guide to the evening sky

The Best Skywatching Season

Late summer and early fall are prime time for anyone who follows the stars. By Fred Schaaf

W
hich season is best to be- evening for several consecutive nights peiae (now the top star of Cassiopeia’s W)
gin a study of the starry may help farmers harvest after sundown. to Polaris. On the way you pass near
heavens? All have their ad- Here are our best opportunities to see the Gamma (g) Cephei, the steeple-point of
vantages. Winter can be bru- cheerful and awesome sight of the “Moon the house shape of Cepheus, the King.
tally cold but presents the year’s brightest illusion,” the Moon seeming to loom huge The house is now upside down. Dim this
stars, constellations, and single best neb- when near the horizon. King may be, but he contains the proto-
ula. Spring brings milder nights type Cepheid variable star, Del-
but blander naked-eye skies. ta (d) Cephei, with its short, reg-
Summer offers the overarching ular period, and Mu (m) Cephei,
Milky Way at a time when a a famous red variable star of
vacation may bring you to dark long and not-very-regular peri-
skies where you can properly od. It’s also known as Herschel’s
appreciate it — but nightfall Garnet Star.
doesn’t come until very late, and If you see few or no stars in
then there are the bugs. the vast area below Polaris these
I would choose the autumn, evenings, don’t be surprised.
or more precisely late summer Our map shows that this region
through early autumn, August is occupied by two of the dim-
through October, as the best time mest constellations: Camelopar-
to start an ambitious observing dalis, the Giraffe, and Lynx,
program. This is when the sky is whose inventor, Johannes Hevel-
clear the most often in many ius (1611–1687), explained that
north-temperate lands, and night you need lynx-sharp eyes to see
starts arriving fairly early again. any stars here! These faint con-
Yet we still have good views of stellations, low in the north and
many bright “summer” constel- just past the northern meridian
lations and Milky Way regions. (north-northeast), stand in com-
Later in the autumn these give plete contrast to bright Sagit-
way to dimmer replacements. tarius and Scorpius, low in the
Our sky map on the facing south and just past the southern
page, for August and September meridian (south-southwest). What
evenings, shows the “Summer could be more unlike a giraffe
Triangle” of Vega, Altair, and than a scorpion?
AKIRA FUJII

Deneb at its highest (near the Below Cassiopeia in the north-

zenith, the center of the map) east, Perseus is hopping up from
and the “Summer Milky Way” The stars of Perseus are rising in the northeast on our constellation the horizon, his Double Cluster
only just past its peak height, map at right. Note the Double Cluster at top here. preceding him. From Perseus to
even down at its southern end fairly high in the southeast, the
in Sagittarius and Scorpius. To gain some new perspectives on the combined length of Andromeda and Pega-
Most of these points I’ve made here September evening sky, face the least- sus stretches at full extension, a sure sign
before. But other things about this sea- looked-at direction for most astrono- that autumn is coming. And yet the sap-
son’s evening sky also deserve mention. mers: the north. Turn our sky map up- phire of summer, Vega, still shines serene-
One is that it’s haunted by the Harvest side down so its north horizon is down. ly overhead, and Cygnus, the Swan, has
Moon (the full Moon nearest to the au- You’ll see that Polaris, the North Star, is even now not yet quite reached his peak.
tumnal equinox, thus usually falling in now brightly (though not closely) brack-
September for the Northern Hemisphere). eted by the Big Dipper in the northwest Fred Schaaf welcomes mail at 681 Port Eliz-
Having the bright, nearly full Moon rise and Cassiopeia, the Queen, in the north- abeth-Cumberland Rd., Millville, NJ 08332,
at almost the same time in dusk or early east. Draw a line from Beta (b) Cassio- and e-mail at fschaaf@aol.com.

98 September 2000 Sky & Telescope ©2000 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
 ere sky using
When the
How star chart
h
NOR TH

isp 7h
LYNX
Early August – 11 p.m.*
Late August – 10 p.m.*
Go out within an hour or so of the time listed at left. Turn the map
around so the edge marked with the direction you’re facing is down. The
stars above this horizon on the map now match the stars in front of you.

m
+60°

ο
θ
Early September – 9 p.m.* The map’s center is overhead. So a star plotted halfway from the edge

h
10
4h
PE ELO
CAM λ
µ Late September – Dusk to the center can be found in the sky about halfway from horizontal to
PAR
RS
IS
DAL straight up.
EU In other months:
NE β α For example: Turn the map around so its west horizon is down. About
h ol
Alg
S

γ
M82 M81
OR
AJ A
M RS
NW
Late May – Dawn
Late June – 2 a.m.*
Late July – midnight*
a third of the way from there to the map’s center is the bright yellow-or-
ange star Arcturus. Go out, face west, and look a third of the way from
ern
U β ψ ν
4
M3 C
Do lust +80° α
ξ *Daylight Saving Time horizontal to straight up. There’s Arcturus!
ub er
le
γ
The map is plotted for 40° north latitude (for example, Denver, New York, Madrid). If you’re far
CA
pe
r
south of there, stars in the southern part of the sky will be higher and stars in the north lower.
SS Dip ig

γ
Far north of 40° the reverse is true.
TR
IO ε B
Polaris
IA

PE δ
N

δ
north

GU

IA α OR
AN
AR

MIN A
LU

NE ICI
γ S ε

β
γ
D

R
M
IE

U
lcor

CA AT
S
RO

α & Azar
S

β ζ

N
er ban Mi
β +80° Dipp α Thu

VE
M
M33

e
Littl
β

CE γ

α
ED

COM CES
PH
M5 EU χ 51
A

2 η M
β
M31

A
S ξ

I
ε

N
δ φ ζ
Tear out this monthly map for use outdoors.

PIS

— M39

E
ζ η ι

TES
α

β
δ

BER
CO θ B168
DRA

M3
LA µ
CE

CE

BOÖ
+60°

γ
ξ
α

M39
S

RT

α
β
h
13
A

Deneb
Great Square

β
of Pegasus

γ
1

µ
h

M92

τ
η
North America Nebula — Deneb

α
BOREALIS
β

M13

CORONA
γ

ε
61

η
δ
R

HERCULES
C Y G N U S
EAST

VIRGO

WE ST
s
Zenith ε Vega

Arcturu
µ

α
PEGASUS

δ
M29

α
ε

ζ
Albireo
LYRA

ε
β
γ M57
χ
α

β
VU
β

δ
LPE
Cir cle t

M2 CU

(CAPUNS
β
LA

T)
7 C Y G N U S
ζ

M15

+20°

E
SA
γ

GIT
DE
ε

SERP

M5
TA
LP

α
ζ
W ar

α
α
HI
at

EQ
J

NU

AKIRA FUJII
γ
er

UU

Altair R
S

T O
LE

α
M pt

5
α
A

β 66 U A
Se

US
oo 13

AQU IC 4
Q

θ β E Q
ILA
n

γ
U

η n
70 2
oo 2
A

M1
M2

0° δ β
M ept binocular highlight By Gary Seronik
RI

SERPENS M1
0 S
U S
U

H
β

(CAUDA) C
S

α
λ IU
M11 PH ζ
γ
The Road to the Cocoon
ε

α SCUTUM O
δ
η

A
M16
CA

I
β β love dark nebulae. Seeing these clouds of interstellar dust silhouetted

R
PR θ M17 Moon ν

IB
IC M18 M23 5 against a rich star field seems to give the Milky Way a three-dimensional appear-
M3 OR Sept δ

L
0 –20° M25
NU E ance and make the galaxy look that much more real. One of my favorite dark
S Mo C L I P T M21
M20 σ
Sep on I C M22
α π
nebulae is Barnard 168, or as I call it, the Road to the Cocoon Nebula. When I’m
t9 σ
M8
es M4
M28 M1
9 tar S hunting for the position of the Cocoon (IC 5146) in my finderscope, I follow this
τ An τ I U
SE P narrow finger of darkness to the emission nebula’s telescopic field. B168 stands out
22h ζ
M6
2 R 16h SW
IU S M6 C
O
even better in my 10 × 50 binoculars, which pull in fainter stars than my telescope’s
S A G IT T A R S
ε M7 ε 6 × 30 finderscope. Binoculars will not show the Cocoon itself — it’s simply too faint.
λ Seeing B168 is a challenge that requires skies free from light pollution. The easiest
υ
ffu clu la

µ
Op e n ter
u

CORONA
Va clu la

way to find this dark nebula is to head east-northeast from Deneb about 7° (about
ul eb

s
en ebu

Do ble r
Ga le s r

–40° AUSTRALIS
ria ste

xy r
ub sta
ob y n

la ta

one binocular field) to the pretty open cluster M39, and then move the cluster off to
Di ar
ar

Star magnitudes
et

θ the western edge of your field of view. B168 should be visible on the eastern edge of
an

–1 0 1 2 3 4 19h
Gl
Pl

the field. Of course, the more prominent the Milky Way appears from your location,
the easier it will be to find the Road to the Cocoon.
SOU TH
©2000 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
Sky & Telescope September 2000