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. Please note that images on these pages are meant to be displayed at 100%. If your browser zooms into a higher magnification than that, the images may lose quality. Though we link book references to nationwide sources, we encourage you to support your local book store whenever possible.
Notes and Images From July 2018
With lots of help I found a farmer who graciously allowed me to relocate the observatory there, so now I'm in the process of dismantling it for the big move. It's sad to leave the farm where I had it, but the area has changed. The wildlife cover around the observatory has been cleared. The area where I photographed bobcats, foxes and coyotes and is now pretty bare. The new location will have a much darker sky. There are no streetlights in sight, and wildlife there includes black bears! The rebuilt observatory will not require outside power, as its batteries will be recharged by sunlight. It will be capable of completely robotic operation via the internet. On July 26th, I went back to start getting everything ready to travel. I found the Cope's Gray Treefrog shown at right on the wall of the observatory. It was like seeing an old friend. Each summer, I would see at least a couple of these treefrogs in and about the observatory, along with all kinds of other inhabitants. I had Barn, Barred, Great Horned and Eastern Screech Owls there. I was lucky to enjoy all of the wonders of the Franklin location for as long as I did. Before I left I wished all of the wildlife well, and thanked them for sharing their home with me.
Sky Events for July 2018: The annual Perseid Meteor Shower peaks on the mornings of August 12th & 13th. Since the moon is near new, skies should be nice and dark! Evening Sky: Jupiter is in Libra this month. Look for it high in the southwestern sky at dusk as the month begins. If you steady your binoculars on something solid, you can often pick out several of the four Galilean satellites of Jupiter close to the planet. With a telescope, you can glimpse some details in the cloud belts. These details change rapidly, and the details can look different from night to night. It's also fun to watch the Galilean satellites transit the face of the planet, or be eclipsed by the planet's shadow.
Venus continues to dazzle in the western sky after sunset this month. It becomes visible before any other star or planet. It brightens even more as the month goes on. Mercury becomes visible in the morning sky around the end of the month, reaching greatest elongation from the Sun on August 26th.
Saturn is in Sagittarius this month. Look for it about 27 degrees above the Southeastern horizon at dusk. The tilt of the rings has now opened to 26 degrees, and the view is spectacular in any size telescope. The planet transits around 10:15am CDT. The globe of Saturn is now 18.0 seconds of an arc in apparent diameter. Constellations: The views below show the sky looking east at 10:00pm CDT on August 15th. The first view shows the sky with the constellations outlined and names depicted. Star and planet names are in green. Constellation names are in blue. The second view shows the same scene without labels. New constellations this month are Pegasus, the Flying Horse, Andromeda, Princess Andromeda, Triangulum, the Triangle, Pisces, the Fishes, and Aquarius, the Water Bearer.In Pegasus, the reddish star Enif marks the nose of the flying horse. Just above Enif is the globular cluster Messier 15, a nice ball of stars about 33,600 light-years away. The cluster was discovered by Jean Dominique Maraldi on September 7th, 1746. Maraldi was searching for De Chéseaux' Comet at the time. High overhead, in Hercules, another globular cluster is at its best this month. Messier 13 can sometimes be picked out with the naked eye on a dark moonless night. It is about 25,000 light-years distant. In a small telescope it will appear like a little cotton ball of faint light. With increasing aperture, you'll be able to spot some of the faint stars around the periphery of the cluster. Be sure to use averted vision, looking to one side of the cluster, to allow the cluster's light to fall on the light-sensitive rod cells of your eye.
On Learning the Constellations: Try to learn a few constellations each month, and then following them through the seasons. Once you associate a particular constellation coming over the eastern horizon at a certain time of year, you may start thinking about it like an old friend, looking forward to its arrival each season. The stars in the evening scene above, for instance, will always be in the same place relative to the horizon at the same time and date each August. Of course, the planets do move slowly through the constellations, but with practice you will learn to identify them from their appearance. In particular, learn the brightest stars for they will guide you to the fainter stars. Once you can locate the more prominent constellations, you can "branch out" to other constellations around them. It may take you a little while to get a sense of scale, to translate what you see on the computer screen or what you see on the page of a book to what you see in the sky. Look for patterns, like the stars that make up the "Square of Pegasus."
The earth's rotation causes the constellations to appear to
move across the sky just as the Sun and the Moon appear to do. If you go
outside earlier than the time shown on the charts, the constellations will be
lower to the eastern horizon. If you observe later, they will have climbed
higher.
As each season progresses, the earth's motion around the Sun
causes the constellations to appear a little farther towards the west each night
for any given time of night. If you want to see where the constellations
in the above figures will be on September 15th at 10:00pm CDT, you can stay up
till midnight on August 15th and get a preview. The westward
motion of the constellations is equivalent to two hours per month. Recommended: Sky & Telescope's Pocket Star Atlas is beautiful, compact star atlas. A good book to learn the constellations is Patterns in the Sky, by Hewitt-White. You may also want to check out at H. A. Rey's classic, The Stars, A New Way to See Them. For sky watching tips, an inexpensive good guide is Secrets of Stargazing, by Becky Ramotowski.
A good general reference book on astronomy is the Peterson
Field Guide,
A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets, by Pasachoff. The book retails for around $14.00.
The Virtual Moon Atlas is a terrific way to learn the surface features of the Moon. And it's free software. You can download the Virtual Moon Atlas here. Apps: We really love the Sky Safari 6 Pro. It is available for both iOS and Android operating systems. There are three versions. The Pro is simply the best astronomy app we've ever seen. The description of the Pro version reads, "includes over 100 million stars, 3 million galaxies down to 18th magnitude, and 750,000 solar system objects; including every comet and asteroid ever discovered." A nother great app is the Photographer's Ephemeris. Great for finding sunrise, moonrise, sunset and moonset times and the precise place on the horizon that the event will occur. Invaluable not only for planning photographs, but also nice to plan an outing to watch the full moon rise. Available for both androids and iOS.
Amphibians:
Recommended: The Frogs and Toads of North America, Lang Elliott, Houghton Mifflin Co.
Archives (Remember to use the back button on your browser, NOT the back button on the web page!) Natural Calendar February 2018 Natural Calendar December 2017 Natural Calendar November 2017 Natural Calendar October 2017Natural Calendar September 2017 Natural Calendar February 2017 Natural Calendar December 2016 Natural Calendar November 2016 Natural Calendar September 2016Natural Calendar February 2016 Natural Calendar December 2015 Natural Calendar November 2015 Natural Calendar September 2015 Natural Calendar November 2014 Natural Calendar September 2014 Natural Calendar September 2013 Natural Calendar December 2012 Natural Calendar November 2012 Natural Calendar September 2012 Natural Calendar February 2012 Natural Calendar December 2011 Natural Calendar November 2011 Natural Calendar September 2011 Natural Calendar December 2010 Natural Calendar November 2010 Natural Calendar September 2010 Natural Calendar February 2010 Natural Calendar December 2009 Natural Calendar November 2009 Natural Calendar September 2009 Natural Calendar February 2009 Natural Calendar December 2008 Natural Calendar November 2008 Natural Calendar September 2008 Natural Calendar February 2008 Natural Calendar December 2007 Natural Calendar November 2007 Natural Calendar September 2007 Natural Calendar February 2007 Natural Calendar December 2006 Natural Calendar November 2006 Natural Calendar September 2006 Natural Calendar February 2006
Natural Calendar December 2005
Natural Calendar November 2005
Natural Calendar September 2005
Natural Calendar February 2005
Natural Calendar December 2004
Natural Calendar November 2004
Natural Calendar September 2004
Natural Calendar February 2004
Natural Calendar December 2003
Natural Calendar November 2003 Natural Calendar February 2003 Natural Calendar December 2002 Natural Calendar November 2002 Nature Notes Archives: Nature Notes was a page we published in 2001 and 2002 containing our observations about everything from the northern lights display of November 2001 to frog and salamander egg masses. Night scenes prepared with The Sky Professional from Software Bisque All images and recordings © 2018 Leaps
|
|
|
|