Greetings everyone! As a grand finale to 2022, Mercury has rejoined the evening hit parade and you just might see all five visible planets tonight.
So, if you’re on your way to the New Year’s Eve party, find Mercury and Venus close to the western horizon as it begins to grow dark.
Students, faculty and staff mourned the loss of the dean on Tuesday.
Saturn will be three fist-widths above the western horizon and Jupiter is also in the western sky, two fist-widths down from straight up.
There’s also a waxing moon in the evening sky so it’s probably a good idea to look for bright things.
The crown jewel
Let’s start with the crown jewel of Guam’s winter skies. Face east and you’ll find the world’s most famous constellation and no, it isn’t the Big Dipper that isn’t visible in Guam’s evening winter skies.
Two fist-widths above the horizon you’ll see a slanted line of three bright stars. That’s the belt of Orion the Hunter. His legs are to the right of the belt, his shoulders to the left.
Orion’s upper “foot” is Rigel, the seventh brightest star and his lower shoulder will look red or orange. It’s an awesome red giant star named Betelgeuse.
There are two more red “stars” two fist-widths above Betelgeuse. The right one is Aldebaran, another red giant and the left one isn’t a star. It’s your fifth planet, Mars.
At Orion’s feet are the headwaters of the longest river, the one in the sky. Find Rigel again and just above him you can begin to trace the long winding path of stars that form Eridanus the River.
The river first flows up toward the zenith and then meanders south, back toward the east and then stops at a very bright star that’s almost due south this week.
That bright star is Achernar, the river’s mouth and the sky’s ninth brightest star.
Small Magellanic Cloud
If you have an unobstructed view of the southern horizon this week and you see a fuzzy patch of light due south of Achernar you’ve found the Small Magellanic Cloud and there have never been any confirmed reports that it’s ever been seen from Guam.
There are usually clouds to the south and the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way, never gets very far above our southern horizon.
If you’d like to find something a little brighter and easier to see, how about the brightest star?
Two fist-widths below Rigel, Orion’s upper foot, you’ll find an astoundingly bright star. That’s Sirius, the number one star on the stellar hit parade.
Sirius is also the brightest star in Canis Major, which is fancy Latin for “big dog.” The dog is Orion’s hunting companion. Sirius was a very important star to the ancient Egyptians because its appearance warned them that the Nile River was about to flood.
By 8:15, you’ll see another rainbow jewel slip out of the water farther to the south. That’s Canopus, the second brightest star and it’s one of those tropical delights that can’t be seen from the mainland US.
So, let’s see, this week you can see Sirius and Canopus the first and second brightest stars; Vega, the 5th brightest star low in the west, Capella, number six, two fist-widths to the left of Orion’s shoulders, Rigel, number seven and Achernar, number nine for a total of six of the 10 brightest stars.
You can’t beat that until April when you can see eight of the 10 brightest stars all at the same time. Here’s to another wonderful year of stargazing some of the most awesome skies on the planet! Enjoy!
Pam Eastlick was the coordinator for the former University of Guam planetarium since the early 1990s. She has been writing this weekly astronomy column since 2003. Send any questions or comments to life@guampdn.com and we will forward them to her.
