After our horrendous weather, which
never really got very horrendous up here in the Midlands, and the
presence previously of the moon, I was finally able to get outside
last night with the 10x50s for some deep sky stargazing.
It was cold, so why I had chosen to
grab something cold, cylindrical and can-like out of the fridge was
beyond me. Nevertheless, it helped brace me against a clear, breezy
evening with an autumnal nip in the air.
By 1230am, the big autumn
constellations are now starting to sink westwards – the mighty
flying horse Pegasus is now flying so low the globular Messier 15 is
no longer visible from my garden. Of the other winged constellations,
Aquila is gone, but I can still see half of Cygnus from over the
roof, and so last night observed Messier 39, perhaps my favourite
binocular open cluster.
Overhead, the Perseus double cluster
was naked eye visible, and of course I had to stop off at Kemble’s
Cascade. Then I shifted position, and took in the open clusters of
Auriga, all of them plainly visible. The mighty hunter is now
visible, at least his burly shoulders, and I spent a fair few minutes
taking in the intense vermillion colour of Betelgeuse. You can
imagine the sky looking like it was on fire if that star goes
supernova in our lifetime; the celestial vault would look like it was
bleeding, the blood-light illuminating our skins with its crimson
glow.
And then the ground begins to stir…
If any night is ripe for the undead
apocalypse, it will be when Betelgeuse goes supernova…or is my
imagination getting the better of me?
Copyright cream crackered nature 29/10/2013
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