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The Family Tree
Thought for the Month The SunTree Traveler
Our annual post-holidays slow-down event in Alamogordo was ideal. The weather was delightful and the hot tub got a good workout. There was good conversation in the hot tub. The moon was a little too bright to be able to see the comet, so we will have to schedule another one of those soon. As is usual there was some food available due to the potluck. The television also got a good workout since there was an exciting walk-up to the Super Bowl game. We will not be having a SunTree event on 6 February, so the members will have to search out their own television if they want to watch that spectacular of commercial advertising interrupted on occasion by a football game.
Valentine's Day at Faywood Hot Springs Ski Trip to Ruidoso If you have not contacted SunTree and you are planning to attend this ski event in Ruidoso, NM, do not delay.
The big planets in last month's sky have gone into seclusion in the glare of the sun. Of course Mercury always is on the brink of hiding in the sun's glare, but last month's performance in coordination with Venus was spectacular. Venus which has been doing a fine job as the morning "star" has also gone into hiding in the sun's glare. Mars is still in the morning sky, but is not reflecting much light right now, so it really cannot accept the role of Morning "Star" either. In the night sky, however, we have Jupiter (which will not rise until around 10 o'clock, but will stay up the rest of the night) and Saturn, which are the nighttime planetary celebrities. Saturn is February's highlight world, way up in the northeast at nightfall and at the top of the dome of the sky at 10 PM almost directly above blue-white Sirius (Arf), the only star that outshines Saturn (see below). This month, the Moon cooperates in helping us find three planets: Mark your calendar. On 9 February, the moon hangs in there close to Uranus (which you really are unable to see unless you have binoculars. Uranus is sort of greenish.) On 19 February, the moon will be next to the glowing Saturn On 26 February, the moon will be next to Jupiter. The real performance of the month is not a single planet nor star, it is the whole concentration of stars in a beautiful display at nightfall. Look for those three stars in a line that designate the belt of the hunter Orion. That is where the cloud of stars is hanging out. Those three stars of Orion's belt is quite familiar to all of the SunTree gang. Just above that belt and to the left there is a somewhat bright orange-gold star called Betelgeuse (where have I heard that name before?). Across that belt, on the other side (lower right) is the blue-white star, Rigel. But the star that hogs all of the attention is to the left of the belt in another constellation altogether. That is the dog star Sirius. The star is in the dog constellation Canis Major. Sirius is so bright that you probably will not even notice the rest of the constellation. Sirius (Canis Major) is Orion's faithful hunting dog. He has another dog also, just to the left of Canis Major and up a little bit. That is Canis Minor. If you can see that dog, you have better eyes than I do. All that I can see is the tail (two stars). This whole team of hunter with his two dogs are high in the southern sky. I suspect that Orion's dogs must have colds because they are missing another nearby constellation, Lepus the long-eared bunny just under their feet. © 2004 SunTree Travel Club - Site updated Summer 2008 |
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What Happened in January
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