Howdy Star Gazers and welcome to this episode
of Star Trails. Drew here, and I'll be your guide
to the night sky for the week starting July 27th
through August 2nd. This week dual meteor showers
have the potential to light up the sky. Mars,
dances with the moon, and a recent supernova
may be visible depending on where you live. And
later in the show, another ground -breaking discovery
has likely solved one of the long -standing mysteries
of the constellation Orion. Whether you're tuning
in from the backyard, the balcony, or just your
imagination, I'm glad you're here. So find a
cozy spot, let your eyes adjust, and let's see
what the sky holds for us this week. Tonight
and tomorrow a very thin waxing crescent moon
glides through the western evening sky. Tonight
it appears just a few degrees from Mars and by
the 28th it is shifted slightly to lie southeast
of the red planet. This makes for a simple but
beautiful binocular and naked eye pairing shortly
after sunset. By the end of the week the moon
reaches its first quarter phase, rising at sunset
and dominating the early evening sky, before
continuing to wax toward full in early August.
Late July brings a celestial double feature.
The Southern Delta Aquarids and Alpha Capricornids
peak during the night of July 29 into the early
hours of July 30. Under pre -dawn darkness, these
two showers can combine for as many as 25 meteors
per hour, with the Capricornids often producing
slower moving fireballs. With a low moon just
after first quarter, the dimmer meteors should
still be visible, especially if you face south
under clear skies. From your backyard around
sunset, Mars, as we've already mentioned, glows
in the western sky, sinking lower each night
as it transitions from Leo into Virgo. Saturn
climbs the eastern horizon later in the evening
and becomes an inviting target after 10 p .m.,
rising higher throughout the night. In the pre
-dawn eastern sky, Venus and Jupiter make for
a stunning duo, with Venus blazing brightly and
Jupiter steadily climbing beside it. This pairing
continues into early August, setting the stage
for a dramatic conjunction around mid -month.
Let's talk about some constellations and deep
-sky objects. as night falls look east to spot
Aquila the eagle soaring higher with its brilliant
star Altair, forming one of the vertices of the
famous summer triangle, along with stars Vega
and Deneb. By about 11pm, that triangle is high
overhead and unmistakable. Low to the south,
Scorpius and Sagittarius reveal a rich tapestry
of Milky Way star fields, nebula, and clusters,
especially early in the evening before they dip
too low. Using binoculars or a small telescope,
check out NGC 6709, a bright open cluster in
Aquila shining with dozens of stars scattered
across the field. You may also want to turn your
optics towards NGC 5634, a compact globular cluster
within Virgo, which presents a tight ball of
faint stars just beyond what's visible to the
naked eye. Viewers in the southern hemisphere
have been enjoying a very rare cosmic event.
Nova V462 lupi. Discovered back in June, it rose
from an invisible magnitude plus 22 star to become
visible to the naked eye in less than a week.
It peaked around magnitude 5 .5 on June 20th,
briefly shining as a new point of light in the
constellation Lupus. This explosion occurred
in a binary system where a white dwarf siphoned
gas from a companion star until reaching ignition.
That thermonuclear blast suddenly super brightened
the system without destroying the white dwarf
itself. Observers in the southern hemisphere
had the best view, but lucky stargazers in southern
parts of the US, including Texas, Florida, and
California, have also reported seeing it low
on the southern horizon. By late July, the NOVA
is still estimated around magnitude 5 .9, so
it's fading slightly, but remains within reach
using binoculars or small telescopes under dark
skies if you have an unobstructed southern horizon.
If you're located below roughly 40 to 45 degrees
north latitude, step outside between 10 and 11
pm local time. Face the south and look within
a few degrees of delta and beta lupi and Kappa
Centauri to find the nova using star -hopping
techniques. As always, a stargazing app such
as Stellarium will help you easily locate these
stars. Coming up, we'll explore a new discovery
that has likely unlocked one of the secrets of
the constellation Orion. That's after the break.
Stay with us. It's no exaggeration to say this
summer has been one for the books when it comes
to space news. From the discovery of one of the
most massive comets ever spotted, to distant
spiral galaxies that challenge ideas of how galaxies
form, we've been swimming in discoveries lately.
And they keep coming. Today, we set our sights
on a red supergiant that's been a fixture in
our sky for centuries and a mystery that's endured
for just as long. We're talking about Betelgeuse,
the unmistakable crimson star marking the shoulder
of Orion. If you've spent time under winter skies,
you've definitely seen it, and if you've followed
astronomy headlines over the past few years,
you've maybe heard about its antics, from unexpected
dimming events to speculation that it might be
gearing up for a supernova. But one mystery surrounding
Betelgeuse has remained unsolved until now. Astronomers
have long known that Betelgeuse pulses and varies
in brightness. It swells and contracts on a regular
cycle of about 400 days. That's not unusual for
a star in its late stages of life. But Betelgeuse
also shows a second, far slower rhythm, brightening
and dimming over the course of about six years.
For decades, this longer cycle has baffled scientists.
This summer, researchers may have finally cracked
the case. Using a cutting -edge, high -resolution
imager attached to the Gemini North Telescope
in Hawaii, astronomers caught sight of something
hiding in plain sight. A small, faint companion
star nestled right up against Betelgeuse's glowing
atmosphere. It's being nicknamed Betel Buddy,
and it might be the key to solving this thousand
-year -old puzzle. Betelgeuse is so massive and
bright that spotting a companion is incredibly
difficult. It's like trying to see a firefly
next to a spotlight. But the Gemini North Scope
is designed for exactly this kind of work. Using
rapid -fire exposures to cancel out atmospheric
turbulence, it was able to tease out the faint
signature of a blue -white star orbiting close
to Betelgeuse. This tiny companion is thought
to be a young, hot star about one and a half
times the mass of our Sun. That makes it minuscule
compared to Betelgeuse, which is hundreds of
times the Sun's diameter, and so distended it's
practically spilling into space. But what this
smaller star lacks in size, it makes up for in
drama. The discovery helps explain the strange
six -year cycle. As the companion star orbits,
it moves through Betelgeuse's thick cloud of
expelled dust and gas, essentially clearing a
temporary path, like a snowplow, carving a lane
through a fog of cosmic debris. When this happens,
more of Betelgeuse's light reaches us here on
Earth, making the star appear brighter for a
time. Once the companion continues on its orbit
and the dust drifts back in, Betelgeuse dims
again. This orbital dance appears to happen every
2100 days, just about six years, perfectly matching
the observed long -period variation. But there's
more. The two stars are shockingly close. The
companion star lies just about four astronomical
units away from Betelgeuse, or roughly the distance
from our Sun to Jupiter. That's a very tight
orbit for a red supergiant and a recipe for cosmic
intimacy. Tidal forces are already at play, and
simulations suggest Betelgeuse may one day engulf
its companion entirely. If that happens, we could
witness a kind of stellar cannibalism, the slow
spiraling merger of two stars. Maybe within the
next 10 ,000 years, beetle buddy could become
one with the beast. Interestingly, this is the
first time astronomers have directly imaged a
close companion orbiting a red supergiant, which
is something that was only theoretical until
now. It shows that some of the long -term brightness
variations we see in giant stars may not be caused
by internal pulsations alone, but by the gravitational
influence of a companion. stirring up their outer
layers. Betelgeuse, which once seemed like a
lone giant nearing the end of its life, is now
revealed to be part of a binary system, and that
changes the way we think about its future and
its past. In 2027, the companion star will swing
around to the far side of its orbit, reaching
its maximum separation from Betelgeuse. That
will be the next big opportunity for astronomers
to observe and study it again, possibly with
even greater detail. So the next time you spot
that glowing red dot in Orion, remember, Beetlejuice
has company. And it's not just putting on a solo
act, it's dancing with a partner, one we've only
just discovered after centuries of watching and
wondering. If the stars spoke to you this week,
or if a question's been on your mind, I'd love
to hear it. Visit our website, StarTrails .Show,
where you can contact me and explore past episodes.
Be sure to follow us on Blue Sky and YouTube.
Links are in the show notes. Until we meet again
beneath the stars, clear skies everyone.