{"id":23432,"date":"2021-09-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=23432"},"modified":"2021-10-22T11:43:35","modified_gmt":"2021-10-22T11:43:35","slug":"the-autumn-grand-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/2021\/09\/16\/the-autumn-grand-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"The Autumn Grand Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the nights begin to get longer, Stuart <\/strong>Atkinson <\/strong>takes us on a tour of the new season\u2019s astronomical highlights<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
As the nights draw out, it\u2019s a wonderful opportunity to get more familiar with the starry delights of the new season<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Stargazers always feel a sense of relief and almost liberation when autumn returns. During summer the night sky doesn\u2019t really get dark enough to see all but the brightest stars and deep-sky objects, so after covering up our telescopes we spend the summer months in a kind of enforced astronomical hibernation, watching the lantern-bright International Space Station arc silently across the sky and picking out a bright planet or two on endless twilight nights while crossing our fingers for the northern sky to be painted with a display of noctilucent clouds. But as summer recedes there actually is an \u2018after dark\u2019 again, and a lovely selection of stars, globular clusters, galaxies and other beautiful celestial sights slowly comes back into view. Here we\u2019re going to look at some of the best sights to see in the night sky this autumn and how to find them.<\/p>\n\n

Much the same as the Voyager probes famously went on a Grand Tour of the outer Solar System in the 1970s and \u201980s, moving from planet to planet, with this feature newcomers to sky-watching and experienced amateur astronomers alike will be able to embark on their own \u2013 rather quicker \u2013 Grand Tour of the wonders of the night sky in celebration of this season. So let us star-hop from constellation to constellation and visit one fascinating deep-sky object after another. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

Preparation is key<\/h3>\n\n
\"\"
The distinctive shape of the Plough is one of the many sights you can enjoy with the naked eye, but a pair of binoculars will help you to see even more detail <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Before you head outside there are a few things you need to do. First and perhaps most importantly of all, you need to find a good observing site. Yes, you\u2019ll be able to see some stars from your garden, but unless you live on a remote Scottish island, or in the middle of ghost-haunted moorland, your view of the sky will be both blocked by neighbouring properties and affected, perhaps even ruined, by light pollution from<\/span> surrounding streetlights, external security floodlights on buildings and the illuminated signs of shops and pubs. You\u2019ll<\/span> want to find a spot nearby with as little light pollution as possible, and with as big a view of the sky as possible, and then you\u2019ll be set to enjoy your own Grand Tour. Just be sure to stay safe, to stargaze with others where possible and to take heed of any COVID-related restrictions that happen to be in place.<\/p>\n\n

Of course, you might already have a good observing place: a farm gateway or layby that\u2019s just up the road from where you live, a car park on the outskirts of town, or maybe a nearby beauty spot \u2013 but if you don\u2019t then you\u2019ll need to do some research. Google Maps or Google Earth are useful for helping stargazers to find good observing sites. If you can, go and check out your site during the daytime, then you won\u2019t be caught out by any tall trees, buildings or hills that aren\u2019t obvious on the online maps and would spoil your view on a clear night.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\u201cYou won\u2019t need a telescope to see the objects featured in this tour, they are all visible to the naked eye\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Also, it\u2019s very important to dress warmly. Autumn nights can feel very chilly and damp, especially after you\u2019ve got used to the long, shorts-and-sandals nights of summer, so retrieve the gloves, hat, scarf and warm jacket you threw into the back of the wardrobe at the end of spring and snuggle back into them again before going out.<\/p>\n\n

As for equipment, you won\u2019t need a telescope to see the objects featured in this tour, they are all visible to the naked eye. However, if you have a pair of binoculars then take those along; they\u2019ll give you better views of the objects once you\u2019ve found them, and ensure you get the most enjoyment from your trip out to a dark sky.<\/p>\n\n

Finally, plan your tour timetable. You\u2019ll want to be at your observing site by around 8:30pm, just as it\u2019s getting properly dark, so take into account the time it will take you to get there when you make your plans, especially if you\u2019re meeting up with other people.<\/p>\n\n

And so, preparations complete, let\u2019s begin the Grand Tour\u2026<\/p>\n\n

Looking east<\/h3>\n\n

The Pleiades<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n
\"\"
From the beautiful Pleiades star cluster, you\u2019ll be able to find the Double Cluster and our neighbouring galaxy, M31, the Andromeda Galaxy<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

We start our tour by looking low in the sky, just above the northeastern horizon. There you will see \u2013 as long as there are no trees, hills or buildings in the way \u2013a knot of blue-white stars, roughly the size of your thumbnail held at arm\u2019s length. This is one of the most famous star clusters in the sky: the Pleiades.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

This beautiful spill of stars \u2013 which is only 444 lightyears from Earth, making it one of the closest star clusters to us \u2013 is famously known as The Seven Sisters because, although it contains many hundreds of stars, its seven brightest members can be seen with the naked eye, looking like a miniature version of the Plough. If you have binoculars you will be able to see many dozens of fainter stars dotted around the brightest ones. Whenever stargazers see the Pleiades for the first time in autumn, they know that winter isn\u2019t far away. Then the Pleiades will shine high in the sky all through the night, above and to the right of Orion.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

The Double Cluster<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Look to the upper left of the Pleiades, halfway between the \u2018W\u2019 of constellation Cassiopeia, the Queen and the upside down \u2018Y\u2019 of Perseus, the Hero and you\u2019ll see a vague, smudgy\u2026 something out of the corner of your eye. This is actually two star clusters (NGC 884 and NGC 869) sparkling together side by side, known, appropriately, as the Double Cluster.<\/p>\n\n

Through your binoculars the Double Cluster will be resolved into two distinct star clusters, looking like piles of salt or sugar grains, so close they are almost touching. The clusters are a gravitationally bound pair. Around 8,100 lightyears away, they are separated by a few hundred lightyears.<\/p>\n\n

The Andromeda Galaxy<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n
\"\"
With the naked eye you\u2019ll be able to see the seven stars that give the Pleiades, M45, its nickname, the Seven Sisters<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Look to the right of the Double Cluster, approximately halfway between it and the Great Square of Pegasus and you\u2019ll see a large, misty smudge with a roughly oval shape. This is M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, a huge spiral galaxy.<\/p>\n\n

M31 is the closest spiral galaxy to our Milky Way, but it\u2019s still so far away that its light takes around 2.5 million years to reach us. This makes M31 famous in astronomy as a distant object that is visible to the naked eye. Through your binoculars M31 is revealed to be a lensshaped haze of light, noticeably brighter in the centre, that covers an area of night sky that\u2019s roughly six times as large as the full Moon. <\/p>\n\n

Looking north<\/h3>\n\n

The Plough<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Look just above the northern horizon and you\u2019ll see a pattern of stars that will remind you of a large saucepan. This is the famous Plough, or Big Dipper, one of the most easily recognised patterns of stars in the sky \u2013 but you might be surprised to learn that it\u2019s not a constellation. The Plough is an asterism, a pattern of stars obvious to the eye that forms part of an actual, larger constellation. The stars of the Plough are part of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear, and represent its hindquarters and tail. Autumn is a very good time of year to see the Plough because it lies parallel to the horizon as darkness falls, and it is in the orientation most people expect it to be.<\/p>\n\n

Mizar and Alcor<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

If you have reasonably good eyesight and look closely at the star Mizar, (Zeta (z) Ursae Majoris) positioned halfway along the curved handle of the Plough, you\u2019ll see it\u2019s not one star but two, shining very<\/span> close together. Mizar\u2019s fainter companion is called Alcor (80 Ursae Majoris), and together these two stars are one of the most famous double stars in the whole of the night sky. They were used as a test of eyesight in years gone by. If you can\u2019t split them with your naked eye then don\u2019t worry, as your binoculars will show it.<\/p>\n\n

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Located in the familiar Plough asterism, Mizar and Alcor can easily be resolved as a double star through binoculars <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
Polaris<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Ask any of your non-astronomer friends to name a star and most will quickly answer the \u2018Pole Star\u2019 or \u2018North Star\u2019 and a few might even know its official name, Polaris. This is because many people have grown up believing it is the brightest star in the heavens, but this isn\u2019t true. Polaris (Alpha (a) Ursae Minoris) might be the brightest star in Ursa Minor, the Little Bear, but it is only the 48th brightest star in the sky, about as bright as the stars that make up the nearby Plough, so it doesn\u2019t really stand out in the night sky at all. It\u2019s only important because it happens to lie almost directly above the polar axis of Earth, which means all the other stars, their constellations and everything else in the sky appear to rotate around it as Earth spins. Finding it is easy: just go back to the Plough and draw an imaginary line upwards from the two stars known as \u2018The Pointers\u2019 \u2013 that line will take you to Polaris.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Looking west<\/h3>\n\n

Hercules Globular Cluster<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Look just above the western horizon after dark on early autumn nights and you\u2019ll see a small rectangle of stars, squashed in at the bottom. This is an asterism known as The Keystone of Hercules and if you look a third of the way down on its right side you\u2019ll see what looks like an unimpressive, out of focus star. Binoculars will show it more clearly, but will still only resolve it into a round smudge of light. This is M13, a condensed mass of several hundred thousand stars, forming a huge ball or globe of suns known as a globular cluster. It is around 23,000 lightyears away.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Deneb<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n
\"\"
Locate the bright star Deneb in the Milky Way, to the northwest of the Hercules Globular Cluster, M13<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Deneb (Alpha (a) Cygni), the brightest star in the constellation of Cygnus, the Swan, lies to the upper left of M13, past the bright star Vega (Alpha (a) Lyrae). Marking the head of the asterism known as the Northern Cross, it is one of three bright stars which form another asterism, the Summer Triangle.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Deneb is a true giant among the stars, 200 times bigger than our own Sun. It is very powerful too, about 200,000 times more luminous than the Sun, and even though it is over 2,600 lightyears away it is the 19th brightest star in the night sky.<\/p>\n\n

If you look at Deneb through binoculars you will see it is surrounded by countless thousands of fainter stars, thick as pollen grains. This is because it is embedded in\u2026<\/p>\n\n

The Milky Way<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n
\"\"
When we look at the Milky Way we see our Galaxy as a flattened disc<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

To end our tour, look to the western horizon and then slowly tilt your head back. If your eyes are properly adapted to the dark you\u2019ll see what looks like a broad band of pale light rising up from the west and arcing over your head. This is the Milky Way.<\/p>\n\n

Many observers compare the Milky Way\u2019s naked-eye appearance to a plane\u2019s vapour trail or smoke rising up from a distant campfire, but if you look at it with your binoculars you\u2019ll see it is the combined glow of countless billions of faint, pinprick stars. Sweep along the Milky Way with your binoculars and you\u2019ll see knots, clumps and trails of stars embedded within it. In some places, such as down the right side of the Northern Cross, the stars are so plentiful they form star clouds that look like they have been sprayed on the sky with an airbrush.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

When you look at the Milky Way you\u2019re looking at our own Galaxy from the inside. It\u2019s a huge spiral of billions of suns, but because we\u2019re inside it we can\u2019t see its curving spiral arms. What we see instead, looking through its flattened disc, is a band of light \u2013 which ancient sky-watchers named the Milky Way because it looked like milk sprayed across the sky.<\/p>\n\n

Our Grand Tour complete, we can look forward to the coming months as the nights get even longer and darker, and a new astronomy season is upon us.<\/p>\n\n

\n\n
\n
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\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stuart Atkinson is a lifelong amateur astronomer and author of 11 books<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

IMAGES: MARK FERGUSON\/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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