Here are some tips for beginning star gazers

Bob Doyle, Columnist

Our October Planetarium program deals what you can learn about the heavens with your eye alone.

This program, called “Bare Eye Astronomy” is free and open to the public each Sunday at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. through the end of October. (The Planetarium is in Tawes 302, between the University Student Center and the Compton Science Center.)

This column will deal with beginning steps for sky gazing that are not covered in our Planetarium presentation.

Most of us need to find a good place to view the sky, free of towering trees and nearby buildings. Do this during the day, when you can walk around your yard or visit a nearby ball field or vacant lot.

To get your directions, notice your shadow in the middle of the day (about 1 p.m., since we are now on Daylight Time, having set our clocks forward an hour in early March). Your mid day shadow points north.

Alternatively, you can notice the sun at its rising, when it is nearly in the East. The sun sets nearly in the west. If you face the direction of the sunset, extend your right arm away from your body and it will point North.

Go to your public library and check out a book on the stars that features monthly star maps. Even a book decades old will show the stars seen in your backyard accurately as the star groups scarcely change over centuries.

Then get a small cheap flashlight and use it with some nearly dead batteries that will just barely light the bulb. This is the perfect light for looking at star maps without losing your eye sensitivity to faint stars. Alternatively, find some red cellophane paper or red construction paper and paste it over the bulb end of the flashlight; this red glow will also allow you to switch from the star map to the night stars easily.

Once you have a circular star map, how do you use it? As you rotate the map, you will see the four directions printed at the bottom of the circle.

So if you see north at the bottom, the lower part of the star map is what you see as you face north. From the north horizon to the middle of the map is 90 degrees, a quarter of 360 and a right triangle.

Halfway from north horizon to the middle of the star map is 45 degrees altitude. Just below halfway shines the North Star, a modest star that stays fixed through the night.

The Earth’s North Pole very nearly points at the star. So as the Earth turns, this ordinary looking star seems to be the center of a huge turning sky wheel on which are pinned the other stars, the planets and the moon.

The brightest object in the night sky is the moon. In the daily weather section of the Cumberland Times-News are listed the times of sunrise, sunset, moonrise and moonset. Check the time when the moon can be seen in the evening sky.

If the moon is growing in lighted width each night, you will notice that the moon sets during the night. So all the time before its setting will be your chance to view the moon.

But if the moon is shrinking in lighted width, you will notice that the moon rises during the night. You will have to wait till moonrise before the moon is visible.

This is how the moon will be the week ahead, having reached full phase on the first weekend of October.

The nearer planets all appear as steady points of light, not twinkling as the night stars. The time of opposition is useful to know for these planets. Opposition means that the planet appears opposite to the sun, beginning a period of evening viewing that lasts about four to five months.

The giant planet Jupiter was in opposition to the sun on Aug. 14, meaning that Jupiter can be easily seen on September, October, November and December evenings. The next bright planet to reach opposition will be Mars in late January 2010, making Mars easy to spot in the evening sky from late winter through early spring of next year.

In each season there are some striking star groups and bright stars seen in the evening sky each year.

On fall evenings, the star group Cassiopeia (like a tilted M) and the bright golden star Capella are newcomers to view in the northeastern sky.

The winter evening sky is dominated by Orion, an hour glass shaped figure and the very bright star Sirius, all appearing in the Southeast.

The spring evening skies feature the Big Dipper upside down in the North. The Dipper’s handle arcs to Arcturus, a bright golden star, the brightest star seen on late spring evenings. Summer evenings features the Summer Triangle, nearly overhead and the star group Scorpius, as a letter J low in the south.

The moon is now a dawn sight and drawing closer to the sun each day. Tomorrow at dawn, a nearly half full moon will appear below the planet Mars.

On Tuesday, the brilliant planet Venus will appear just below the planet Saturn low in the 6:15 a.m. eastern dawn.

On Friday, a slender crescent moon will appear near the planets Venus and Saturn in the 6:30 a.m. eastern dawn. (Times stated are based on the sunrise and the elevation of these objects above the horizon.)

Bob Doyle invites comments and questions from readers. You can talk to him personally at the Planetarium programs at Frostburg State by leaving a message on his phone at (301) 687-7799 or email him at rdoyle@frostburg.edu .