© 2007-2012 KS

Winter/Spring Objects to View
UNH Observatory; Durham, N.H.
www.physics.unh.edu/observatory

Planets: Jupiter is quickly disappearing into the Sun's glare in the western skies near dusk; catch it early in the winter before it's too late. Jupiter will be reappearing in the Durham night sky in early summer. Uranus and Neptune start the winter near conjunction with the Sun and they, too, will be coming back into the Durham night sky in early summer. Mars is currently on display as the bright, reddish object in the east after the Sun sets. Saturn will be at opposition around this time and should provide great views. Venus, on the western horizon, is the "evening star" of the winter, but will remain low in the sky until summer. Mercury is notorious for being a difficult object to view--most professional astronomers have never had the joy of viewing this planet. It is most easily visible when it reaches greatest elongation, when the angle between Earth and Sun is at a maximum. Mercury is visible in the morning skies near the beginning of the semester but getting lower and lower as we approach March.

Meteor Showers: The Quadrantids meteor shower, the most promising shower of the winter, peaks every year around the night of January 3 or 4. Meteor showers are named for the area of the sky, the constellation, from which they emanate. The Quadrantids, however, are associated with the extinct constellation of Quadrans Muralis, the Latin name for a device used to measure angles. This area of the sky can now be found just off the handle of the Big Dipper towards the constellations of Boötes, Hercules, and Draco. The Lyrids meteor shower peaks near April 21 or 22. This shower is best viewed before sunrise emanating from the constellation of Lyra, the little harp, and it can produce up to 20 meteors per hour. The Eta Aquarids meteor shower peaks around May 5 or 6, but this is not an active shower; expect to see about 10 meteors per hour before the sun rises.

Emission Nebula
* M42, the Great Orion Nebula in Orion, is a large star-forming region that will be easily seen in our night skies this winter and into early spring. This is arguably one of the finest objects that can be viewed in the winter/spring skies and should not be missed.

Planetary Nebulae
* M57, the Ring Nebula in Lyra, and M27, the Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula, start to rise early enough for viewing in May. These objects offer observers a glance at our Sun's future. Planetary nebulae have nothing to do with planets, but are in fact the result of the star around the size of the Sun coming to the end of its life. The term "planetary" derived from early observations made with less sophisticated telescopes because they appeared to be fuzzy, round shapes.
* M97, the Owl Nebula in Ursa Major.

Open Star Clusters: Open clusters are sparse collections of young stars, typically less than a few hundred million years old.
* NGC 869/884, the Double Cluster, in Perseus
* M36, 37, and 38 in Auriga
* M45, the Pleiades, in Taurus
* M35, in Gemini
* M44, Praesepe (the Beehive Cluster), in Cancer
* M41, in Canis Major
* NGC457, the Owl Cluster, in Cassiopeia
* M52, in Cassiopeia

Globular Star Clusters: These objects are a spherical collection of stars that orbit above and below the galactic plane. They reside in the halo of our Milky Way Galaxy and are made up of older stars tightly bound together by gravity. The Milky Way has around 150 of these objects near its core, ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 light years from Earth.
* M15 in Pegasus is visible at the beginning of the winter, then disappears into the Sun's glare.
* M13, the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules, will be visible during public viewing sessions in mid-March.
* M79, in Lepus

Galaxies
* M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, in Andromeda. At only 2.5 million light years, the sister galaxy to our Milky Way Galaxy can be spotted with the naked eye. M31 can be viewed in the early part of the spring, but it disappears quickly into the west as spring approaches.
* M81 and 82, also known as Bode's Nebula, in Ursa Major. M81 is a large spiral galaxy at a distance of 12 million light years. Most visible when viewing this object is its bright central galactic bulge. M82 is a bit more conspicuous. It is an irregular galaxy that has the distinct shape of a cosmic cigar.
* M33, the Triangulum Galaxy, in Triangulum
* M110 is an elliptical galaxy, and the satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy
* M108 is a barred spiral galaxy in Ursa Major
* M95 and M96 are spiral galaxies in Leo

Stars
* Herschel's Garnet Star, or Mu Cephei, in Cepheus. As the name suggests, this star's most appealing quality, to the aided eye, is its deep red color. It is one of the largest and most luminous stars in the galaxy.
* Alcor/Mizar is the second star in the handle of the asterism known as the Big Dipper in the constellation of Ursa Major. Can you distinctly see these two stars with your naked eye?
* Albireo, in Cygnus. Although this appears as a single star to the unaided eye, Albireo's binary nature is revealed when observed through a telescope. This binary system is special due to the color of each companion star--Albireo A appears yellowish while Albireo B is slightly dimmer and bluish in color. The colors of stars represent their surface temperature: stars that are white or blue are very hot while those that are red or orange are cooler.
* Almach, or Gamma Andromedae, is also a nice binary star to view.