Astonomy column debuts

As the old radio announcer used to say, "And now back to our show." Another of the autumnal constellations is Andromeda. In order to find Andromeda you need to find the great square of Pegasus, the flying horse. Remember Pegasus? Andromeda is "riding" on the horse's back.

As far as constellations go, Andromeda is not much to look at. Just two bands of stars extending northward from Alpheratz, the northeastern corner star of Pegasus; the constellation resembles a curved letter "V." The two bands could be pictured as arms reaching out toward the constellation Perseus, which if you recall from the story is the hero who rescued An-dromeda.

Andromeda features seven major stars (only three of them are named) visible to the unaided eye if you are in a dark place. In a town you might have trouble seeing all of them because of all the streetlights.

Well, if that is all there is to Andromeda, what is the big deal. Why even bother looking at it. Aahh, you see, there is the thing, Andromeda is worth looking at because it is the home of the Andromeda Galaxy which is a whole, other, separate island universe and is the home to billions of stars.

Residing nearly 3 million light years (the distance light will travel in a year -- roughly six trillion miles) the Andromeda galaxy is also the farthest thing we can see without optical aid. According to the encyclopedia, the earliest recorded sighting of the Andromeda Galaxy was in 964, well before the invention of the telescope, by the Persian astronomer Abd Al-Rahman Al Sufi who described it as a "small cloud." No doubt others noticed this "small cloud" long before, as it is not difficult to notice in sufficiently dark skies.

To find the Andromeda Galaxy, go to a dark sky place and start at the bright star Alpheratz, the northeastern corner star of Pegasus. Follow the two arms of stars as they go north toward Perseus. Using both arms go out for two sets of stars and stop.

Estimate the distance between the two arm stars and go west (up) about the same distance and you will see a tiny fuzzy blob, that is the galaxy. In binoculars it is a little bigger blob at first, but the oval shape starts to become more distinct. Even in a moderate telescope it is larger, but still a fuzzy blob, however, some details become visible.

If the view is disappointing, think about this, you are looking at a whole other galaxy than the Milky Way, and the collective light you are seeing left those stars nearly three million years in the past. What was happening on Earth three million years ago?

SKY WATCH:

Look in the west at about 6:15 pm local time on Tuesday, Oct. 24 for a close meeting of a two-day old Moon, Jupiter and the tiny planet Mercury. The Moon will be on the left (as you are looking at it) of this triangle with Jupiter above Mercury on the right.

The trio will have set by 6:30 pm, so look quick. This is soon after sunset so binoculars will help to pierce the horizon haze. The Moon will visit Antares on Wednesday, Oct. 25 just before sunset. New Moon on Sunday, October 22.

Next time, Perseus, the hero.

-- Whetstone calls himself a 59-year-old teenager who fell in love with astronomy when he was 12 years old and hasn't given up on it since. He lives in Benkelman with his wife of 36 years, Janice, and has three grown children. He can often be seen in the country on a dark night lugging around my telescope.