Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 47

OBSERVING

Northern Hemisphere's Sky

Fred Schaaf welcomes your
comments at fschaaf@aol.com.

Fred Schaaf

The Pilgrim's Way
Venus and Jupiter lead us on a journey through spring skies.
"Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his half cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye
That slepen al the nyght with open ye
(So priketh hem nature in hir corages)
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages..."

JOHN LEMLEUX

- Chaucer, "The General Prologue,"
The Canterbury Tales

Venus shines in Auriga above Taurus

No beginning in literature is more uplifting than that
of The Canterbury Tales. It takes on even more incantatory
power today by being in Middle English (though considerable translation is necessary - the "shoures soote" are
"showers sweet"). The astronomical reference in these
lines even needs a little explanation. As April arrives,
the Sun is astrologically about halfway through Aries the
Ram. Though Chaucer wrote over 600 years ago, even
then the Sun was really - astronomically - in the constellation Pisces at the beginning of April.
It's the final line in the quote above, however, that
serves as the springboard for our spring adventures in
this column: April is the time for astronomers to go on
pilgrimages (in Chaucer's pronounciation, "pil-grimMAH-jez") in the sky.

Pilgrimages in the spring sky. After winter's cold
has kept us indoors, April is the time to step out and seek
the treasures of the heavens.
The month-name "April" is believed to come either
from Aphrodite (the Roman Venus) or from "aperture"
(an opening - that is, of the natural year). This month is
always an opening for spring stargazing, but in 2015, it's
also the month of the planet Venus. Venus dominates the
western sky after nightfall, sitting in the midst of Taurus
- but also, more broadly, in the midst of the departing
throng of Auriga, Orion, Gemini, Canis Minor, and Canis
Major. So this is one of our pilgrimages - to visit Venus
and to adore, finally in more comfortable weather, the
beauties of the descending winter constellations.
Another scene currently infiltrated by a bright planet
is the region of Gemini, Leo, and Cancer, in which Jupiter
now resides. Not far from Jupiter is one of two delectable
naked-eye clusters in the spring constellations that are
definitely worth visiting: Cancer's M44, the Beehive Star
Cluster; see page 45. But on the other side of Leo - in
fact, anciently regarded as the tuft of Leo's tail - is the
Coma Star Cluster. Five members of the Coma Cluster are
brighter than magnitude 5.5, and about a dozen brighter
than 6.5 spread irregularly over about 5° of sky. In quite
°
dark skies the cluster is surprisingly prominent to the
naked eye, but in light pollution you'll need binoculars
to detect and enjoy it. You'll find the Coma Cluster about
halfway between bright Beta (β) Leonis (Denebola) and
Alpha (α) Canum Venaticorum (Cor Caroli).
A bright star pilgrimage. A brighter and special
pilgrimage, around the entire sky, is one to see the greatest number of 1st-magnitude and brighter stars visible at
one time. Soon after nightfall, observers around latitude
40° north can still view Sirius, Rigel, Aldebaran, and
Betelgeuse low in the west; Capella, Pollux, and Procyon
higher in the west; Regulus, Arcturus, and Spica from the
south to the east sky; and Vega, rising in the northeast.
An extragalactic pilgrimage. If you want a telescopic
pilgrimage, a great one heads for April's galaxies. One
rousing route starts high in the north with odd couple
M81 and M82 in Ursa Major, then runs under the Big
Dipper to arrive at noble M51. From there, for tougher but
marvelous fare, you can travel down to the wonderland
that most observers enter about 5° west of 3rd-magnitude
Epsilon (ε) Virginis - the Realm of Galaxies. ✦
Sk yandTelescope.com April 2015

47


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Sky and Telescope - April 2015

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Contents
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - Cover1
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - Cover2
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 3
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - Contents
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 5
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - A
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - B
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 6
Sky and Telescope - April 2015 - 7
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