Stars over Sisters

Lying in a section of the Milky Way located between Deneb, the brightest star in Cygnus, and the constellation of Cassiopeia, is Lacerta, a celestial lizard.

This region of the night sky was apparently not regarded as a constellation by ancient Western astronomers because of its small size and faint stars.

Although not included in ancient star charts of Europe and the Near East, the stars of Lacerta, along with some in the eastern portion of Cygnus, were combined by early Chinese astronomers into their "Flying Serpent." Similarly, the Chumash people of California call this part of the sky "Lizard."

Other names for the constellation were Sceptrum et Manus Iustitiae (the Hand of Justice and Sceptre) to honor Louis XIV in 1670, and Frederici Honores (Frederick's Glory) to honor Frederick the Great in 1787. Both Sceptrum and Frederici Honores are now obsolete.

Lacerta, Latin for lizard, was created in 1687 by the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius, from the stars between Cygnus and Andromeda. He initially christened it "Stellio" (the stellion), a newt with starlike dorsal spots found along the Mediterranean coast. According to the first renderings, the Lizard looked a lot like a weasel with a long curly tail, but later drawings were modified to portray a lizard.

The constellation features some interesting objects. Two rather sparse open star clusters, NGC 7209 and NGC 7243, are found here. Both are young clusters, populated by mostly blue and white stars. NGC 7209 lies at a distance of about 3,810 light-years and contains more than 100 stars.

The star ADS 16402 is a binary star system, around which a planet orbits with some unusual properties. The Jupiter-sized planet exhibits an unexpectedly low density, about the same as cork.

EV Lacertae is a rapidly spinning red dwarf star with a strong magnetic field. It is a flare star that can emit powerful flares potentially visible to the naked eye, thousands of times more energetic than any from Earth's sun.

The Orionid meteor shower peaks on the morning of October 22. The best time to view is after the first quarter moon sets, about 1:30 a.m., until dawn. This is the most prolific meteor shower associated with Halley's Comet. It was first discovered in 1839.

The Orionids are so-called because the point they appear to come from, called the radiant, lies in the constellation Orion, but they can be seen over a large area of the sky. In some years, meteors may occur at rates of 50-70 per hour, but this year only about 15 per hour are expected.

On October 1 the sun rises at 7:40 a.m. PDT and sets at 6:47 p.m., making the length of daylight 11 hours and 43 minutes, slightly shorter than the growing period of darkness. By month's end, the time between sunrise and sunset will have shrunk to 10 hours and 16 minutes.

The moon dims to last quarter on October 4, becomes new on October 12, first quarter on October 20, and shines full on October 27. Some Native American tribes referred to the October Moon as the Full Hunter's Moon, as it was the time to go hunting in preparation for winter. October's full moon is also called the Travel Moon and the Dying Grass Moon.

Of the five naked-eye planets, only Saturn remains in the evening sky, very low in the southwest. By the middle of the month it will be gone.

Venus, Mars, and Jupiter are in the morning sky and can be seen shortly before sunrise. On October 28 the three planets will form a tight triangle in the east-southeast an hour before sunrise.

Uranus and Neptune will be in the evening sky. If you come to the Stars over Sisters star watch at Sisters High School on Saturday, October 10, ask me to show them to you with my telescope. The event begins at 7 p.m. Dress warmly.