01/10/2015 Comet Watchers Prefer Dark Skies

Lovejoy

Comet Lovejoy is making a lovely show in the night sky. But it is NOT this bright to the naked eye. A mere greenish smudge is all you can see, even with binoculars. The green color comes from the fluorescence of a molecule made of two carbon atoms. Most comets glow white due to dust surrounding them. This comet is a rare jewel you should make an effort to see! Wikimedia Commons photo.

01/10/2015 – Comet Watchers Prefer Dark Skies

Here it is a new year and like many of you, I feel like it is time to turn over a new leaf, or to at least remake my image. So you may have noticed there is a new photo of me with this column. Unfortunately, it is an up-to-date photo, not a facelift! I have also renamed the column: Brush Country Backyard. This new name reflects that most of my columns originate right here in my own little piece of Brush Country.

As a naturalist, I am committed to keeping my eyes on the ground or scanning the trees. I like to see what is going on in nature. But this time I expanded my view a bit. For this column I looked into deep space for a new natural object: Comet Lovejoy.

Perhaps you have heard of Comet Lovejoy? It was first discovered in the Southern Hemisphere by Australian astronomer Terry Lovejoy. It is the fifth comet he has found. But this comet is the first of those five to be visible in the Northern Hemisphere. The comet is officially known as C/2014 Q2 and it is turning out to be a pretty comet indeed.

Comet Lovejoy is now entering its best viewing phase. The comet is in a moonless sky during the second and third weeks of January, 2015. It is also at its brightest, at a magnitude of 4. This means it is visible with the naked eye.

Orion

This diagram shows the main stars in the constellation Orion, the Hunter. The three stars in a line in the center represent his belt. His sword is attached below the belt. The other four stars forming a rectangle are the shoulder stars (Betelgeuse and Bellatrix) and the knee stars (Saiph and Rigel). This bright constellation is visible in the evening sky from December through April. Comet Lovejoy is moving “upward” on the right side of Orion. Robert Benson diagram.

This diagram shows the main stars in the constellation Orion, the Hunter. The three stars in a line in the center represent his belt. His sword is attached below the belt. The other four stars forming a rectangle are the shoulder stars (Betelgeuse and Bellatrix) and the knee stars (Saiph and Rigel). This bright constellation is visible in the evening sky from December through April. Comet Lovejoy is moving “upward” on the right side of Orion. Robert Benson diagram.

 

 

When I say “visible,” I don’t mean bright. I mean just barely visible. But I was determined to see it if I could.

The moon was full on the evening of January 5th. A full moon rises at sunset and illuminates the night sky for hours. It was too bright a night to see such a dim object as Comet Lovejoy.

However, on the night of January 6th, the moon rose about an hour later and there was a period when the sky was dark enough to make out the comet.

The trick is in knowing where to look. Right now Comet Lovejoy is west of the constellation Orion. (You do know that constellation, don’t you? If not, you need to familiarize yourself with it first!)

My daughter and her boyfriend pointed out Orion to me and said look for the two stars making up Orion’s knees.   I didn’t even know Orion had knees! I found those knee stars: Saiph on the left, and the much brighter Rigel on the right. (I guess if you imagine Orion the Hunter facing you, then Rigel would actually be his left knee, but that just confuses things.)

Anyway, my companions said to look to the right of Rigel at about the same distance as there is between Rigel and Saiph. I did. What I saw was: Nothing!

Only greyness; not even any stars. Using my binoculars, I could see a few dim stars in the area. I looked a tiny bit higher in the sky and there it was: a slightly green smudge in the sky.

A smudge is a good way to describe a comet. With binoculars, you can try to focus on it (to get it to be a pinpoint of light, like a star), but you cannot. It stays blurred even at the best focus.

Once I had found it with my binoculars, I tried to see it with my naked eye. I imagined I did. At least, I knew where it was and my eyes did their best to make it be there. Comet Lovejoy is visible only to the best of eyes, under the best of conditions.

I wondered: did we have the best of conditions? Perhaps not. South Texas is rural ranch country and should have optimally dark skies. However, the recent surge in oil production in our area has resulted in gas flares, lighted drilling sites, and an overly-lit gas gathering plant. This gas facility is less than a mile from my home and makes the sky to the northwest as bright as a city.

It is a pity that in order to have economic progress you have to give up a precious natural resource: the starry, starry night.

But maybe we don’t have to. Since 1988, the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) has been working to save the night skies in all their glory. The solution is simple: Shield all nighttime light fixtures so their light goes only down, not outward and upward. This doesn’t mean you must give up convenience or safety. As long as the illumination is controlled in its direction, (which is where you need it to be!), there is very little light pollution of the night sky.

The IDA (www.darksky.org) grants official certification to parks, communities, and reserves working to conserve the night sky. It is called the Dark Sky Places Program. Several locations in Texas have received the highest rating for a dark sky. Big Bend National Park and the nearby Big Bend Ranch State Park as well as the community of Dripping Springs have earned the coveted Dark Sky Places awards. And in 2014, two more Texas locations, Enchanted Rock State Natural Area and Copper Breaks State Park, have achieved this recognition.   This is wonderful for all of us who wish to enjoy the beauties of the night sky.

A wonderful article about Dark Sky Places came out in the Jan-Feb 2015 issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine. Read it and then go out and take a look at your own night sky. Is it dark enough to see the Milky Way? I hope so.

In the coming days, watch for Comet Lovejoy. Show it to someone you love, perhaps a child. All it takes is a clear night, a little perseverance, and you can make a memory to last a lifetime.

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