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. Though we link book references to nationwide sources, we encourage you to support your local book store whenever possible.
Notes From November 2020
November brought cooler temperatures, lots of blue skies and shorter days.
While walking on November 19th, I heard the rattling cries of Sandhill
Cranes. It's a sound of the season, and it never fails to lift my spirits
when the first flight of Sandhills appears in late fall. Looking skyward, I spotted a
"V" of fourteen birds circling overhead.
The Cumberlands are topped by Pennsylvanian
sandstones. The harder sandstone acts as a "caprock", providing some
erosion protection for the softer Mississippian sedimentary rocks
beneath. The soil on top of Lookout Mountain is therefore very sandy and
drains well. Because of that the soil is good for agricultural use. My house here is surrounded by a nice stand of oaks, Virginia Pine and Sand Hickories. Suffice to say that my squirrels are very well fed this time of year. When I moved here, I realized that my hickories had traits that I had not seen in the hickory species that I knew. The leaves have 7-9 leaflets. The underside of the leaflets have silvery-tan scales, which gives them a pale appearance beneath. Hence the scientific name Carya pallida.
The bark of Sand Hickories is noticeably furrowed, as can be seen in the image at right. At top right are a selection of Sand Hickory "nuts," though botanically they are classified as drupes. When we eat the kernel of a hickory drupe, we are eating a seed. Sand Hickories have the smallest nuts of any of the hickory species. The shells range from about 0.5 inches in length to 1.45 inches. At bottom left is an opened shell with the kernel exposed. The small size and the interior partitioning of the shell make getting the kernel out a little difficult. Once removed, though, the kernels are quite good and sweet.
Sky Events for December 2020: The Geminid Meteor Shower peaks on the evening of December 13th and the morning of the 14th. Their will be no interference from the Moon so it's definitely worth checking out this year. The December Solstice, marking the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and the beginning of summer in the Southern Hemisphere, occurs at 5:02am EST on December 21st. This is the shortest day of the year. However, those wishing for a little more daylight in the afternoon should be happy to learn that the earliest sunset occurs around December 7th, roughly two weeks before the solstice. Unfortunately the latest sunrise does not occur until the first week in January. This seeming discrepancy is caused by two factors; the tilt of Earth's axis in space relative to the plane of its orbit around the Sun, and the eccentricity of Earth's orbit.
Morning Sky: Venus is slowly moving closer to the horizon each day, but it continues to be bright and beautiful in the dawn sky this month. It begins the month rising about 2 hours before the Sun and by month's end will rise less than 1-1/2 hours before the Sun. As the month progresses its apparent size diminishes and it gets more gibbous. It is the brightest star-like object in the eastern sky before dawn so you won't have any problem picking it out. Evening Sky:
Saturn is only about 2 degrees to the east of Jupiter as the month begins. Like Jupiter it starts the month in Sagittarius and will move into Capricornus on December 15th.
If you are not used to viewing Mars it will appear quite small through the eyepiece. After all, its diameter is only a little over half that of Earth. Picking out the subtle details on Mars takes patience. Plan on spending some time viewing it and wait for moments when the atmosphere steadies.
The views below show the sky looking east at 10:00pm EST on December 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. Look for the bright stars Castor and Pollux in the constellation of Gemini, The Twins. Compare the colors of the bright stars Betelgeuse and Rigel in Orion. Betelgeuse is a red giant and Rigel is a very hot, blue-white supergiant. If you have a telescope or binoculars, look at the center of the three "sword" stars below Orion's belt. There you will find the Orion Nebula, M42, one of the most magnificent emission nebulas in the sky. The red glow of hydrogen alpha light is visible only in very large telescopes and the nebula appears as a small greenish glow in small telescopes. Crouching beneath the feet of Orion, is Lepus, the Hare. Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, shines below Orion. Sirius is in Canis Major, the Great Dog, and for that reason is known as the Dog Star. In the late summer, Sirius rises at the same time as the Sun. Because of this, the late summer days are known as the "dog days." The faint constellation Monoceros, the Unicorn, follows Orion over the eastern horizon. Low in the eastern sky below Gemini is Canis Minor, with its bright star Procyon. Procyon means, "before the dog," and refers to the fact that Procyon rises just before the Dog Star, Sirius. Look below Gemini and see if you can spot the faint glow of M44, the "Beehive Cluster." This cluster is located in Cancer, the Crab.
On Learning the Constellations: We advise learning 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 December. 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 (like Sirius and Procyon in the above scene), 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 three stars in a line in Orion's belt. 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 January 15th at 10:00 EST, you can stay up till 12:00am EST on the December 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. 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 operating systems.
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 November 2020 Natural Calendar September 2020 Natural Calendar February 2020 Natural Calendar December 2019 Natural Calendar November 2019 Natural Calendar September 2019 Natural Calendar February 2019 Natural Calendar December 2018 Natural Calendar November 2018 Natural Calendar September 2018 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
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