Night Sky Photography -- 03-20-2023 -- The March Equinox & Locating The Spring Triangle & Great Diamond Constellations

Happy Spring Equinox, Y'all!

Today is the first official day of spring equinox 2023 here in the Northern Hemisphere. Goodbye to those long, cold winter nights and hello to longer daytime hours and warmer weather.

The equinox refers to the moment when Earth's rotation axis is directly perpendicular to the Sun, or from our perspective here on Earth when the Sun travels just over the Earth's equator. This occurs twice a year in March and September when the axis of the Earth tilts and turns one hemisphere of the Earth towards the sun in our orbit.

In the Northern Hemisphere this is referred to as the March Vernal Equinox (or spring equinox). In the Southern Hemisphere below the equator this is actually the first day of autumn.

For us amateur stargazers, it also means that the constellations of the Winter Circle (Winter Hexagon) will be setting in the west earlier after dark and new constellations will begin to appear in our evening sky dome.

The first day of spring and the next few months will be the perfect opportunity to see the amazing stars of the Spring Triangle asterism and its spring time constellations in the evening sky.

The Spring Triangle connects three major stars: Arcturus, Spica, and Regulus -- as well as their constellations: Bootes The Heardsman, Virgo The Virgin, and Leo The Lion  -- into a sort of isosceles triangle. A smaller and more equilateral Spring Triangle can also be formed using the star Denebola which is also a part of the Constellation Leo.

The following photos were taken in the late evening after midnight on Monday, March 20th and in the late evening before midnight of the same day of the Spring Triangle stars and their respective constellations.

The first star in the Spring Triangle is the large, orange-colored red giant star, Arcturus (or Alpha Bootes), the third-brightest star in the night sky visible in the Northern Hemisphere, and the brightest star in the Constellation Bootes The Heardsman. Arcturus is relatively the closest to us at about 36.7 light-years (or 11.2 parsecs) from the Sun.

The next is the binary star Spica (or Alpha Virginis) the brightest star in the Constellation Virgo The Virgin (or Virgo The Maiden). The brightest of these binaries is a blue giant star located about 261 light-years (or 80 parsecs) from the Sun. Spica is the 16th brightest star in the night sky.

The third star in the Spring Triangle is Regulus (or Alpha Leonis) the brightest star in the Constellation Leo The Lion, which is in reality a quadruple star system composed of four stars that are organized into two pairs. This system lies approximately 79 light-years (or 24.2 parsecs) from the Sun. Regulus is also known as the "Heart of the Lion" and is the 21st brightest star in the night sky.

The fourth star which comprises the smaller triangle is Denebola (or Beta Leonis), a A-type main sequence dwarf star and the second brightest star in Leo. The star is located at a distance of 36 light-years (or 11 parsecs) from the Sun -- also pretty close to us astronomically speaking.

Locating each of the Spring Triangle stars and their respective constellations is actually not all that hard even for those starting out learning about astronomy. In fact, its quite easy if you can locate the Big Dipper asterism in the evening sky.

The Big Dipper (or Plough) is an asterism of seven bright stars in the larger Constellation Ursa Major The Great Bear and its located near the Spring Triangle stars.

Using the Big Dipper as a guide to the Spring Triangle, you just need to remember three classical mnemonic phrases to navigate your way to their location:

(1) Using the bottom of the Big Dipper below the handle, draw a straight line in the sky using the two stars as a guide to "Make A Reach To Regulus."

(2) Use the end of the handle of the Big Dipper and draw another straight line to "Make An Arc To Arcturus." 
 
(3) Finally, make another straight line using Arcturus to "Drive A Spike To Spica." 

The smaller Spring Triangle stars are also included by a fourth star Cor Caroli in the small Constellation Canes Venatici to form yet another asterism known as the Great Diamond of Virgo -- Or Great Diamond. The Great Diamond connects four constellations and is slightly large than the nearby Big Dipper itself.

That is my presentation and photographic offerings for the beginning of the 2023 spring season. More will be coming soon. Until then, have a wonderful Dixie Day and keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all hear!

Night Sky Photography -- 05-17-2022 -- The Big Dipper & Arcturus Overhead

Salutations fellow stargazers!

This evening I was able to capture a really good shot of the bright stars of the Big Dipper asterism of the Constellation Ursa Major in the evening sky overhead just above the treetops, along with the neighboring bright star Arcturus.

The shot came out really well, even picking up both the double stars Mizar and its fainter companion star, Alcor, in the middle of the Big Dipper's handle making this star pair very easy to locate.

In actuality Mizar is really four stars, and Alcor is two stars, but appear as two binary stars to the naked eye, or with a really good pair of binoculars. In my case with my trusty Sony DSC-H300 digital camera with 35X Optical Zoom Lens mounted on a tripod in my backyard.

Following a line from the tip of the dipper's handle you will easily find the bright orange giant star, Arcturus -- the brightest star in the Constellation Bootes the Herdsman and the fourth brightest star in the night sky as seen from Earth's surface.

The name Arcturus is derived from the Greek star name arktoyros meaning "the Guard". This star is known in skylore as the Bear Guard for its close proximity to Ursa Major and its about 37 light-years in distance from the Sun.

 Have a wonderful evening, y'all!

Night Sky Photography -- 11-17-2020 -- Venus & The Great Diamond With Constellations

Good morning fellow Stargazers!

Once again your favorite blogger got up early this morning -- about an hour before sunrise -- to capture Venus and the early morning stars in the eastern sky. Among the stars included the major stars and the constellations that make up the Great Diamond asterism. 

In the first photo, you can see the four major stars that make up the Great Diamond: Denebola, Cor Caroli, Arcturus, and Spica -- which can be seen just through the tree next to bright Venus.

In the second photo I highlighted the major constellations located in the Great Diamond: Leo The Lion, Bootes The Herdsman, and Virgo The Maiden. I was able to just barely capture all the major stars of these constellations in the pre-dawn sky. 

 

The three southernmost stars (Denebola, Arcturus, and Spica) are also a part of their own asterism, the Spring Triangle. Interesting fact about Spring Triangle is that there are in fact two of them. Denebola makes up the more nearly equilateral version of the triangle while the star Regulus -- also located in the Constellation Leo The Lion -- makes a larger and more pie-piece-shaped triangle.

In my final photo I highlighted both versions of the Spring Triangle asterism, as well as the Arc To Arcturus which can be found by following the handle of the Big Dipper in the Constellation Ursa Major. Sky watchers use the phrase: follow the arc to Arcturus, and drive a spike (or speed on) to Spica, in order to locate the two stars in the sky dome. 

 

Astronomy is awesome!

Well folks, I hope y'all enjoyed my early morning photography as much as I enjoy bringing it to y'all. Have a wonderful Dixie day and y'all be sure to keep your eyes to the skies!

Night Sky Photography -- 11-16-2020 -- Venus & Mercury With Arcturus & Spica

Good evening fellow Stargazers!

This morning, your favorite blogger woke up about 45 minutes before sunrise just in time to capture this outstanding photo of the bright planet, Venus, with little Mercury barely visible below it in the east. The two inferior planets were joined in the sky dome by the bright stars Arcturus and Spica.

Although the star Spica is brightest star in the Constellation Virgo the Maiden, serves as a prime example of a 1st magnitude star, it was hard to see this star in the pre-dawn sky. I was barely able to spot it as I took the photo.

Mercury I didn't even see very well until I downloaded the photo and saw it positioned just next to the tree as a very faint spot of light.

Arcturus is an orange-colored star in the far left and the brightest star in the Constellation Bootes the Herdsman. It is the fourth-brightest star in the night sky and the brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere. At just under 37 light-years away, Arcturus is actually about 25 times larger than the diameter of our sun. The reddish-orange color of Arcturus signifies its temperature, which is roughly about 7,300 degrees Fahrenheit -- about several thousand degrees cooler than the surface of the sun.  

Both Spica and Arcturus make up part of the three-star Spring Triangle asterism, which also includes the bright star Regulus in the Constellation Leo The Lion. Unfortunately, I was unable to capture Regulus in the shot through the tree branches, although if y'all get up early enough in the morning, spotting Regulus farther overhead between the two stars won't be hard.

Well folks, I hope y'all enjoyed my post. Have a wonderful Dixie day, and y'all be sure to keep your eyes to the night skies.

Night Sky Photography -- 08-04-2020 -- The Big Dipper & The Arc To Arcturus

Good evening fell stargazers!

This evening I was able to capture a really good photo late after sunset in the west showing the Big Dipper star constellation with the red giant star, Arcturus. 

The sunset was so low that I was unable to capture the background to give a proper scale in the skydome -- the trees and nearby baseball field are both far too faint to see in the photo, but I was able to just capture all the stars in the Big Dipper and nearby Arcturus so that I could show y'all the "Arc To Arcturus". 

"Follow the arc to Arcturus, and drive a spike to Spica" was one of the first sky tools I learned to use in astronomy. Amateur astronomers use it as a means of finding both stars in the evening sky.  

The red line I added in the photo shows the arc which helps astronomers and fellow stargazers to easily locate Arcturus using the star Alkaid (Eta Ursae Majoris) at the end of the Big Dipper. Follow Alkaid in the line to the bright giant orange star. Arcturus is a giant star with an estimated distance of 37 light-years from our own sun and is the brightest star in the constellation Bootes The Herdsman -- known in astronomical lore as the Bear Guard.

Unfortunately, Spica was far too low on the horizon for me to get a shot showing the "Spike To Spica" but if you know where to look, all you have to do is draw straight line from down and to the left of Arcturus. Spica is only about half as bright as Arcturus, but it is the brightest star in the constellation Virgo The Maiden.  

After getting the photo of the arc, I took a short drive into my nearby hometown of Chester, South Carolina, and was able to take a really good shot of the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn just about the Chester City Hall building in downtown. 

The two planets will continue to shine closely together in the southern sky over the coming months. Jupiter is the largest and brightest compared to smaller Saturn beside it.

Well folks, I hope that y'all enjoyed these photos as much as I enjoy capturing them. Let me know what y'all think in the comments below. Have a wonderful Dixie evening and y'all be sure to keep your eyes to the night skies!