Astrology Quarterly - Astronomy - Heavens Above

A S Morton

Heavens Above - Winter 2006/07

Winter is here, perhaps having arrived more rapidly than we might have wished, and the big players of those cold winter nightskies are already beginning to take up their annual positions. Orion the hunter and the major zodiacal constellations of Taurus the bull and the heavenly twins of Gemini are becoming increasingly visible above our eastern horizons as dusk falls and as the months progress so they will appear to precess through our night skies until they are once again crossing the meridian in the full dark of our cold northern nights.

If you can find a reasonably clear southern horizon you should be able to catch sight of the beautiful star of Canis Major, Sirius, the brightest star in our heavens above. Not to be confused with Procyon in Canis Minor which is smaller and a very bright white but higher up, therefore more easily visible, and more to the left of Orion (see nightsky map). So brightly does Sirius twinkle, in fact, that on a clear, crisp night you might gaze in wonder as he appears to go through virtually all the colours of the rainbow, our very own celestial christmas lightshow.

Planetwatch - December 2006

The winter early evening cupboard is pretty bare planet-wise. Only good-old-reliable Saturn is keeping his nose to the grindstone, our solitary nightwatchman of this month’s night skies. By contrast, however, the early morning is beginning to stir with some pre-dawn planetary activity.

In the early hours of the 22nd December the SUN halts its southerly movement in declination at 00:22am, the Winter Solstice, moves tropically into the sign of Capricorn, and is reborn for a new annual life-cycle. Traditionally the time of the shortest day of the year and the longest nights. Winter is upon us, “the goose is getting fat….” etc.!

Mercury is still dazzling us as an increasingly brilliant morning star in the southeast for the first week of the month as his phase becomes fuller and he shows us more of his smiley sunlit face. But lowering in altitude all the while. Sunrise is now stretching out from 08:05am as the month begins to around 08:18am by the 12th and you can catch him an hour or so before these times.

Between the 8th and the 12th it might even be possible to see him low down to the horizon in a neat little triangle with Mars and Jupiter as they begin to draw themselves away from the Sun. Rising Jupiter is coming up to meet Mercury but faint-hearted Mars is still hugging the horizon lower down.

Venus has now traversed the far side of the Sun, arriving in the constellation of Sagittarius. Towards the end of the month, and just in time for the New Year, if not Christmas itself, she re-appears as a beautiful evening star low down in the southwest just after sunset, which is around 4:00pm by now.

Mars is still skulking about as he continues the long haul away from the Sun and almost falls into the constellation of Scorpius. Phew! He’s just scraped home and time at last for a much needed recharge. Very close to Antares the red star whose brilliance can rival his own, one shining, one twinkling, and an interesting comparison indeed. But very low down to the horizon and not at all easy to spot.

Jupiter, likewise, moves from the constellation of Libra, through Scorpius, and on into the constellation of Ophiuchus, that little anomaly we have where the very bottom part of its astronomically determined border sits on the ecliptic between Scorpius and Sagittarius. By the end of the month, the end of the year that is, he’s rising higher in the pre-dawn skies as a magnificent morning star preceded by the glorious stars of Scorpius.

Saturn is rising earlier and earlier in the winter evening skies, by 9:00pm at the beginning of the month and before 8:00pm by the end of the year. Now completely dominating the night skies, on the 6th he stations just to the right of Leo’s primary star Regulus and settles himself in for the winter’s sojourn. This makes for fascinating viewing, Saturn’s strong and steady yellow glow is now twice as bright as the blue-white twinkling Regulus and more than a match for the best that regal constellation has to offer.

Uranus and Neptune are generally not visible to the naked eye.

2007

We’ll take a more detailed look at the New Year’s planetary movements in subsequent months but, in the meantime, here’s a little taster of what’s in store.

Mercury’s best sightings will be as an evening star, accompanied by Venus, during the first half of February and then again at the end of May and on into the beginning of June.

Venus is a glorious evening star for most of the first half of the year. Sheer winter-white brilliance lingering on into the spring.

Mars increasing in brightness and strength is visible as a morning star close to the bright red Antares in the early part of the year, staying longer and growing stronger.

Jupiter is a brilliant morning star, rising higher and earlier until by late April he is rising before midnight and traversing the night skies.

Saturn over-winters in the constellation of Leo and is prominent for most of the night. Come springtime he slowly begins to fade in brightness as his distance from Earth increases, job done.

©A S Morton