The purpose of this feature is to give scout leaders, educators and naturalists an idea of some of the natural events coming up each month.  We will try to cover a variety of natural events ranging from sky events to calling periods of amphibians, bird and mammal watching tips,  prominent wildflowers and anything else that comes to mind.  We will also note prominent constellations appearing over the eastern horizon at mid-evening each month for our area for those who would like to learn the constellations.  If you have suggestions for other types of natural information you would like to see added to this calendar, let us know!

Note: You can click on the hyperlinks to learn more about some of the featured items.  To return to the Calendar, hit the "back" button on your browser, NOT the "back" button on the web page.  All charts are available in a "printer friendly" mode, with black stars on a white background.  Left clicking on each chart will take you to a printable black and white image. 

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Notes From April 2020

Discovered by Johann Bode in 1774, Messier 81 is about 12 million light-years distant and is one of 34 galaxies in the Ursa Major group. It's one of the brightest galaxies in the night sky. Some experienced observers in very dark skies have seen it with the naked eye. It is not at all hard to see in binoculars as a tiny misty spot, along with the nearby galaxy Messier 82.

It's one of my favorite galaxies. When I was in high school I picked up a book on astronomy that included a photo of M-81. That image, more than the text, hooked me on astronomy. I decided then and there to build a telescope of my own. I spent long hours in the basement of our house that winter grinding the surface of the Pyrex mirror blank into a parabola. In the spring I had my first look at the night sky through my telescope. I chose the diamond-like, blue-white star Vega for my first view. That did it! I haven't stopped looking since.

Galaxies seen visually through a telescope look much more subdued than what you see in long-exposure photographs. They are colorless and much less detail is visible - often they appear just as a soft glow at the limit of visibility. The human eye does not see color or detail very well at low light levels. Unlike objects like the Moon and Saturn, galaxies don't have a high "Wow!" factor for most people.

So why hunt them down visually? I think for me the knowledge of what I'm actually seeing makes a difference. John Burroughs said that one secret of success in observing nature is a capacity to take a hint. Visually, galaxies beckon with subtle hints. I think of those soft glows as the distant running lights of great ships at sea. They glide silently through the night sky overhead. The photons that are tickling the retina of my eye are millions, and sometimes billions, of years old.

When I was looking at this first image from my new camera it brought to mind a quote from Henry Beston's The Outermost House. In the chapter, "Night on the Great Beach", he wrote,

Some of the most peaceful moments I have are beneath the stars. On a clear night, when I step outside and look up, it feels like I can almost hear those ancient photons pattering down around me like a soft rain. My resident Barred Owls call, keeping me company. It's going to be a nice evening.

There are a lot of things going on in the sky this month! Astronomy may be the perfect lock-down activity. For some examples of some ways people have used that to their advantage throughout history, look here.  

It's not often we get the chance to see a naked eye comet. But some amazing things are happening with comets this month! We have several comets in the news. First of all, Comet Atlas (C2019/Y4) has crumbled and faded. But Comet SWAN (C2020/F8) looks like it may approach naked eye visibility between March 15th and 23rd. Comet PanStarrs (C2017/T2) is also in the evening sky this month, and can be seen with 10x50 binoculars or a telescope. You can find additional information and finder charts here.

The Eta Aquariid Meteor Shower peaks on the night of May 4th-5th. The best time will be in the early morning hours, between 3:30am and 5:00am. Look east toward the constellation of Aquarius. This shower is produced as Earth moves through the debris trail of Halley's Comet.

Saturn rises not long after Jupiter, about 2:16 a.m. EDT at the beginning of the month in Capricornus. As with Jupiter, you will want to wait till just before dawn to get the best telescopic views.

Mars rises after Saturn, about 3:26 a.m. EDT, and will appear below and to the left of Saturn. It will be on the eastern border of Capricornus at the beginning of the month. Its apparent diameter is beginning to grow larger as Earth starts to swing by it in its orbit. The red planet has an apparent diameter of 7.6 arc-seconds at the beginning of the month and will grow to 9.2 arc-seconds by month's end.

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