2014 HIGHLIGHTS...ANOTHER YEAR OF CELESTIAL FRIENDS

 Two eclipses of the Moon during the “graveyard shift” of early morning will highlight the stargazing in our celestial skies for 2014.

       April 15 the Moon slips into the Earth’s shadow beginning at 2:46 am and be total at 3:46 am. The same celestial magic happens again Oct. 8^th, but dawn will ruin the total phase on our Eastern USA coast. 

Lunar Eclipse October 2004
Photo by MarQ

       The planet Jupiter dominates the winter and late spring as the third brightest star in Gemini the Twins, joining brothers Pollux and Castor.  And then the will be the April close approach of Mars to Earth.   The third and fourth planets will be about 55 million miles apart on April 8th, not super close but a distance that will make it easy to see dark surface markings and bright white polar caps.

The planet Venus will become the pre-sunrise beacon in the east through summer, while Mercury will play its usual back and forth in the morning and evening horizons twice throughout the year.

       The year ends with Saturn bejeweling the autumn in Virgo, a sight in a telescope that simply says “astronomy.”

       Any astronomy year is full of surprises, new discoveries and a closer understanding of just where we humans on Earth fit into the grand scheme of the Universe.  There could be a comet come out of nowhere (like Hale-Bopp in 1997, or there might be another destructive asteroid collide with Earth, like the Russian explosion in February 2013.  Maybe Mars rover Curiosity will turn over a rock and find a fossilized fish skeleton!  Now, THAT would be a surprise for the ages.

Saturn South Pole Hexagonal Vortex

       And there will no doubt be more fabulous images of Saturn and its retinue of fascinating moons from the billion dollar Cassini spacecraft, now in its 10^th year orbiting the ringed world.  One area under study this year is the unique hexagonal hurricane in the center of the south pole, as well as the environment on moon Titan’s surface of lakes and rivers made up of minus -200 liquid methane.

        In the human space frontier, the International Space Station is experiencing its 13^th year of continued occupancy with 12 more astronauts that make up Expeditions 39 and 40 taking residence for 5-month stints.  Business as usual will include more supply missions with modules built by two private contractors who have billion dollar contracts with NASA. 

Still the only ticket to ride to the ISS is the Russian Soyuz TMZ spacecraft—its first generation flown 45 years ago. And an expensive ticket it is with NASA spending up to $60 million for one of three seats on the cramped Soyuz space capsule.

ISS Captures Dragon supply ship 2013

The New Year will show progress in the building of NASA’s four-man Orion space capsule, much like the Apollo spaceship of the 1960s.  And private space entrepreneur Space X is involved in test to convert its Dragon spaceship into a manned vehicle for trips to the ISS. 

       One unique aspect of a new year of stargazing is looking forward to seeing the same old celestial friends that avid amateur astronomers have become familiar with—much like old friends.

       For instance, watching Orion leap over the eastern horizon on its side and then standing straight up in the direct south hours later as a rite of the Winter season.  And with a backyard telescope, there are dozens of celestial sites that include the Great Nebula of Orion, The Pleiades star cluster, and brightest star of all, Sirius.

Orion the Hunter

       When Leo is seen rising in the east, it’s time to think of Spring, reinforced when Hercules joins the early evening.  Then the parallelogram of stars that make up Lyra the Harp with brilliant star Vega signifies Summer time.  And when the Great Square of Pegasus rides high in the eastern sky in the early evening, it’s Autumn time.  And then, again, appears Orion as the cycle of Earth orbiting the Sun continues.

Think of our 365 and one-fourth day trip around the Sun as being on an 800 million mile circle race track.  The Sun is in the middle, and we start out the year looking at the stars of Orion and company in Turn 1. As we approach Turn 2, the grandstands represent the stars of Spring with Leo and friends.  The backstretch is filled constellations that lead into Turn 3 and the Summer stars.  Finally, Turn 4 is where the Autumn stars are seen as we whizz by at 30,000 mph. 

When down the front stretch and looking at Winter’s starry wonders in the stands, we can’t see the stars of Summer on the backstretch of the orbital racetrack because of the bright Sun.  They are in the daytime sky.  So every celestial lap, we are looking in the grandstands of stars, and briefly enjoying the sights as we move at a predictable speed governed by the gravity of the Sun and laws of physics.

That is what makes every celestial year a special one, reacquainting the stargazer with the familiar starry friends.  After all, they are always there—and never let you down.