ST. CROIX Sky Watch

APRIL 23 / MAY 2023

Once the Sun sets and the sky over the Virgin Islands begins to grow dark, a bright star-like object will appear low in the northwest sky; this is the third brightest natural object in the sky, the planet Venus. (Only the Sun and Moon are brighter.) As the sky grows darker a somewhat less bright reddish object will become visible higher in the western sky, the red planet Mars.

Right now, Mars is found just lower in the sky than two fairly bright stars of about the same brightness, Castor and Pollux, the heads of the twin brothers, the Gemini.

If you are facing toward Venus or Mars you are more-or-less facing west. Turn to your left and look for seven stars forming what is perhaps the best known of all the star groups, the Big Dipper. Look for the seven bright stars that form the Big Dipper. Three stars mark the dipper’s handle and four more the bowl. Now the Big Dipper is part of Ursa Major, the Great Bear. The bowl of the dipper is the bear’s body, fainter stars’ mark the bear’s legs and head. And the three stars of the bowl? They mark the bear’s long tail. There is only one problem; bears do not have long tails! According to one legend, a mighty hunter was fighting the bear, grabbed the bear by the tail and flung the bear into the heavens. In doing so, he stretched the bear’s tail!

The hunter supposedly hurled two bears into the heavens. Look at the Big Dipper and draw a line through the two stars at the end of the bowl. Extend the line onwards toward the northern horizon. You will come to a somewhat faint star at the end of the handle of a smaller and fainter dipper. This is indeed the Little Dipper and it is part of Ursa Minor, the Lesser Bear. The star at the end of the handle is Polaris, the North Star. As you can see, it is not the brightest star in the sky as some people think. No, Polaris is only important now because it is almost directly over the north pole of the earth. So, as the earth turns and all the stars seem to circle the heavens, Polaris stays in about the same place. If you did not know which way was north, if you could find the Big Dipper and then draw that line to find the North Star, you would know which way was North.

You can use the Big Dipper to find your way around the sky. Once again draw the line through the two stars at the end of the bowl, but this time extend the line away from the North Star. You will come to a bright star, Regulus. Regulus is the dot at the base of a backwards question mark. A little to the east of the backwards question mark you will find a small triangle of stars. You have now found Leo, the Lion. Regulus marks the Lion’s heart; the backwards question mark forms the Lion’s head and front; the triangle the Lion’s hind quarters and tail.

Now go back to the Big Dipper and look at its curved handle. Follow the arc of the handle away from the Dipper to the bright star Arcturus, in Boötes, the Herdsman. Boötes is also known as the bear driver, since he seems to be driving the Great Bear, Ursa Major, across the sky. Once you have followed the arc to Arcturus, speed on to Spica, another bright star. Spica is a grain of wheat being held in the hand of Virgo, the goddess of the harvest.

The night of April 22nd-23rd is the maximum of the Lyrids Meteor Shower. This meteor shower produces about 20 meteors or shooting stars per hour at its peak. The flashes of light from the Lyrid meteors can sometimes produce bright dust trails that last for several seconds.

In early May, as it does every year, the Earth will pass through a cloud of dust left behind by Halley’s Comet. As these small particles burn up some 50 miles overhead, we see a meteor shower. The Eta Aquarids is an above average shower, which can produce up to 60 meteors per hour. Unfortunately, this year, the bright light of the nearly Full Moon will overpower all but the brightest shooting stars.

For either meteor shower, you will need to be in a good dark location and the best time to look is between midnight and dawn. If you are up that later (or early), look to the east for a bright star-like object, the planet Saturn.