Oracle Night Sky Charm
Star Party at Oracle State Park. Photo by Mike Weasner.
Welcome to “Oracle Night Sky Charm”. In these monthly articles, written especially for the Friends of Oracle State Park, you will discover some of what makes Oracle’s Night Sky so enjoyable to residents and visitors, and why it is important to protect our Night Sky Heritage.
In this first article of 2025, you will learn some of what you can see in the night sky in late January and early February. Low in the western sky after sunset you will see the bright planet Venus. Through a small telescope you can see the phases of Venus, just like our Moon. The cloud-covered planet currently shows a crescent phase similar to our Moon a few days before First Quarter. About 8 PM you can see (with some difficulty since it is getting fainter) the planet Saturn below Venus about halfway to the horizon. The planet Jupiter will be shining brightly nearly overhead at 8 PM. In the southern sky will be the beautiful constellation of Orion (the Hunter). The top two stars are the Hunter’s shoulders and the bottom two stars are his knees. The three stars in a row in the center are his belt, and hanging below his belt is his sword. If you have good eyes or use binoculars you will notice that the middle star of the sword appears “fuzzy”. It is not a single star, but a collection of young stars, gas, and dust that make up the “Great Orion Nebula”. Further to the east you will see the planet Mars in the constellation of Gemini (the Twins). It is shining brightly and will appear slightly orange-red to your eye. If you live where the sky is dark (like in Oracle) and there is no Moon in the sky, during the winter months you can see the “Winter Milky Way” running overhead from the constellation of Cassiopeia in the northwestern sky down to the left of Orion and near the very bright star of Sirius in the constellation of Canis Major (the Dog) in the southeastern sky. During the summer months you are looking inward towards the center (brightest portion) of our Milky Way Galaxy and the Milky Way is easily seen (from Oracle). However, in the winter you are looking in the opposite direction towards the edge of our Galaxy.. Finally, a real challenge for you will be to see the “Zodiacal Light” beginning about an hour after sunset in the western sky. You will need a dark sky with a clear western horizon. Using Venus and Jupiter as your guide (they ride the sky on the “Zodiac”), look for a very faint thin triangular wedge with the widest portion along the horizon and tapering down to a point high in the sky. Don’t be confused by Light Pollution from cities which will appear as skyglow near the horizon. The darker your sky the easier it will be to see this light from our Sun reflected by dust left over from the formation of our Solar System billions of years ago and perhaps even dust that has escaped from the surface of the planet Mars. This sky chart (credit: SkySafari 6 Pro) shows the sky after sunset on January 30th. East is on the left, south in the center, and west at the left. The zenith is at the top of the chart.
Sky from Oracle on January 30th after sunset.
The chart also shows that the faint planets Uranus and Neptune are in the evening sky. However, you will probably need at least binoculars to see Uranus (although it can be seen with just your eyes from a dark site). You will definitely need a telescope to view Neptune.
There was a Star Party at Oracle State Park on Saturday, January 4, 2025. Before the star party, Mike Weasner, local amateur astronomer and dark sky advocate gave a talk on doing Smartphone Astrophotography of the night sky and some objects that you can photograph using a smartphone and telescope. You can read about the event at Oracle State Park Astronomy Event. You can read previous Star Party reports on the Oracle Dark Skies Committee web site under the Past Events link. You can see what star parties at the Park are coming up on the Future Events page. The next one is currently scheduled for February 22nd.
If there is something you would like discussed in future FOSP “Oracle Night Sky Charm” postings, email Mike Weasner at mweasner@mac.com. Mike has been a volunteer at Oracle State Park since 2014 and is a past Vice President and past President of the Friends of Oracle State Park.