Last night while looking at the stars in the constellation Gemini I noticed a strange anomaly. An uncharted star north west of the M35 Star Cluster at the foot of Castor. The star was very bright, and reddish gold in hue, similar to Betelgeuse in Orion but much brighter. I began to investigate this anomaly.

How do we investigate an anomaly in science? We follow the Scientific Method that's what we do.

We begin by gathering facts. Facts about location,brightness,movement. Not only facts about the unidentified object but about other known objects in the night sky. Could this be one of them?

The next thing we do is to analyze our facts and come up with an idea of what this object might be.

Then we test our idea and see if we're right.

To summarize:

1. gather facts
2. explain them
3. test the explanation

My investigation proceeded along sensible lines. I restricted my fact gathering duties to objects in Gemini. None of the static images or sky maps of the night sky contained my unidentified object, however the internet now contains dynamic sky maps that are regularly updated showing the position of moving objects in the night sky.

Eventually after searching for hours on the internet. I discovered:

I searched for the constellation Gemini, and there it was my unidentified and uncharted object, clearly marked. Mars.

This is the first time I have seen a planet and known its name and what it was. I am an astronomer. Many people see, but few understand the night sky. This is the benefit of learning the constellations and dividing the night sky into sectors. When you see something you don't understand and can't identify you don't say. "It was in the sky". You say. "It was in Gemini. You confine your search to a particular area.

Anyway here are some things I know about Mars.

	Distance from Sun: 250km 1.67AU* Orbits the Sun in: 686 days Spins round on its own axis:779 days Moons: 2 Its Red color is caused by iron oxide on its surface. Most of all Mars is a beautiful planet, and the first planet I have ever seen and identified.
Mars as seen by the Hubble Telescope

I'll keep you all updated on the voyage of Mars as it orbits the Sun.

Until next time

Michael

* AU stands for Astronomical Unit. It is the distance from Earth to the Sun 93 million miles 150 million km. Useful when talking about the Solar System.

We monitor the world of astronomy, surely someone else has observed this object.

Ok so I'd found Orion and now I wanted to find my next constellation. Orion isn't just a beautiful and interesting constellation, it's a fantastic tool for finding other constellations. If we draw a line from Rigel, the right foot (as we look at it) of Orion through Betelgeuse the left shoulder of Orion, and continue the line on so the line is twice the distance between Rigel and Betelgeuse we arrive at the constellation Gemini.

Two different ways of drawing gemini

 The two stars that really stand out in Gemini are Pollux and Castor.Both stars are  of the first order of magnitude¹ Pollux is on the left and Castor on the right. These two stars are the heads of the two twins and share their names.

The brightest stars often have traditional names but they also have what's called a bayer designation. A specific star is identified by a Greek letter, followed by the genitive form of its parent constellation's Latin name, for example Castors's bayer designation is Alpha Geminorum, Pollux's is Beta Geminorum.

1 Astronomers use a special term to talk about the brightness of stars. The term is "magnitude". The magnitude scale was invented by the ancient Greeks around 150 B.C. The Greeks put the stars they could see into six groups. They put the brightest stars into group 1, and called them magnitude 1 stars. Stars that they could barely see were put into group 6. So, in the magnitude scale, bright stars have lower numbers.

A star that is one magnitude number lower than another star is about two-and-a-half times brighter. A magnitude 3 star is 2.5 times brighter than a magnitude 4 star. A magnitude 4 star is 2.5 times brighter than a magnitude 5 star.

A star that is five magnitude numbers lower than another star is exactly 100 times brighter. A magnitude 1 star is 100 times brighter than a magnitude 6 star.

Astronomers had to add some numbers to the magnitude scale since the times of the ancient Greeks. We now have lower, even negative, magnitudes for very bright objects like the Sun and Moon. We also have magnitudes higher than six for very dim stars that can be seen with telescopes.

The brightest star in the sky is Sirius. It has a magnitude of minus 1.4. The planet Mars is sometimes as bright as magnitude -2.8. Another planet, Venus, can shine as bright as magnitude -4.4. The Full Moon is a brilliant magnitude -12.6. And don't ever look at the Sun. At magnitude -26.8 the Sun's rays can damage your eyes!

until tomorrow, Michael

Beginnings

For two weeks now I have been studying astronomy. Astronomy¹ is the science that deals with the Universe beyond the Earth. It describes the nature, position, and motion of the stars, planets, and other objects in the skies, and their relation to the Earth.

Sir Patrick Moore

Sir Patrick Moore, a very famous British astronomer hosts a television program called "The Sky at Night". He advises budding astronomers like myself, not to purchase expensive telescopes and binoculars but to get a star map, and study the sky.

I got my star map: http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/time/maps.html
and began to study the sky.

Soon I had found my first constellation, Orion (The Hunter).



It is thought the name Orion came from the ancient Akkadian term Uru-Anna meaning The Light of Heaven.

Orion stands out in the night sky because of an asterism² called Orion's belt, comprised
of three bright stars in a row Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka .
You should be able to find it quite easily, from these stars alone.

Betelgeuse and Bellatrix form Orion's shoulders, and Rigel and Saiph his feet.

Betelgeuse is a big star. If it were where the Sun is its surface would be beyond the orbit of Mars. We on earth would be deep inside it.

Hanging from Orion's belt is his sword consisting of Trapezium and the Orion Nebula.

Being so bright and distinctive the constellation, was recognized by many ancient civilizations, Greek, Japanese, Egyptian, all of whom gave it names. Some saw it as a shepherd, some as a warrior with a bow and arrow, and others as two brothers fighting over a fish.

Orion is a thing of great beauty but also a useful tool in finding other constellations and navigating the night sky.

I'll talk more about finding my way around the night sky in my next installment. 1 The word Astronomy derives
from the Greek "astron" which means star and "nomos"
which means "arranging".

2 A conspicuous star pattern that is not recognized as a constellation. Asterisms may constitute a part of a larger constellation, as in the case of the seven stars in Ursa Major that make up the Big Dipper, or they may be formed of individual stars in several different constellations, as in the case of the Summer Triangle, made up of Deneb (in Cygnus), Altair (in Aquila), and Vega (in Lyra).