| Dec 01, 2011


By Fred Barrett

The Sun is especially magnificent right now. It is close to its maximum sunspot level. This happens every 11 years and the maximum is predicted for 2012. We have a good number of sunspots right now and if this is before the maximum, the coming year should be quite a show!

But be careful!

If you wish to view the Sun you have to do it right. Don’t ever view the Sun with your naked eye or with any unfiltered binoculars or telescope. Serious eye damage can be a result of even a short look.

There are several safe ways of looking at sunspots. You can project an image of the Sun through binoculars or a telescope onto a white screen. On the screen you will see a circle of light. This is the disk of the Sun. You will need to adjust the screen distance to bring the image into focus. It’s worth the patience to get it right.

Another way of viewing sunspots is to use a pin-hole camera, which can be made out of two thin, stiff pieces of white cardboard. Punch a small clean pinhole in one piece of cardboard and let the sunlight pass through the hole onto the second piece of cardboard under it. It serves as a screen. An inverted image of the Sun is formed. To make the image larger, move the screen further from the pinhole, to make the image brighter, move the screen closer to the pinhole. Do not make the pinhole too wide or you will have a blurred shaft of sunlight rather than an image of the Sun. 

Another method is to use welder’s goggles with a rating of 14 or higher but be careful. Don’t use the welder’s filters with binoculars or a telescope. The light will be too magnified by the binoculars or telescope and heat will shatter the filter. If you want to look at the sunspots through a telescope or binoculars you really have to use specially designed filters. These are available at stores that specialize in telescope equipment. Focus Scientific on Carling Avenue in Ottawa is one nearby supplier. A computer search will provide many more.

Jupiter is still magnificent in the sky and always worth a look. Follow its moons from night to night as they orbit the planet. Binoculars are perfect.

Saturn rises after midnight in December. I can hardly wait to see the tilt of its rings increase as the month passes. It’s about halfway up the sky in the southeast as twilight approaches. I will be following its progress as we move through December and January arrives.

We have 2 meteor showers this month. On the 13th and 14th go out and watch for the Geminid shower. Unfortunately there will be a big moon in the sky, which will interfere with viewing the dimmer meteors. It is predicted to peak on the 14th. Go out with a pencil and paper and sketch a rough picture of the sky. The constellation Gemini, the direction from which the meteors will appear, will be high in the east around 9 pm. Every time you see a meteor, mark a line on your map. You will note that the meteors can be seen all across the sky but their paths all lead back to Gemini. On the 22nd, there is a minor shower called the Ursids. The meteors won’t be as plentiful as the Geminids but still worth a look!

December 21st -22nd is Winter solstice and marks the longest night of the year. Winter starts at 12:30 am EST. The full Moon this month is on the10th and is appropriately called the Long Night’s Moon. New Moon is on the 24th, Christmas Eve. Head out early in the evening on the 26th and look for a thin waxing crescent Moon to the right of Venus. Well worth a look!

 

 

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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