Winter Night Skies Cold winter air tends to be drier with lower humidity than the summer, which makes it easier to observe stars By Mary Beth Roach
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f you are looking for a new activity to pass the winter months in Central New York, you only need to look up. The skies can provide you and your family with hours of viewing and learning of constellations and astral phenomenon that will have you over the moon. Bob Piekiel, a member of the Central New York Observers and Observing group, offers some tips for beginners — how best to see the stars and planets and what can best be seen in the winter skies. Born in 1961, he was captivated by the Apollo space program during
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its heyday in the 1960s, and his love of the skies has not dimmed over the years. Pre-pandemic, Piekiel has led public programs at Beaver Lake Nature Center, Baltimore Woods and Green Lakes State Park, for example, and has written as many as 10 books and publications on telescope design, telescope history and certain accessories. To start your journey of the heavens, Piekiel suggested a book titled “The Stars,” by H.A. Rey, who was famous for his “Curious George” series. Rey illustrates the constellations in the sky by drawing lines between the stars so that they look what they’re actually named for, Piekiel said. The book also
CNY WINTER GUIDE
During the winter, the most popular group of stars we can observe is the Orion constellation. “No other constellation has as many bright stars as it does,” said Bob Piekiel, a member of the Central New York Observers and Observing. shows you how to find them in the night sky during any season; it provides charts for year-round skywatching, and its publisher reprints every several years to keep the information updated. “That’s your guidepost right there,” he said. To view the skies, you’ll want a telescope or binoculars. Each instrument has its advantages. Binoculars have a wider field of view than telescopes, he explained, so you can actually see several objects or several types of objects better, such as star clusters and star fields that are so vast. The telescope will zoom in on a small object and make it appear bigger, brighter and more detailed, he noted. If you want to see the rings of Saturn, the moons of Jupiter, the surface features on mars or craters on the moon, you’re going to need a telescope with higher magnification than binoculars can pro-
