One down, 11 more to go

We have blown through one-twelfth of our year and passed the halfway mark of winter.

Feb. 2 -- Groundhog Day --is a cross-quarter day which marks about the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.

You have probably noticed that the days are growing longer, the Sun is appearing higher in the sky and there is less sunlight coming in your south-facing windows.

We are gaining, on average, about one minute of daylight each day and since the winter solstice on Dec. 21, we have gained about 42-minutes of daylight.

Of course, on the other hand, we are losing dark-time for observing the night sky.

Tonight, Wednesday, Feb. 4, is the last night for viewing Venus and Neptune in the same binocular field of view. Find a place with an unobstructed (no buildings or trees) western view and start looking about a half-hour after local sunset.

You won't be able to miss Venus, it is the brightest object in that part of the sky. If you put Venus at about the 11 o'clock position, look for a tiny dot of light at about the 5 o'clock position on the opposite side of the field, that is Neptune.

This time of year is prime time for observing our old friend, Orion, the Hunter. The hourglass shaped constellation is located due south and almost directly overhead at about 8 pm MST.

With three distinct stars across the middle for a belt and three other "stars" forming a sword hanging below that belt and a bright red star (Betelgeuse) for a right shoulder and a bright blue star (Rigel) for a left knee Orion is one of the most prominent constellations in the winter sky.

Of course we know that the three so-called "stars" of the sword are not all stars at all. Even a quick look through binoculars will show that the top two are nebulous and the bottom is a small group of stars.

However, putting even a small telescope on the middle "star" will show one of the night sky's premier objects--The Great Orion Nebula, listed as M42 on Charles Messier's list of things that are not comets. It is guaranteed to literally blow your socks off.

Now, don't expect to see the brilliant colors shown in photographs. What you will see is a grayish-white swirl of gas and dust with four bright stars--called the Trapezium--in the center.

Several years ago when my wife gave me a used 11-inch Dob for Christmas the first thing I did was move it outside and observe the nebula and it was an awesome sight. She had to remind me to go back inside and get my coat.

Just as the two outer stars in the cup of the Big Dipper are "pointers" to locate the North Star, so can the stars of Orion be used to locate several other objects. For example, follow the line of the belt up and right to find Aldebaran, the brightest star in Taurus, the Bull--an interesting binocular sight in it's own right.

Follow a line through the belt left and down to find Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky in Canis Major. Put a pair of binoculars on Sirius and look for a small star cluster (M-41) just below it.

SKYWATCH: Full moon yesterday, Feb. 3, which will wash out most of whatever viewing we thought we had. Keep following Venus each night as it rises toward a February 20th meeting with Mars and the moon.

NEXT WEEK: More astronomical blathering.