Stars & Night Sky

This month’s Handbook of Nature Study Outdoor Hour Challenge theme is

Night Sky

Perseid Meteor (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Although we live in a perfect star-gazing position … high up on a mountain, breathing in crystal-clear air, and surrounded by peace and darkness with no street or city lights, it is winter, and here in the Klein Karoo, South Africa, it rains.

Many of our night-time sessions have been too cloudy and too cold to go outdoors and star-gaze. In fact, we were very disappointed to miss the famous Perseid meteor shower when a cold front rolled in with thick clouds and rain.

Here are some websites on the Perseid meteors: (Links updated)

A planisphere is a simple hand-held device which consists of a circular star chart attached at its center to a circular overlay with a window so that only a portion of a map of stars are visible in the night sky of either the northern or southern hemisphere at any particular time. By rotating the wheel, it shows the rising and setting of the stars through the night, how different constellations relate to one another and are visible at different times of year.

Here are some helpful, free star-gazing tools & links:

Wikipedia what is a planisphere?

image – Astronomical Society of South Africa

Deep Sky Observer’s Companion – the online database download Southern Star Wheel
A fabulous website Lie Back and Look Up has these Free Constellation Cards which are really neat and simple, perfect for kids, as well as Summer Sky Map and Summer Sky Map for Kids in What’s up in the sky this month
Astronomy Magazine – Observing the sky this week with photos
In-the-Sky.org – Make your own planisphere

We look forward to some clear nights soon and we will all bundle up really warmly, snuggle down and star-gaze.

Hope you enjoy the night sky too!

Blessings, Nadene

5 thoughts on “Stars & Night Sky”

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There is a free program that is PHENOMENAL that you might want to check out – it’s Stellarium, and you can download it and see the sky as it is above you, with the pictures superimposed over the stars, to help. I use it all the time. And if you get a feel for where things are, now, you’ll be all set for Comet Ison, in November. 🙂

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How disappointing! There are more chances later in the year to see meteor showers. Here is a link:
http://stardate.org/nightsky/meteors
Hopefully you will get a chance to see this awesome sky show.

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