Stars are what you make of them

Triangles and more triangles. One nice thing about the stars, you can make just about anything you want out of them, even make up your own constellations. This week there are two particular triangles I want to look at, one a made-up one and the other is one of our old friends.

First up we need to remember that the total amount of "dark time" we have for observing is shrinking the closer we get to the summer solstice.

At the beginning of the month we had about 10 hours and seven minutes of dark, tonight we will only have about nine hours and 27 minutes of dark, or about 40 minutes less of observing time.

Technically, we don't even have that much because there is twilight to consider. That time from when the sky goes from totally light to totally dark, or totally dark to totally light.

In any case, we have less observing time as we approach the solstice.

So, to our observing.

Our made-up triangle involves one bright star and two bright planets.

Be outside about 10 pm local time looking east for the Big Dipper--I know, I know, the Big Dipper is supposed to be in the north, but trust me, it will be better for the rest of our observing if we look east.

It will be standing upright on its handle. Follow the arc in the handle down to the right to find Arcturus, the brightest star in the constellation Bootes (it kind of looks like an ice cream cone).

Arcturus is the first star in our triangle. Next look slightly up and right to the bright dot of the planet Mars hanging in the southeast. For our third corner look down and slightly left for another bright dot and that is the ringed-planet Saturn, it is just above the horizon between the two stars making up the constellation Libra.

For the second triangle, it is our old friend the Summer Triangle which is just starting to appear over the eastern horizon after midnight.

The brightest -- and the highest of the three -- is very bright Vega. Next is slightly dimmer Altair to the lower left in the constellation Aquila, the Eagle. Next to slightly dimmer Deneb, the tail star in Cygnus, the Swan which can easily be found with its long neck stretched out along the horizon and its wings extending up and down when compared to the horizon.

If you follow the trio weekly, by the middle of June it will be rising just after sunset.

And now -- according to my good friend, Monty Python -- for something completely different. How about a meteor storm.

Astronomers are getting a positively a-titter over the prospect of a so-called "meteor storm," of hundreds of meteors per hour.

That could happen on the evening of May 23/24 when Earth swings through the debris stream of the periodic comet 209P/LINNEAR. While the comet itself cruises through the inner solar system every five years or so, this particular debris stream was laid down in the 1800s.

The key for watching a meteor shower is to find a very dark-sky spot with clear horizons, find the radiant (the place in the sky from which the meteors seem to originate), which in this case is very close to Polaris, the North Star, get comfortable and wait for the show. Since the crescent moon will be out of the way, the sky should be considerably dark.

The best time will be between midnight and 2 am MDT. Be sure to dress warm, bring a container of your favorite hot beverage, a blanket or sleeping bag, and a reclining lawn chair, if you have one, and enjoy the show.

SKYWATCH: Third-quarter moon tonight.

NEXT WEEK: A trip guided by the moon and more astronomical blathering.