Stars

Whew! It was really an amazing day for stargazing! The night sky was extraordinarily clear, and I daresay I would've seen many more stars were I in a darker locale than this light-polluted suburban housing estate.

Generally, it was very satisfactory, except for a few constellations:

-Virgo and Bootes; because only one star each was visible in the pre-dawn.
-Cetus and Andromeda; because they are such large constellations and the fact that I only saw one or two stars each means I'm missing out on the 'big picture', literally.
-Aries, Triangulum and Columba; because I've never seen them before (thus making them somewhat harder to appreciate). Being partially covered by trees or roofs doesn't help either

Gemini, Perseus, Auriga, Canis Major and Taurus were magnificent tonight, and Orion proved once again why it is the most spectacular constellation in the sky.

What follows is a log of the constellations I spotted today, and the stars of which I actually saw:


Morning, (7 a.m.):

1. Virgo (The Virgin)
-Spica (saw it slightly below Jupiter)

2. Bootes (The Herdsman)
-Arcturus


Evening, (10 p.m.):

1. Orion (The Hunter)
-saw virtually everything except the club and the shield

2. Taurus (The Bull)
-Aldebaran
-Zeta Tauri
-Beta Tauri
-Pleiades (open cluster)
-Lambda Tauri
-Xi Tauri

3. Canis Major (The Greater Dog)
- Sirius
-Beta Canis Majoris
-Omicron (2) Canis Majoris
-Delta Canis Majoris
-Epsilon Canis Majoris
-Eta Canis Majoris
-Zeta Canis Majoris

4. Canis Minor (The Lesser Dog)
-Procyon
-Beta Canis Minoris

5. Gemini (The Twins)
-Castor
-Pollux
-Epsilon Geminorum
-Mu Geminorum
-Gamma Geminorum
-Eta Geminorum

6. Lepus (The Hare)
-Arneb
-Beta Leporis
-Mu Leporis
-Epsilon Leporis
-Zeta Leporis

7. Cetus (The Sea Monster)
-Alpha Ceti

8. Aries (The Ram)
-Alpha Arietis
-Beta Arietis

9. Triangulum (The Triangle)
-Beta Trianguli

10. Perseus
-Alpha Persei
-Algol
-Delta Persei
-Epsilon Persei
-Zeta Persei

11. Auriga (The Charioteer)
-Capella
-Beta Aurigae
-Theta Aurigae
-Eta/Zeta Aurigae
-Iota Aurigae
-Epsilon Aurigae

12. Columba (The Dove)
-Alpha Columbae
-Beta Columbae

13. Andromeda
-Beta Andromedae
-Gamma Andromedae


In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth... And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so.

- Genesis 1:1, 14-15 (NIV)