Winter skies may yield spectacular views

If there is a silver lining to the long nights of winter that seem to begin around 4 p.m., it’s that they leave lots of time for stargazing.

If the number of photos posted on Instagram and Facebook during the Northern Lights flurry last fall has inspired you to look skyward this winter, there is plenty to watch for. Rick Stankiewicz from the Peterborough Astronomical Association says several notable events will occur early in the New Year.

“There are a few things going on that are predictable, like the annual meteor shower called the Quadrantids. These usually peak around Jan. 2 every year. We need clear and dark skies to see them and it is much colder than the more popular and familiar August ‘Perseids Shower’, but it doesn’t mean they can’t be as wonderful.”

Astronomers have no shortage of cool terms to describe celestial events and while you wait for the meteors to occur, you can watch for the conjunction, or gathering of the Moon, Venus, and Saturn in the southwest sky on Jan. 3. A couple weeks later (from the 16-19th) Venus and Saturn will be what Stankeiwicz calls “eye-catchingly close in the evening twilight.”

So how does a rookie astronomer know they are looking at a star, and not a planet? “There are only five ‘naked eye’ planets – Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn,” says Stankeiwicz.

“Venus, Jupiter and Saturn are the brightest and typically will outshine every star. Mercury and Mars, not so much, they tend to blend in more with the stars. Planets will not ‘twinkle’ like stars do when the atmosphere is full of turbulence.”

He explains that the main way to know you are looking at a planet is because “they will be out of place from the stars that make up a constellation.” The term “planet” comes from the Greek for “wanderer,” because the planets are almost always on the move against the stars in the background.

There are some incredible apps available for the iPad and other tablets that remove all guess work. “Night Sky” for example, identifies your latitude and longitude and then displays the constellations overhead with labels which move as you change directions.

On Jan. 13 look for the moon “occulting” Mars. As Stankiewicz explains, that means covering up.

“These sort of events are neat to watch as over the course of a few hours you see these two objects converge and then Mars will disappear behind the Moon only to pop out minutes later. Binoculars are handy to get a good view of this happening.”

From Jan. 3 to Feb. 2 there’s another conjunction, this time involving the moon, Saturn, Venus and Neptune, in the southwestern sky.

Possibly the easiest event to observe this winter will take place March 14 when a total lunar eclipse occurs. Although not rare – they happen four to seven times per year when the earth, sun and moon all align – no special gear is required to see it. Except maybe an alarm clock.

Stankiewicz advises binoculars or a telescope are a bonus for an up close and personal viewing. It will start at roughly 1 a.m., with “totality” starting at around 2:30 a.m. until about 3:30 a.m. and it is all finished 90 minutes later.

During a lunar eclipse, the moon turns red because the only sunlight reaching the moon passes through Earth’s atmosphere and the blue and green light gets filtered out. The more dust or clouds in Earth’s atmosphere during the eclipse, the redder the moon will appear.
You can also expect to see another easily viewed phenomenon this winter: the aurora borealis. Northern lights are never predictable, but we have officially entered the solar maximum of the current solar cycle so there is an increased chance for frequent aurora displays. As you might expect, there are apps like “hello aurora” that notify you of events.

As we learned from dozens of Facebook and Instagram posts last fall, smartphone cameras are great at taking snapshots of northern lights, but serious astrophotographers like Jason Lichter, who capture objects hundreds of light years from Earth, use some specialized gear. (However, he calls himself an amateur astrophotographer and is also associated with the Peterborough Astronomical Association.)

In basic terms, it takes a few seconds for enough light to hit the camera sensor and make a correct exposure during a night photograph. However, as Lichter explains, “at our latitude, the Earth rotates at about 355 metres per second, so a long exposure makes stars look like meteors. To compensate for that, astrophotographers use motorized camera mounts that adjust their orientation to match the rotation of the Earth, allowing exposures lasting two to 10 minutes without star trails. A small portable tracking mount can be found for under $600.”

The bigger investment is time. Lichter estimates he spent four nights gathering the “light frames” as they are known in the business, and another 10 hours processing them on his computer.

He goes on to say that for taking photos of a full moon, any stock lens on a modern camera will do a good job if a tripod is used along with a self-timer to eliminate any camera shake occurring when the shutter release is touched.

In terms of where to go, the rule of thumb is to get as far away from city light pollution as possible. Stankiewicz advises that from Lindsay, “the best direction is often north, but it really depends on what direction the event you wish to see is happening in. Usually a 30 minute drive in your desired direction will help put the light pollution at bay.”

In addition to a thermos, Stankiewicz suggests bringing binoculars. “Personally, my hand-held favourites are 10 X 50, and I have a pair of 20 X 80, but they need a good tripod. For astronomical use, you should be able to divide the first number (magnification or power) into the second number (diameter of the front lens in mm) and get four or five.”

For more information on what is going on overhead, Dr. David Patton from the Trent University Physics department recommends websites such as skyandtelescope.org, astronomy.com, and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada found at rasc.ca/news.