A tail of two fishes

Today, we have a real fish tale -- or rather a tale of two fish tied by the tail.

We will be looking at another very dim constellation, Pisces, the Fish. Pisces is usually represented by two fish tied together by a rope, or fishing line, either by the tail or mouth.

As with Aquarius, this is another constellation with very dim stars, most of the stars of Pisces are 4th magnitude or dimmer, so it will be difficult to locate.

Fortunately, there are helps to navigate this area of the "Celestial Ocean," sort of a "celestial fish-finder."

After going to your favorite dark-sky place, locate our old friend Pegasus, which looks like a baseball diamond standing up on one corner.

Use the bottom corner of the square, (which is pointing down toward the eastern horizon) to find our fish.

Pisces is represented by a circlet of seven stars, located below the right bottom side of the square of Pegasus. From this fish, there is a line of stars, which looks like the letter "V," running parallel to the bottom of the square to the other fish.

This second fish looks more like a triangle.

Pisces is an ancient constellation, one of the 12 zodiacal constellations.

The vernal equinox (spring) or the place where the Sun is located when crossing the celestial equator is in Pisces. It moved there from Aries, the Ram, as a result of a process called "progression of the equinox."

Now we are going on a real fish hunt, or whale hunt if you prefer. It is the fourth of the five water constellations of autumn. Cetus, the whale or the sea monster of the Perseus/Andromeda Story.

Again, just like all the rest, they are all very faint stars (third and fourth magnitude) and very difficult to see.

Just as we used the "V" at the bottom of the square of Pegasus to find the "V" of Pisces, use the "V" of Pisces to find Cetus -- it points right to the middle of the beast.

Look for a circlet of stars on the left form a head, string of stars running left to an odd-shaped rectangle for the body. Someone said it looks more like a recliner.

SKY WATCH: New moon, Sunday, Oct. 30. As you know by now a new moon means no moon.

This is the second new moon to occur in October and some people have named it a "Black Moon." There is no particularly good reason for naming it such other than people just have a proclivity for naming things. The media has latched onto this name and is trying to make it into something it is not, especially since Halloween is the next day. Thursday, October 27, half an hour after local sunset, see Saturn, Venus, and Antares lined up in a straight line with Saturn on top. Try looking at about 6 pm MDT. Friday, Oct. 28, in the morning sky at about 6:30 a.m. MDT look east for a splendid pairing of a very slender crescent moon and the planet Jupiter. Look about a half-hour before local sunrise. That same day, in the evening, as the sun sets, look for Venus and Saturn, in the southwest and Mars in the south. Saturn is headed for the horizon while Venus is moving eastward for a meeting with Mars in February.

NEXT WEEK: All Hallows' Eve and the monsters that come with it, and more astronomical blathering.