Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Wandering From Deep Down to High Above.

Yesterday I talked about the center of the Earth.  Just a Stick suggested that I get back to the universe, and I am going to take his advice.  Let's all go out tonight and look up.  Aren't the stars beautiful and amazing.  Now, let us look for the Pleiades (the Seven Sisters).  OK, at this time of the year, it will straight up overhead at about 04:00 (that is four o'clock in the morning).  If you wait until January it will be overhead around eight pm local time.

I am sure you all have seen the Pleiades, but to refresh your memory, here are some pictures.  That bright cluster of stars is the Seven Sisters:

Maybe this next picture will show them a little better:

And with just a little bit of magnification, you can see all the nebulosity around all those stars:

All you need to see them this well is a good pair of binoculars.  Using too much magnification, like I would have with my largest telescope, would not show the whole picture.  Binoculars are your best bet for viewing the Pleiades.

Not sure how to find them?  OK, here is a map and I have circled them in orange:

 You know that you can click on it to enlarge the picture, don't you?  The Seven Sisters is a fun to observe and you don't need expensive equipment, so go out after dark and look up.  It may open up a whole new world for you, no, not a world, but the whole universe.  Now have a great day and a great night, you hear?
 

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6 comments:

  1. GypsySeptember 3, 2014 at 3:26 PM

    So I need to look up and toward the east? These sky charts always confuse me. I used to have a wonderful computer program called Starry Night or something that was so easy to understand. Now nobody wants anything to look easy,

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    1. Dizzy-DickSeptember 3, 2014 at 3:56 PM

      I had that same program. It was on one of my old computers. You may want to wait until it is higher in the sky, unless you like to get up real early in the morning.

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  2. Billy BobSeptember 3, 2014 at 6:08 PM

    In Galveston Texas, I would look off to the east an' I could see the "Two Sisters". It was located in the "anything goes" area, 29th street if'n I remember right.

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    1. Dizzy-DickSeptember 3, 2014 at 6:29 PM

      Good one, Billy Bob. I bet you could even remember their names. Seven sisters would be just a little too much for any man (grin).

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  3. lotta joySeptember 4, 2014 at 12:57 PM

    Well, now I feel like a bigger idiot than before I arrived here. I have never even thought to use the binoculars when looking at the night sky. I am constantly amazed how clear the stars are since we now live in a fairly clean atmosphere, uncompromised by the pollution up north. I've always yearned for a telescope with a wide eye piece instead of the "squint and peek" type.

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    1. Dizzy-DickSeptember 4, 2014 at 2:27 PM

      Binoculars are just double small telescopes. I have three telescopes, the biggest has a 16 inch diameter mirror. Need a big light bucket here where I live.

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