Adrian Dening's Stars Over Somerset

Wednesday, 27 December 2023 17:00

Monday 1st to Sunday 7th January 2024

I would like to take the opportunity to wish everyone a prosperous New Year. Now I'm not going to suggest going out stargazing on New Year's Eve, but it you venture outside the following evening on New Year's Day, say around 11pm, there will be several interesting things to see.

Look towards the south and you will be facing the constellation of Orion. At the same time, planet Jupiter will be located towards the south west, with the constellation of Taurus and the Pleiades open cluster of stars halfway between Orion and Jupiter.

Turn your gaze a little down and to the left of Orion and you will see the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius. Sirius is part of the constellation Canis Major and it shines at a magnitude of -1.46 so no telescope needed!

The star is also one of the closest to us, being only 8 light years away. Sirius is actually a binary star system, but its white dwarf companion known as Sirius B is hard to see with a magnitude of +8.44

The main star, Sirius A, is about twice the size of our Sun while Sirius B is around the size of the Earth.

The Egyptians used the rising of Sirius above the horizon in the east just before dawn to indicate the annual flooding of the Nile mid-July. The ancient Greeks observed that the appearance of Sirius as the morning star heralded the hot and dry summer and feared that the star caused "plants to wilt and men to weaken"!

www.starsoversomerset.com
Screenshots courtesy of Stellarium
Copyright Adrian Dening and Radio Ninesprings 2023