“What do you see?” I remember that as the opening line of John Logan’s play Red performed at Forward Theater in Madison last year. It’s the question that the artist Mark Rothko asks of his new assistant Ken. Maybe to test him. Maybe to train him. It caught my attention because it’s the question I have learned to ask viewers when they are looking through my telescope or binoculars.
There’s much to see in the evening sky this November. Try each of these object first with just your eyes and then with binoculars.
The Big Dipper is low in the sky in the north. Take a close look at the middle star of the handle. What do you see? If your eyesight is good, you might see a fainter star very close to the brighter star at 11 o’clock. That’s Alcor and Mizar, a double star. The names are Arabic for the horse and the rider.
Look for Orion rising in the northeast. Find the three stars of his belt and then the three stars of his sword hanging from the belt. Look at the middle star of the sword. What do you see? If skies are clear it might appear a little fuzzier than the other stars. That’s the Orion Nebula, a cloud of gas and dust where new stars are being born. With binoculars, you might even see a hint of color.
While you’re with Orion, check out the stars of his left shoulder and his right knee. What do you see? Those two bright stars are Betelgeuse and Rigel. If your eyes have become dark adapted, you might be able to see that Betelgeuse is red and Rigel is Blue. They are supergiants and some of the largest single objects that you will ever see.
Look for the “M” of Cassiopeia high in the north. Follow the left triangle of the “M” until you are looking almost directly overhead. You might want to grab a chair or blanket for this one. What do you see? If you are at a dark site, you might catch a fuzzy patch just at the threshold of your vision. It’s larger than the Moon but much fainter. It works better to look at it with your eyes slightly averted rather than directly. That’s the Andromeda Galaxy home to hundreds of billions of stars whose light has been traveling over two million years to reach us. It’s the most distant thing you can see with your eyes alone.
Enjoy seeing under the dark skies of the Driftless Area.
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. 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.