meteors earlier in the evening but the bright moon will interfere with observing. You should expect to see about 20-25 meteors per hour.

This month’s full Moon is called the Beaver Moon perhaps because November was the month that traps were set to make sure of a good supply of warm fur for winter. Beaver moon may also refer to the busy beaver’s preparations for the coming winter cold. In any case, the full Moon arrives at 12:27 EST (Eastern Standard Time) on November 21. Watch for the Pleiades star cluster close by and above the full Moon. Binoculars will help.

Jupiter remains prominent throughout November in the southeast at sunset and can be followed throughout the night as the Earth rotates and it moves to the southeast. Just before sunrise early in the month, Venus makes an appearance. By November 30th Venus rises more than three hours before sunrise and sits about 15 degrees above the horizon. Look for Spica above Venus and Saturn above Spica early in November too. Saturn should offer some nice telescope views by the end of the month.

Don’t forget that Daylight Savings Time ends at 2AM, Sunday, November 7th. Adjust your clocks back one hour before bedtime (not after)!

“The Beginner’s Observing Guide” by Leo Enright is available at the Sharbot Lake Pharmacy. It can also be ordered from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada: www.rasc.ca/publications. SkyNews, our Canadian national astronomy magazine, is available at store magazine racks or a subscription can be ordered from the RASC website. The magazine has a handy, detachable star chart centrefold.

 

If you have questions or suggestions, Fred Barrett may be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Beginner’s Observer’s Guide by Leo Enright is available at the Sharbot Lake Pharmacy or by contacting the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada www.rasc.ca/publications, subscriptions for our very own excellent Canadian astronomy magazine, Sky News, are also available from RASC..

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