Guest post by John Heasley, KVR AstroEducator and owner of Driftless Stargazing
We enjoy awesome starry skies in the Driftless. Late fall is an excellent time to be amazed by them. The skies darken earlier and the nights are longer. The Sun sets before 5pm and the sky is fully dark by 6:30pm. Mosquitoes are gone. Humidity is lower. The stars are brighter in the crisp skies. And it’s such a safe outdoor activity. Yes it’s colder, but we know how to dress for the weather. Kiddos lose heat at a faster rate, so bundle them up. You won’t be moving much, so layer for about 20 degrees cooler than the temperature.
You can stargaze wherever you are. If you want darker skies, check out our many public areas such as Kickapoo Valley Reserve, Lower Wisconsin State Riverway, Wildcat Mountain, Wyalusing, Sidie Hollow, and Duck Egg. We can be awed by the starry skies so much much more away from the glow of artificial lights. Remember that there are simple steps we can take to preserve this heritage. International Dark-Sky Association has done the research and makes it easy to do.
Telescopes are wonderful, but you really don’t need one. There’s much to see with our unaided eyes. Many of us already have binoculars, and we can see even more with them. They really bring out the color of stars. It’s fun to track the Moon as it rises a little later each evening and goes through all its phases during the month. Binoculars let you explore its craters and plains and mountains even better. Venture into the sights and sounds and smells of the nocturnal world by walking when the Moon is full. The Full Frost Moon lights up the landscape on November 29-30 and the Full Yule Moon shines down on us December 28-30. If you’re out early the morning of November 30, you might even notice a little dimming of the Moon as it passes through the shadow of the Earth in a penumbral eclipse. NASA has excellent activities such as keeping a Moon Observation Journal and sharing Moon Myths from Around the World.
Planets are easy to spot. They are generally brighter than the stars, and they don’t twinkle as much. They can be found somewhere along an arc that rises in the east, passes high in the south, and sets in the west. Venus “the morning star” is brilliant in the east before sunrise. It’s lovely with the Waning Crescent Moon on November 12 and 13 (when you might see Mercury below it) and again on December 12 and 13. Jupiter and Saturn are close together in the southwest after sunset. Jupiter is the brighter of the two and Saturn is to its left. Watch as they draw closer together until they meet in a Great Conjunction on December 21, the evening of the winter solstice. This happens only every twenty years. The Waxing Crescent Moon passes by them November 18 and 19 and again on December 16 and 17. Mars is especially bright this season and glows like an ember in the southern sky. The Waxing Gibbous Moon meets up with the Red Planet on November 25 and December 23.
When we think of meteor showers, most of us think of the Perseids in August. But there are two great showers yet this year: the Leonids on November 16/17 and the Geminids on December 13/14. No moonlight interferes with them in 2020. Bundle up, bring a warm beverage, get comfy on a lounge chair, and look up. These bright streaks of comet dust can show up in any part of the sky. They peak after midnight, but there are quite a few to see in the evening an hour or so after sunset.
When you’re gazing at stars, it’s fun to “connect the dots”. Humans from many cultures all over the planet have seen different people, animals, and things in the sky. You should feel free to create your own and tell their stories. In the last century, the International Astronomical Union has recognized 88 constellations, about 60 of them visible from Wisconsin. Some, such as Orion the Hunter, look like their namesakes. Others, such as Aquarius the Water Bearer, require much more imagination. Use your sky map to learn one a week, and you’ll know the sky in just about a year.
There’s much more to see in the sky including galaxies and clusters and nebulas. And plenty of guides to help us. EarthSky Tonight and Driftless Stargazing give daily updates. Sky and Telescope’s This Week’s Sky at a Glance gives a great overview. Skymaps.com has a free map to print off every month. Bring it outside, turn it so the direction you are facing is at the bottom, and have fun identifying constellations and discovering galaxies and star clusters. Consider connecting with your local astronomy club such as Starsplitters of Wyalusing or La Crosse Area Astronomical Society.
One thing I especially miss in 2020 is sharing astronomy programs and star parties at KVR. It is reassuring to know that folks can still be looking up together even as we keep safely apart. Head out and enjoy the skies of fall and winter, There’s a whole cosmos to discover.
John Heasley is an astronomy educator and stargazer who enjoys connecting people with the cosmos. He volunteers with NASA/JPL as a Solar System Ambassador and the International Astronomical Union as a Dark Sky Ambassador. For more information about stargazing in southwest WI, like Driftless Stargazing LLC on Facebook and find out whenever there's something awesome happening in the skies. Driftless Dark Skies appears monthly in the Voice of the River Valley.
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