Time to get out that new telescope

Now is a good time to take that new telescope you received for Christmas out for a look at one of the grandest sights in the sky, the Orion Nebula. Listed at number 42 on Messier's list of things that were not comets, it is a fabulous sight through any size telescope.

Look high in the southeast around 7 p.m. local time for the constellation Orion, the Hunter. Its grand hour-glass figure will be very obvious and hard to miss.

Find the three stars (Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka from left to right) that make up his belt and look at the second object down in the sword which hangs below the belt.

That second object is not a star, it is the Orion Nebula. Examination with a pair of binoculars will reveal the fuzzy nature of the nebula. It is a large cloud of gas and dust covering about one degree, about two full moon widths, out of which stars are being born.

A telescopic view reveals four very young stars in the heart of the nebula. They are called the Trapezium, for their shape, lying about 1,400 light years away. A light year is the distance light travels in a year at the speed of 186,000 miles per second, or about six trillion miles for one year.

In binoculars, the nebula appears as a colorless, gray fuzzy blob. In a larger telescope it takes on the characteristic fan shape and possibly, depending on the size of the telescope you are using, the faint green and red colors of the nebula may appear.

In my 11-inch Dobsonian, I have seen a distinct greenish color to the nebula but haven't seen any red, yet. The nebula itself is about 26 light years across which makes it, according to Burnham's Celestial Handbook, about 2,000 times the size of our own solar system.

Just above M42 is another faint nebula area that is visible in binoculars but takes on the fuzzy nebula shape in a telescope.

SKY WATCH:

First quarter moon, Feb. 2. Feb. 2, besides being Ground Hog Day, is often called Candlemas, which is a cross-quarter day. In the almanac a cross-quarter day is a day half way between a solstice and an equinox, in this case winter and spring. When we get to Candlemas we know to hang on, because we are half way to spring.

There will be a nice grouping of Venus, the moon and Uranus on Thursday, Jan. 29. Look about an hour after sunset high in the southwest for bright Venus above a very slender crescent moon.

Using binoculars, look for the very dim, blueish planet Uranus below Venus and the moon. On the evening of Feb. 3, a just-past-first-quarter moon will take a waltz through the northern portion of the Pleiades Star Cluster occulting, or covering up, several of the members.

Binoculars will be needed to overcome the brightness of the moon. Watch between 5 and 10 p.m.

NEXT TIME:

More astronomical blathering.