WEBVTT 00:00:07.879 --> 00:00:11.000 Howdy Star Gazers and welcome to this episode 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:14.699 of Star Trails. My name is Drew and I'll be your 00:00:14.699 --> 00:00:17.379 guide to the night sky for the week of January 00:00:17.379 --> 00:00:21.820 the 25th through the 31st. This week we take 00:00:21.820 --> 00:00:25.000 a break from science to ground ourselves in the 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:28.660 reality of the night sky and how to stay motivated 00:00:28.660 --> 00:00:31.879 when the stars aren't cooperating. I'll talk 00:00:31.879 --> 00:00:34.280 about frustrations when dealing with the night 00:00:34.280 --> 00:00:37.600 sky and how to manage expectations when it comes 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:42.000 to the myth of the perfect night sky. Later in 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:44.840 the show we'll survey the celestial objects worth 00:00:44.840 --> 00:00:47.939 our attention this week and check in with the 00:00:47.939 --> 00:00:51.219 sun after several days of intense activity last 00:00:51.219 --> 00:00:54.420 week. Whether you're tuning in from the backyard 00:00:54.420 --> 00:00:57.359 or the balcony, I'm glad you're here. So grab 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:00.100 a comfortable spot under the night sky and let's 00:01:00.100 --> 00:01:10.629 get started. This week is the final episode in 00:01:10.629 --> 00:01:14.209 our January arc of shows aimed at brand -new 00:01:14.209 --> 00:01:17.209 astronomers. We've covered the basics of how 00:01:17.209 --> 00:01:20.329 to begin stargazing, we took a deep dive into 00:01:20.329 --> 00:01:22.909 one of the monster constellations of the winter, 00:01:23.450 --> 00:01:26.450 Orion, and just last week we covered how the 00:01:26.450 --> 00:01:30.510 sky moves, how planets wander, how stars rise 00:01:30.510 --> 00:01:34.150 and set, and how nothing above us is ever truly 00:01:34.150 --> 00:01:38.340 still. In this episode, we're going to dial back 00:01:38.340 --> 00:01:41.700 the astronomy and maybe get a little meta. This 00:01:41.700 --> 00:01:44.439 isn't about seeing particular objects or how 00:01:44.439 --> 00:01:47.859 to observe a nebula. It's not about how the sky 00:01:47.859 --> 00:01:53.079 behaves, but rather how we behave under it. Astronomy, 00:01:53.260 --> 00:01:55.939 especially the kind practiced by amateurs like 00:01:55.939 --> 00:02:00.299 us, has a quiet unspoken problem. And this problem 00:02:00.299 --> 00:02:03.359 is one that often causes frustration, and in 00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:06.969 some cases, keeps us indoors on nights when we 00:02:06.969 --> 00:02:10.430 could be observing. The idea I'm circling here 00:02:10.430 --> 00:02:14.810 is the myth of the perfect night. And the perfect 00:02:14.810 --> 00:02:18.270 night looks something like this. Clear skies 00:02:18.270 --> 00:02:22.430 from horizon to horizon. Steady air. Everything 00:02:22.430 --> 00:02:26.370 visible exactly when you want it to be. The telescope 00:02:26.370 --> 00:02:29.870 works flawlessly. Your charts make sense. And 00:02:29.870 --> 00:02:33.590 your patience holds. It's the night we imagine 00:02:33.590 --> 00:02:36.409 when we're stuck at work watching clouds roll 00:02:36.409 --> 00:02:40.150 by on a weather app. It's the night social media 00:02:40.150 --> 00:02:43.169 seems to promise is just one dark side away. 00:02:43.669 --> 00:02:46.789 And it's the night many of us quietly measure 00:02:46.789 --> 00:02:51.129 ourselves against. The problem is, almost no 00:02:51.129 --> 00:02:54.289 real night ever looks like that. And if we're 00:02:54.289 --> 00:02:57.669 not careful, that expectation can quietly drain 00:02:57.669 --> 00:03:05.439 the joy out of this whole thing. There's a kind 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:08.900 of lie baked into how astronomy is often presented. 00:03:08.939 --> 00:03:12.280 It's not an intentional lie, but rather a lie 00:03:12.280 --> 00:03:16.800 by omission. Looking at images of space online, 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:19.639 especially those taken by fellow amateurs, can 00:03:19.639 --> 00:03:23.159 be awe -inspiring. We see the results. We see 00:03:23.159 --> 00:03:26.479 the final images. We see the moments where everything 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:30.159 worked. When a dozen hours of integration in 00:03:30.159 --> 00:03:33.300 a light -polluted sky somehow produced the most 00:03:33.300 --> 00:03:36.159 gorgeous image of Andromeda you've ever seen. 00:03:39.379 --> 00:03:42.199 What we don't see is the waiting, the clouds 00:03:42.199 --> 00:03:44.860 that showed up at dusk and never quite left, 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:48.840 the bad seeing that turned Jupiter into a boiling 00:03:48.840 --> 00:03:52.500 mess, the targets that were technically up but 00:03:52.500 --> 00:03:56.789 practically unreachable. Nobody posts the night 00:03:56.789 --> 00:03:59.509 they spent mostly checking their telescope's 00:03:59.509 --> 00:04:02.189 collimation and wondering if the haze was getting 00:04:02.189 --> 00:04:06.069 worse. Nobody posts the hour they waited for 00:04:06.069 --> 00:04:08.990 the sky to settle, only to pack up tired and 00:04:08.990 --> 00:04:11.949 cold. Not because those nights are shameful, 00:04:12.110 --> 00:04:14.650 but because they don't photograph well, they 00:04:14.650 --> 00:04:17.889 don't make for good stories or social media fodder. 00:04:18.750 --> 00:04:22.430 And yet, those nights are the rule, not the exception. 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:25.800 And let's be real, most observing sessions are 00:04:25.800 --> 00:04:29.740 compromised in some way. The atmosphere rarely 00:04:29.740 --> 00:04:33.259 cooperates. Light pollution always finds a way 00:04:33.259 --> 00:04:37.779 back in. Fatigue sets limits, and astronomy happens 00:04:37.779 --> 00:04:41.800 in the margin of imperfection. There's another 00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:44.660 trick at work here, and it's a very human one. 00:04:44.980 --> 00:04:48.930 Memory edits. Speaking from personal experience, 00:04:49.269 --> 00:04:51.790 I can recall nights at the dark site where it 00:04:51.790 --> 00:04:54.930 felt like the glowing gas of the Milky Way was 00:04:54.930 --> 00:04:58.449 just hundreds of feet above us, and so bright 00:04:58.449 --> 00:05:00.810 that it already looked like a long exposure. 00:05:01.490 --> 00:05:04.569 Or the time when you gazed at Jupiter or Saturn 00:05:04.569 --> 00:05:07.370 and it felt like you were on a spaceship on a 00:05:07.370 --> 00:05:10.360 close approach. I'm not making this up. These 00:05:10.360 --> 00:05:13.180 are my own memories, and while I know they're 00:05:13.180 --> 00:05:17.459 somewhat false, they are in my mind's eye, representing 00:05:17.459 --> 00:05:20.339 some of the best nights of observing I've ever 00:05:20.339 --> 00:05:25.000 experienced. Over time, our minds smooth the 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:29.079 rough edges off past observing sessions. We remember 00:05:29.079 --> 00:05:32.600 that we saw Saturn, but not the frustration beforehand. 00:05:32.920 --> 00:05:36.779 We remember that meteor shower, but not the clouds 00:05:36.779 --> 00:05:41.000 that wiped out half the night. The past becomes 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:44.100 cleaner than it ever really was, and then the 00:05:44.100 --> 00:05:48.139 present feels broken by comparison. A newcomer 00:05:48.139 --> 00:05:51.199 looks up, struggles, misses something, and thinks, 00:05:51.399 --> 00:05:55.139 I must be doing this wrong. An experienced observer 00:05:55.139 --> 00:05:57.800 has an off night and wonders what's changed, 00:05:57.980 --> 00:06:01.990 even when nothing has. This is what it's always 00:06:01.990 --> 00:06:04.769 been like, and here's the uncomfortable truth 00:06:04.769 --> 00:06:08.089 that no one really advertises. Astronomy does 00:06:08.089 --> 00:06:12.649 not reward effort on demand. You can do everything 00:06:12.649 --> 00:06:15.709 right and still come away with very little to 00:06:15.709 --> 00:06:19.149 show for it. And if your expectation is that 00:06:19.149 --> 00:06:23.009 effort guarantees payoff, astronomy will eventually 00:06:23.009 --> 00:06:30.129 feel cruel. I love star parties and I try to 00:06:30.129 --> 00:06:32.930 attend all the ones put on by my local club. 00:06:33.430 --> 00:06:36.129 I've had amazing nights with perfect seeing the 00:06:36.129 --> 00:06:39.470 darkest skies imaginable. So dark that it felt 00:06:39.470 --> 00:06:41.990 like I was walking around in a three -dimensional 00:06:41.990 --> 00:06:46.050 star field. But the last three times I've attended 00:06:46.050 --> 00:06:49.029 it's been fairly rotten in regards to seeing. 00:06:49.790 --> 00:06:53.029 Humidity in the air collects as dew on scopes 00:06:53.029 --> 00:06:57.180 and turns black skies into a gray washout. Low 00:06:57.180 --> 00:07:00.100 -lying clouds drift in and wreck the one -shot 00:07:00.100 --> 00:07:02.740 at seeing the hot comet everyone's been chasing. 00:07:03.300 --> 00:07:07.000 And yes, sometimes it just rains. Sometimes we 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:09.959 arrive early, set up scopes, wait for hours, 00:07:10.459 --> 00:07:12.699 and then just tear them back down 30 minutes 00:07:12.699 --> 00:07:15.160 after dusk because the conditions aren't working. 00:07:16.120 --> 00:07:19.259 If any of this sounds like Sisyphus pushing a 00:07:19.259 --> 00:07:22.199 rock up a hill, you're not wrong. Some people 00:07:22.199 --> 00:07:24.720 eventually drift away from the hobby because 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:28.339 of these frustrations. That's the myth of the 00:07:28.339 --> 00:07:31.740 perfect night, and it does more damage than clouds 00:07:31.740 --> 00:07:39.779 ever could. So if that night doesn't really exist, 00:07:40.120 --> 00:07:43.420 if most sessions are compromised, if frustration 00:07:43.420 --> 00:07:46.660 and waiting are built into the experience, then 00:07:46.660 --> 00:07:49.259 what are astronomers actually doing all night? 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:53.360 If you're picturing non -stop discovery, object 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:56.959 after object, revelation after revelation, I 00:07:56.959 --> 00:08:00.800 want to gently reset that image. Most of the 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:04.060 night is spent waiting. Waiting for darkness 00:08:04.060 --> 00:08:07.339 to fully arrive, waiting for your optics to cool, 00:08:07.839 --> 00:08:10.100 waiting to see if the atmosphere settles down, 00:08:10.500 --> 00:08:12.879 and waiting to find out whether the forecast 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:16.420 was lying to you. This isn't a failure state, 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:20.839 it's just the default. And that can be disorienting, 00:08:20.939 --> 00:08:24.120 especially when you're new. It doesn't feel productive. 00:08:24.379 --> 00:08:26.879 Nothing dramatic is happening. The sky isn't 00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:29.899 putting on a show yet. And maybe it never will. 00:08:30.399 --> 00:08:33.399 More doubt sets in. When will I ever get to use 00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:35.960 that new telescope I spent thousands of dollars 00:08:35.960 --> 00:08:39.779 on? Or, and this applies to me, why can't I ever 00:08:39.779 --> 00:08:42.519 get a clear night to shoot some astrophotos worth 00:08:42.519 --> 00:08:46.330 posting? But this waiting is part of the work. 00:08:46.549 --> 00:08:49.269 It's how you learn the rhythm of a night, how 00:08:49.269 --> 00:08:52.210 you notice subtle changes. Remember, the sky 00:08:52.210 --> 00:08:56.190 is a living system and it has moods. Then there's 00:08:56.190 --> 00:08:59.429 adjusting, adjusting focus, adjusting balance, 00:08:59.830 --> 00:09:04.389 adjusting expectations. Something is always slightly 00:09:04.389 --> 00:09:08.870 off. The finder isn't quite aligned. The eyepiece 00:09:08.870 --> 00:09:11.450 that worked beautifully last week suddenly feels 00:09:11.450 --> 00:09:15.399 wrong. Your red light is too bright. Your red 00:09:15.399 --> 00:09:18.480 light is too dim. The gloves are too thick. The 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:21.580 chair is never at the right height. And my knees 00:09:21.580 --> 00:09:24.440 are taking abuse from trying to dial in the right 00:09:24.440 --> 00:09:27.259 view on my camera. And by the way, why the hell 00:09:27.259 --> 00:09:30.659 can't I get these stars in tack sharp focus? 00:09:31.960 --> 00:09:35.419 Astronomy is an endless series of small corrections. 00:09:35.840 --> 00:09:39.519 Like anything else, it requires practice, preparation, 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:42.960 and a deep insight into the workings of your 00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:47.639 gear. And there will always be problems. You're 00:09:47.639 --> 00:09:50.360 learning how to work with imperfect tools under 00:09:50.360 --> 00:09:53.559 imperfect conditions. You're learning how much 00:09:53.559 --> 00:09:56.440 precision is good enough. You're learning when 00:09:56.440 --> 00:09:59.440 to stop chasing perfection and start observing 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:08.450 what's actually there. A lot of the night is 00:10:08.450 --> 00:10:12.070 also spent trying and failing and trying again. 00:10:12.529 --> 00:10:15.230 You hunt for something faint, you think you see 00:10:15.230 --> 00:10:18.210 it, then you lose it, then you wonder if it was 00:10:18.210 --> 00:10:22.049 ever there at all. This is how visual astronomy 00:10:22.049 --> 00:10:25.370 works. The line between seeing and not seeing 00:10:25.370 --> 00:10:29.009 is often thin and your brain is part of the instrument. 00:10:29.669 --> 00:10:32.590 Learning to trust it while also questioning it 00:10:32.590 --> 00:10:36.110 is a strange but quiet discipline. Maybe you 00:10:36.110 --> 00:10:39.230 saw a faint galaxy or nebula, maybe you didn't, 00:10:39.350 --> 00:10:43.789 and yet that still counts. A bad day doing astronomy 00:10:43.789 --> 00:10:46.990 has to be better than a good day at work, right? 00:10:47.870 --> 00:10:51.090 There's also repetition, which rarely gets talked 00:10:51.090 --> 00:10:54.690 about. You observe the same objects again and 00:10:54.690 --> 00:10:57.230 again, not because you forgot them, but because 00:10:57.230 --> 00:11:00.629 each visit teaches you something new. The sky 00:11:00.629 --> 00:11:04.529 changes, your experience changes, your eye changes. 00:11:04.649 --> 00:11:07.529 You'll develop favorites, just like I mentioned 00:11:07.529 --> 00:11:10.830 in a past episode how I always check in on my 00:11:10.830 --> 00:11:14.769 favorites, Orion, the Pleiades, and Andromeda. 00:11:15.490 --> 00:11:18.750 Progress in astronomy doesn't usually look like 00:11:18.750 --> 00:11:21.850 novelty. It looks like familiarity. It looks 00:11:21.850 --> 00:11:24.690 like knowing exactly where something should be, 00:11:24.950 --> 00:11:27.370 even if you never quite get the view you hoped 00:11:27.370 --> 00:11:31.710 for that night. And yes, sometimes there's boredom. 00:11:32.009 --> 00:11:35.070 Long stretches where nothing dramatic happens 00:11:35.070 --> 00:11:38.370 when you're cold or tired or distracted, and 00:11:38.370 --> 00:11:40.409 this is where a lot of people assume they're 00:11:40.409 --> 00:11:44.669 doing something wrong. Boredom is just curiosity 00:11:44.669 --> 00:11:47.950 without payoff yet. It's the cost of staying 00:11:47.950 --> 00:11:51.149 present when the universe isn't offering instant 00:11:51.149 --> 00:11:55.009 reward. Astronomers learn that attention itself 00:11:55.009 --> 00:11:58.429 is the practice. And this brings me back around 00:11:58.429 --> 00:12:02.029 to star parties. From the outside, they look 00:12:02.029 --> 00:12:06.330 ideal. Dark skies, great company, rows of telescopes 00:12:06.330 --> 00:12:09.169 pointed upward. But anyone who's actually been 00:12:09.169 --> 00:12:12.529 to a few knows the truth. There are logistics. 00:12:12.750 --> 00:12:15.129 There's exhaustion. There are nights when the 00:12:15.129 --> 00:12:17.909 sky doesn't cooperate at all. There are evenings 00:12:17.909 --> 00:12:20.450 when you spend more time talking than observing. 00:12:20.710 --> 00:12:24.350 And that's not a failure of the event. Some of 00:12:24.350 --> 00:12:27.129 my favorite nights at a star party had very little 00:12:27.129 --> 00:12:30.629 to do with space at all. Sometimes it's smoking 00:12:30.629 --> 00:12:33.330 cigars and drinking bourbon with more experienced 00:12:33.330 --> 00:12:36.129 observers and trying to absorb all the information 00:12:36.129 --> 00:12:39.210 you can from them. Sometimes it's picking up 00:12:39.210 --> 00:12:42.169 a guitar and strumming chords over a folk tune 00:12:42.169 --> 00:12:46.210 while the heady aroma of grilled meat wafts between 00:12:46.210 --> 00:12:50.149 the observatories. That's the reality of bringing 00:12:50.149 --> 00:12:53.450 humans, equipment, and weather together in one 00:12:53.450 --> 00:13:01.240 place and hoping for the best. Some of the most 00:13:01.240 --> 00:13:03.659 meaningful nights aren't the ones where you saw 00:13:03.659 --> 00:13:05.740 the most. They're the ones where you learned 00:13:05.740 --> 00:13:09.019 something, shared a frustration, or simply stayed 00:13:09.019 --> 00:13:12.799 out longer than you thought you would. Most astronomers 00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:16.240 aren't chasing spectacle all night. They're building 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:19.179 a relationship with the sky in their own personal 00:13:19.179 --> 00:13:23.129 way. For me, that means grabbing my camera and 00:13:23.129 --> 00:13:26.210 tripod and wading into waist -deep foliage in 00:13:26.210 --> 00:13:29.789 a farm field to shoot the Milky Way while quietly 00:13:29.789 --> 00:13:33.289 meditating on my place in the universe. For others, 00:13:33.409 --> 00:13:36.769 that's setting up a smart scope, sharing binoculars 00:13:36.769 --> 00:13:40.009 with a neighbor, or trading whiskey recommendations 00:13:40.009 --> 00:13:44.509 amid talk of T. Coroni Borealis. This is the 00:13:44.509 --> 00:13:48.169 reality of our hobby. Waiting, adjusting, failing, 00:13:48.529 --> 00:13:52.850 trying again. boredom mixed with curiosity. The 00:13:52.850 --> 00:13:55.970 goal was never the perfect night. The goal was 00:13:55.970 --> 00:14:04.730 learning how to keep showing up. Here's the quiet 00:14:04.730 --> 00:14:07.690 shift that happens once you let go of the idea 00:14:07.690 --> 00:14:11.049 of the perfect night. A bad night of astronomy 00:14:11.049 --> 00:14:15.070 starts to look very different. Astronomy was 00:14:15.070 --> 00:14:18.090 never really about extraction. It isn't about 00:14:18.090 --> 00:14:20.289 pulling something out of the sky and taking it 00:14:20.289 --> 00:14:23.129 home with you. It's about showing up, paying 00:14:23.129 --> 00:14:25.649 attention, and learning how to be present with 00:14:25.649 --> 00:14:29.769 something that doesn't respond to pressure. Even 00:14:29.769 --> 00:14:32.470 a night where you packed up early still reminded 00:14:32.470 --> 00:14:36.129 you why you came out in the first place. An evening 00:14:36.129 --> 00:14:39.409 where nothing worked still deepened your understanding 00:14:39.409 --> 00:14:42.409 of how fragile those perfect moments really are. 00:14:43.330 --> 00:14:46.129 There's a temptation to think of astronomy as 00:14:46.129 --> 00:14:49.870 a transaction. I give the sky my time and effort 00:14:49.870 --> 00:14:53.789 and in return it gives me wonder. But the sky 00:14:53.789 --> 00:14:56.230 doesn't work that way. Sometimes it gives you 00:14:56.230 --> 00:14:59.590 a breathtaking view. Sometimes it gives you frustration 00:14:59.590 --> 00:15:03.289 and sometimes it gives you nothing at all. And 00:15:03.289 --> 00:15:06.750 yet we keep going back because occasionally we 00:15:06.750 --> 00:15:10.200 do have a rewarding experience. You're not doing 00:15:10.200 --> 00:15:13.360 astronomy wrong. This is just how the hobby works. 00:15:14.120 --> 00:15:16.960 If you need immediate gratification, just visit 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:29.899 a planetarium. Astronomers keep coming back out 00:15:29.899 --> 00:15:33.799 under compromised skies, not for perfection or 00:15:33.799 --> 00:15:37.690 productivity or for content. But because there's 00:15:37.690 --> 00:15:40.250 value in returning to something that doesn't 00:15:40.250 --> 00:15:43.929 bend itself to your schedule. Because there's 00:15:43.929 --> 00:15:46.909 meaning in attention, even when the universe 00:15:46.909 --> 00:16:06.080 is indifferent. After a quick break, we'll be 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:08.259 back to go over what you can expect to see in 00:16:08.259 --> 00:16:23.820 the night sky this week. Stay with us. Welcome 00:16:23.820 --> 00:16:27.580 back. We begin this period with a first quarter 00:16:27.580 --> 00:16:30.879 moon late tonight, meaning about half the lunar 00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:34.960 disk is illuminated and rising. Until the 31st, 00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:37.539 the moon will wax toward gibbous, brightening 00:16:37.539 --> 00:16:40.620 each night and dominating the later evening sky. 00:16:41.500 --> 00:16:44.179 A waxing gibbous moon can interfere with deep 00:16:44.179 --> 00:16:47.259 sky observing, but it's excellent for lunar surface 00:16:47.259 --> 00:16:51.860 detail and earth shine around sunset. Jupiter 00:16:51.860 --> 00:16:54.360 will be prominent throughout this week, still 00:16:54.360 --> 00:16:56.960 glowing brightly after its recent opposition 00:16:56.960 --> 00:17:01.169 earlier in January and visible all night. It 00:17:01.169 --> 00:17:04.369 sits in Gemini near the bright stars Castor and 00:17:04.369 --> 00:17:08.190 Pollux. Saturn will be an evening planet after 00:17:08.190 --> 00:17:11.089 sunset, fading toward late evening as the week 00:17:11.089 --> 00:17:14.890 progresses. Uranus and Neptune remain in the 00:17:14.890 --> 00:17:18.490 evening sky in late January, but require binoculars 00:17:18.490 --> 00:17:21.910 or a small telescope to pick out. Be sure to 00:17:21.910 --> 00:17:24.549 check in with an app like Stellarium for the 00:17:24.549 --> 00:17:28.799 exact locations. Mercury, Venus, and Mars are 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:31.440 too close to the Sun's glare during this period 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:35.460 to be practical targets from most latitudes. 00:17:35.779 --> 00:17:38.420 Some notable deep sky objects are up during this 00:17:38.420 --> 00:17:42.039 period. Cruise through Gemini for lesser observed 00:17:42.039 --> 00:17:48.059 open clusters like NGC 2158, a compact but interesting 00:17:48.059 --> 00:17:51.599 cluster that's about 2 billion years old. It's 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:54.940 located immediately southwest of another low 00:17:54.940 --> 00:18:00.029 -key target. Messier 35, also known as the Shoebuckle 00:18:00.029 --> 00:18:04.609 Cluster. Lepus the Hare, just south of Orion, 00:18:04.890 --> 00:18:07.309 is subtle to the eye but contains a few faint 00:18:07.309 --> 00:18:10.450 stars and can serve as a gateway to the faint 00:18:10.450 --> 00:18:17.299 galaxy NGC 1964 on dark nights. If you can pull 00:18:17.299 --> 00:18:21.299 it out of the darkness, NGC 1964 is a lovely 00:18:21.299 --> 00:18:25.579 barred spiral galaxy about 65 million light years 00:18:25.579 --> 00:18:30.079 away. Eridanus, the celestial river stretching 00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:33.420 from Orion toward the south, hosts scattered 00:18:33.420 --> 00:18:38.859 galaxy fields such as NGC 1533 and other magnitude 00:18:38.859 --> 00:18:42.680 10 to 11 galaxies that reward patient binocular 00:18:42.680 --> 00:18:48.000 or small telescope sweeps. NGC 1533 is a lenticular 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:51.940 galaxy about 62 million light years away and 00:18:51.940 --> 00:18:55.660 resembles an oval blob with a bright core. By 00:18:55.660 --> 00:18:58.440 the way, when we refer to an object as Messier 00:18:58.440 --> 00:19:03.960 33 or NGC 2158, we're referring to their catalogued 00:19:03.960 --> 00:19:09.759 names. NGC means New General Catalog and Messier 00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:12.559 objects are named for the French astronomer Charles 00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:17.009 Messier who cataloged 110 objects in the 18th 00:19:17.009 --> 00:19:20.410 century. Even though major meteor showers like 00:19:20.410 --> 00:19:23.869 the quantarids peaked a few weeks earlier, observing 00:19:23.869 --> 00:19:27.029 sporadic meteors and satellites remains rewarding 00:19:27.029 --> 00:19:30.349 under dark skies, particularly earlier in the 00:19:30.349 --> 00:19:33.609 evening before the moon rises. Use a nice pair 00:19:33.609 --> 00:19:36.410 of binoculars after dusk and scan around the 00:19:36.410 --> 00:19:39.430 sky. With some patience, you're almost certain 00:19:39.430 --> 00:19:42.630 to see dozens of Starlink satellites zipping 00:19:42.630 --> 00:19:46.890 around. Space enthusiasts can point their star 00:19:46.890 --> 00:19:50.130 charts toward Ophiuchus before dawn to locate 00:19:50.130 --> 00:19:55.069 the rough region of Voyager 1, a fun conceptual 00:19:55.069 --> 00:19:57.529 target even though it's impossible to see with 00:19:57.529 --> 00:20:00.450 optical equipment. It's just nice knowing it's 00:20:00.450 --> 00:20:10.900 out there. The Sun turned the dial up to 11 last 00:20:10.900 --> 00:20:13.740 week, producing one of the most energetic space 00:20:13.740 --> 00:20:17.420 weather events in years. On January 18th and 00:20:17.420 --> 00:20:21.799 19th, a very strong X -class solar eruption sent 00:20:21.799 --> 00:20:25.079 a fast -moving cloud of magnetized plasma straight 00:20:25.079 --> 00:20:29.039 toward Earth. When that coronal mass ejection 00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:31.640 slammed into our planet's magnetic field on the 00:20:31.640 --> 00:20:35.500 19th, it stirred up a severe geomagnetic storm, 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:38.920 officially rated G4, meaning the disturbance 00:20:38.920 --> 00:20:41.920 was intense enough to seriously shake Earth's 00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:45.759 magnetic environment. Under the right conditions, 00:20:46.299 --> 00:20:49.180 storms like this can drive auroras well outside 00:20:49.180 --> 00:20:53.549 the usual high latitude zones. And, indeed, reports 00:20:53.549 --> 00:20:55.990 and photos from around the northern hemisphere 00:20:55.990 --> 00:20:59.029 showed the aurora borealis lighting up skies 00:20:59.029 --> 00:21:01.609 farther south than usual on the night of the 00:21:01.609 --> 00:21:05.609 storm. Observers in parts of Europe, the U .S., 00:21:05.609 --> 00:21:09.029 Southwest, and even mid -latitude regions shared 00:21:09.029 --> 00:21:12.410 images of unusual auroral activity, even though 00:21:12.410 --> 00:21:15.490 it didn't quite reach as far south as some forecast 00:21:15.490 --> 00:21:18.759 had hoped. Part of the reason the aurora displays 00:21:18.759 --> 00:21:21.460 were hit or miss for more southerly viewers comes 00:21:21.460 --> 00:21:24.859 down to magnetic geometry. Even though the storm 00:21:24.859 --> 00:21:28.279 was strong overall, the exact orientation of 00:21:28.279 --> 00:21:31.119 the incoming magnetic fields didn't always line 00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:34.220 up in a way that let the energy pour into Earth's 00:21:34.220 --> 00:21:37.960 upper atmosphere everywhere. That meant the auroras 00:21:37.960 --> 00:21:40.480 ended up being very bright where conditions were 00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:43.440 favorable, but more confined than some early 00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:47.490 predictions suggested. Solar physicists are calling 00:21:47.490 --> 00:21:50.029 this one of the most significant space weather 00:21:50.029 --> 00:21:52.430 events in the last couple of decades because 00:21:52.430 --> 00:21:55.730 there was an associated solar radiation storm, 00:21:56.609 --> 00:21:59.650 a prolonged high -energy particle flood that 00:21:59.650 --> 00:22:02.069 hasn't been seen at this scale in more than 20 00:22:02.069 --> 00:22:06.230 years. If you spotted or photographed an aurora, 00:22:06.390 --> 00:22:09.009 I'd love to hear about it. Drop me a line over 00:22:09.009 --> 00:22:13.420 at the show website or ping me on Blue Sky. And 00:22:13.420 --> 00:22:15.900 remember, on the next episode, I'll be talking 00:22:15.900 --> 00:22:18.720 about the first three chapters of Nightwatch, 00:22:19.400 --> 00:22:22.619 our so -called book club selection for the beginning 00:22:22.619 --> 00:22:25.539 of the year. If you have the book, you can blow 00:22:25.539 --> 00:22:30.569 through these sections quickly. That's going 00:22:30.569 --> 00:22:33.130 to do it for this week. If you found this episode 00:22:33.130 --> 00:22:35.230 interesting, please share it with a friend who 00:22:35.230 --> 00:22:38.029 might enjoy it. The easiest way to do that is 00:22:38.029 --> 00:22:42.170 by sending folks to our website, StarTrails .Show. 00:22:42.750 --> 00:22:45.130 And if you want to support the show, use the 00:22:45.130 --> 00:22:47.710 link on the site to buy me a coffee. It really 00:22:47.710 --> 00:22:51.069 helps. Be sure to follow Star Trails on Blue 00:22:51.069 --> 00:22:54.410 Sky and YouTube. Links are in the show notes. 00:22:55.130 --> 00:22:57.849 Until we meet again beneath the stars, clear 00:22:57.849 --> 00:22:58.710 skies everyone.