STAR GAZER
THE INTERNATIONAL EDITION
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Horkheimer: Greetings, greetings fellow star gazers. This year something very special happens in the cosmos when you set your clocks back to standard time, because if you set your clocks back at the official set back time at 2 a.m. Sunday morning November 1st your clocks will officially read 1 a.m. Standard Time after which you can walk outside and view something very special which has to do with the planet Mars and a wonderful star cluster. Let me show you.
O.K., we've got our skies set up for Sunday November 1st, 2 a.m. Daylight Saving Time which equals 1 a.m. Standard Time facing southeast. And if you look about 1/3 of the way up the sky you'll see the brightest star in the heavens Sirius which marks the eye of Canis Major Orion's bigger dog. And if you look just to its left you'll see the less bright star Procyon which marks the eye of Canis Minor, Orion's smaller dog. Then if you look just off to its left you'll see a rouge gold light about the same brightness as Procyon, our old friend, the planet named for the god of war, 4,000 mile wide Mars. And just coincidentally on the morning we all set our clocks back Mars steps into a cosmic object called Praesepe which is Latin for The Manger but which is more popularly known as The Beehive.
Now if you have clear dark skies and are far from city lights, to the naked eye Praesepe will look like a little cloud or a cloudy star, which is what the Greek astronomer Hipparchus called it in his star catalog around 130 b.c. His predecessor Aratos around 260 b.c. Called it "the little mist". And to the naked eye this is exactly what Praesepe looks like, a misty little cloud. So with the naked eye, you'll see bright Mars embedded in a tiny faint cloud. But there's more to this than meets the naked eye, because through a pair of binoculars you'll see that this misty little cloud is actually a cluster of stars which looks like a swarm of celestial bees. You'll see about 40 through binoculars but through a telescope you can count at least 200. And there are at least 5 red giant stars in this cluster similar to Orion's Betelgeuse and Scorpius' Antares.
And if you want to see how fast objects in the sky move here is your opportunity because Mars is inside the Manger and Beehive for one night only. 24 hours earlier on Halloween October 31st it is just above the cluster and on November 2nd has passed through it and is just below it. So November 1st when you set your clocks back is the only time to see Mars buzzing with the bees. But may I remind you once again that what you are seeing is an illusion. In fact the only reason Mars appears to be inside The Beehive is because Mars and The Beehive are coincidentally in the same line of sight on November 1st. In fact on November 1st Mars will be only 110 million miles away while the stars of The Beehive will be 600 light years away which means that Mars is so close that it will take less than 10 minutes for its light to reach us while it takes 600 years for light from The Beehive to reach us. Wow! So set those clocks back and then watch Mars visit The Beehive and The Manger. Keep looking up!
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Horkheimer: Just after you set your clocks back at 2 a.m. Sunday morning November 1st step outside and you'll see Mars step inside a cosmic beehive. At 2 a.m. Daylight Saving Time or 1 a.m. Standard Time look south east and just to the left of the brightest star Sirius and the less bright Procyon you'll see Mars. And if you're far from city lights it will look like there is a small cloud behind him. Through a pair of binoculars however you'll see 40 stars surrounding him which is a star cluster named The Beehive. Through a telescope there are at least 200 stars here, 5 of which are red giants and Mars is in front of this cluster for one night only. The night before he's above it, the night after, he's below it. So after you set your clocks back catch Mars in The Beehive. Keep looking up!
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* This week's Sky At A Glance and
Planet Roundup from Sky & Telescope.Starry Night Deluxe was used to produce this episode
of Star Gazer![[SmilinJack]](jack1sm.jpg)
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