The North America and Pelican nebulas
Sometimes, there are things in the night sky that look like familiar objects. The Horse Head Nebula comes to mind, as does the so-called “Man in the Moon” that some people can see when the Moon is full. As a child, I remember having the Man in the Moon pointed out to me, but it wasn’t until I was in my teens that I could really see what people could imagine as a face.
Last month, I tried photographing the North America Nebula in the constellation Cygnus the Swan. Its red nebulosity really does resemble the North American Continent with a bit of Mexico thrown in. This is not a naked-eye object, so don’t go looking for it just using your eyes. Even binoculars will not show it — it can only be photographed.
Recently, I had gotten a fast telephoto lens, f2, and I wanted to see what I could get. I present the results with this column. The sharp-eyed reader might discern that there is also the shape of a pelican to the right side of the North America Nebula. It is appropriately called the Pelican Nebula for obvious reasons. Both of these can always be photographed together if one has a widefield lens and one knows where to aim the camera. The image I share is a stack of 15 5-minute images, combined with free software I have that allows this. Of course, I had to use a telescope mount that tracks, that is, compensates for the Earth’s rotation in 24 hours.
September is now the prime time to view Jupiter and Saturn. These two gas giant planets are just a little bit east of south in the night sky and they can be seen when the sky gets dark. If you have even a modest telescope, you can see Jupiter very well and, though it is dimmer, you can see
Saturn and its rings, trailing Jupiter slightly to the southeast. Don’t miss them if you have any chance at all to see them. They will be easy to see for the next two months but then, because of the Earth’s orbital movement around the Sun, they will disappear behind the Sun and reappear next year as morning objects.
If you get up before dawn, look for Mars southsoutheast but higher up, towards the zenith. Mars is close enough to see, even with just your eyes, that it is reddish and it doesn’t twinkle. Again, if you have a telescope, you might see Mars pretty well as a reddish disc. Mars will be closest to Earth on Oct. 6. Let’s dispel a myth here: Mars will not be much bigger in the night sky when it is closest on Oct. 6 than it appears now. It will not be as big as Earth and not be as big as the Moon. I don’t know how this myth got started, but it circulates on the web each time Mars is at its closest. I will photograph it if I can and I hope that there is not a Marswide dust storm as there was the last time Mars came closest to Earth.
Directly east at dawn will be our sister planet, Venus. Other than the Sun and the Moon, it will be the brightest object in the morning sky. In a telescope, Venus will look like a featureless cue ball. Still … interesting to look at …
Don’t miss the Milky Way in September. It will be that faint band of stars crossing the night sky after dark, ranging from directly south to the northeast. Binoculars will show you wonders!
As we move through September and October, the night skies may become quite clear and steady. Before winter comes, get out there and look!