November, December 2009 & January 2010
Sky Report for Middle Schools
by Dr. Bob Doyle, Portable Planetarium Teacher

Resources for Middle School Teachers

• Middle School Sky Basics
• November, December 2009 & January 2010
  Skies for Middle School Students

Middle School Sky Basics

On a clear night, you can see a dark sky, hundreds of  near by stars, possibly our moon  and  perhaps a planet or two (seen as bright steadily shining points). The night sky appears dark due  to emptiness of space and the expansion of the universe.  The night stars are distant  suns whose light takes many years to travel to the Earth. These stars are likely still there as stars shine for million and billions of years. The moon is our Earth’s companion as we travel each year about the sun. The moon’s visible shapes (phases) are due to the moon being lit by the sun as it orbits the Earth.

The moon can be seen growing in lighted width in the evening sky for about a dozen days. The moon then appears full for an evening or two and then begins to shrink, spending just as much time shrinking in the morning sky as it did growing in the evening sky. Even the nearer  planets are so far away compared to their distances  that they appear as steady points in  the sky. In order of brightness as seen from Earth, Venus is by far the brightest planet, with Jupiter in 2nd place.

November, December 2009 & January 2010
Sky Sights for Middle School Students  

The brightest evening star in late  2009 is white-blue Vega, a star that  sparkles beautifully in the Northeast. Above Vega is the Northern Cross (Cygnus) whose brightest star, Deneb forms the top of the cross with the three cross stars below and a solitary star at the foot of the cross. The  bright, flickering golden star seen in the northeastern evening sky is Capella,the first bright winter evening star to appear. To the  right of Capella is the 7 Sisters star cluster, resembling a tiny dipper. Below the 7 Sisters (Pleiades) cluster is the orange star Aldebaran, which marks the eye of Taurus.  

Through fall 2009, the bright planet Jupiter dominates the western evening sky. Jupiter appears in  Capricornus, a zodiac group named after a mythical  half  goat, half  fish. The moon will appear near Jupiter on the evenings of November 23rd, December 21st and January 17th. With binoculars, you can see both the moon’s grey plains and the moons of Jupiter (see as tiny stars astride Jupiter’s disk). Jupiter appears lower each month as it setting time after sunset drops from 3.5 hours in early November to an hour in late January. As Jupiter drops behind the hills, a brilliant, sparkling star can be seen low in the Southeast: this is Sirius, the night’s brightest star. This star is also the nearest night star, being at a distance of 9 light years. To the right and above Sirius is Orion, the night’s brightest star group. Orion’s trademark is his belt of three stars in a row, which point down and left to Sirius.

Low in the late evening eastern sky is the planet Mars, which will appear closest to the Earth in late January. Mars stands out because of its yellowish tint and steady light. Mars will be somewhat dimmer than Sirius as this approach is 61 million miles, compared to its closest approach (in 2003) of 35 million miles. The brilliant planet Venus can be seen in the eastern dawn in November. Venus is now on the far side of its orbit and will disappear in the eastern dawn in late November.  The crescent moon will appear near Venus  on the morning of November 15th. By Thanksgiving, Venus will be hidden in sun’s glare.

Free public planetarium programs on most Sundays at Frostburg State Planetarium in Tawes Hall at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Call (301) 687-4270  for directions.

For additional information, contact:

Dr. Robert Doyle, Planetarium Director
Frostburg State University
Department of Physics and Engineering
101 Braddock Road
Frostburg, MD 21532-1099
(301) 687-4270
rdoyle@frostburg.edu