Stargazing LIVE Star Guide - Thinktank

STAR GUIDE

WElcomE To
STARGAzInG lIVE!
We have put together this guide to accompany
Stargazing LIVE and to help you discover some
of the best things to see in the night sky
throughout the year. Even if you’ve never tried
stargazing before, you can get started with
our easy-to-use star charts.
When you’re ready for the next step, there’s more
waiting for you at bbc.co.uk/stargazing, including
“How to” videos and audio guides to the night sky.
So what are you waiting for? There’s a whole
world of incredible wonders above your head.
Isn’t it time you looked up?
Happy Stargazing!
Prof.
Brian Cox
Mark
ThoMPson
Dara o’Briain Liz Bonnin

GETTinG sTarTED
1
2
3
Choose a clear night and find an
outside space – ideally away from
tall buildings and bright lights.
It could be anywhere from your
back garden to a local park.
Wait 15 minutes to allow your eyes
to adapt to the dim light.
Make sure you’re facing north and
start with the ‘Looking North’ page
for this month.
ToP TiPs
You might like to take the following
items along to help you with
your stargazing:
• Binoculars/telescope – to help
you get a better view of objects in
the night sky, although most of the
stars in this guide can be seen
without them.
• A red torch – so that you can
still read your star guide without
affecting your ‘night vision’.
You could adapt a normal torch
using red cellophane or use a rear
bike light.
4
5
Hold the star chart in
front of you and look up
at the sky. How many of the
constellations can you find?
When ready, try looking south.
This time use the ‘Looking
South’ chart.
DiD YoU knoW?
The stars that we can see at a
certain time of night change
throughout the year as the Earth
orbits the Sun and we move to a
different position in space.
• A compass – so you know which
direction you’re facing.
DiD YoU knoW?
If you observe the night sky at a
later time than that on the chart,
the stars will have moved across
the sky and so may not match your
chart exactly.

ThE BasiCs
So, you’re all set for your night
of stargazing... but what exactly
will you be looking at?
sTars
These are spheres of gas that emit heat
and light through nuclear processes.
The Sun is the nearest star to Earth.
GaLaxY
The name given to a collection of stars,
gas and dust that are all bound together
by gravity. We are part of a galaxy
called the Milky Way, which contains
more than 100 billion stars.
PLanET
A body that orbits the Sun and has
enough gravitational pull to be
spherical and clear its orbit of debris.
There are eight planets in total in our
Solar System. If a planet orbits a star
other than the Sun it is known as an
extrasolar planet.
METEor
This is when dust particles falling
through the Earth’s atmosphere are
seen as streaks of light across the
sky (also known as shooting stars).
Meteors vaporise high up in the
atmosphere whereas meteorites
actually land on Earth.
ConsTELLaTion
An arrangement of stars in the sky
that are shown to represent objects,
animals and mythological creatures.

sTar MaP
LookinG norTh
1
2
Cassiopeia
Cepheus
2
Ursa
Minor
Draco
1
Ursa
Major
JanUarY—MarCh LookinG norTh EarLY EVEninG
WhaT To Look for
This is called the ‘Plough’. It isn’t a constellation
itself, but part of a constellation called Ursa
Major (Latin for Great Bear).
Here is Polaris (the North Star). You can find
Polaris by following the line of the two ‘pointer’
stars in the Plough. Polaris remains in the same
place in the sky throughout the night, no matter
what the season.
Mark’s METEor WaTCh
Look out for the
Quadrantid Meteor
Shower peaking on
3–4 January.

sTar MaP
LookinG soUTh
1
2
3
Cancer
Gemini
Canis
Minor
Canis
Major
2
1
3
Orion
WhaT To Look for
Using binoculars, have a look just below Orion’s
belt for something that looks like a fuzzy star.
This is a stellar nebula where hundreds of young
stars are formed.
Follow the line of Orion’s belt east to find Sirius
in the constellation Canis Major. This is the
brightest star in the night sky. Although it looks
like just one star, it’s actually a system of two
stars: Sirius and a fainter companion star.
This star is Aldebaran and you can find it
by following the line of Orion’s belt west.
It’s 40 times wider than the Sun, but luckily
for us it’s also four million times further away.
Auriga
Taurus
JanUarY—MarCh LookinG soUTh EarLY EVEninG
DiD YoU knoW?
On average it takes
8.3 minutes for light to
travel from the Sun
to the Earth.

sTar MaP
LookinG norTh
1
2
3
Ursa
Major
3
Ursa
Minor
Cepheus
Draco
Cassiopeia
WhaT To Look for
Can you find Cassiopeia? Legend says that this
‘w’-shaped constellation represents the wife
of King Cepheus of Ethiopia.
Have a look for Vega, a star in the constellation
Lyra. This is one of the brightest stars in the
night sky and, in 1850, it became the first star
other than the Sun to be photographed.
Look for Mizar, the second star in from the end
of the handle of the Plough. See if you can see
its fainter companion known as Alcor.
1
2
Lyra
Cygnus
aPriL—JUnE LookinG norTh LaTE EVEninG
DiD YoU knoW?
Stars twinkle because
some of the light
coming from them is
disturbed as it passes
through the Earth’s
turbulent atmosphere.

sTar MaP
LookinG soUTh
1
2
3
Hercules
Corona
Borealis
Libra
Boötes
2
Virgo
Coma
Berenices
3
Ursa
Major
aPriL—JUnE LookinG soUTh LaTE EVEninG
WhaT To Look for
Look for a group of stars in the shape of a
reverse question mark. This is the lion’s head
of the constellation Leo.
Follow the curve of the handle of the Plough
around to locate the bright star Arcturus. This
is the brightest star in the northern half of the
sky and is part of the constellation of Boötes
the Herdsman.
In between Boötes and Leo, you’ll find the
Coma Star Cluster. This is a faint triangular
smattering of stars also known as Coma
Berenices, or Queen Berenice’s Hair.
Leo
1
DiD YoU knoW?
In the darkest parts
of the UK you can see
approximately 6,000
stars just using the
naked eye!

sTar MaP
LookinG norTh
1
2
Ursa
Major
Draco
Ursa
Minor
Cepheus
Cassiopeia
2
Perseus
WhaT To Look for
Our nearest neighbouring galaxy – the
Andromeda galaxy – can be seen in the
Andromeda constellation. It appears to
us as an elongated fuzzy blob. The name
Andromeda comes from Greek mythology
and refers to the daughter of King Cepheus
and Queen Cassiopeia.
Meteor showers are named after the
constellation they seem to come from.
So, the Perseids look as though they come
from Perseus.
1
Aries
Andromeda
Triangulum
Pegasus
JULY—sEPTEMBEr LookinG norTh LaTE EVEninG
Mark’s METEor WaTCh
Look out for the
Perseid Meteor
Shower peaking on
12–13 August.

sTar MaP
LookinG soUTh
1
2
3
Cygnus
Delphinus
Sagitta
1
Aquila
Lyra
2
3
Hercules
Ophiuchus
Corona
Borealis
Serpens
Boötes
JULY—sEPTEMBEr LookinG soUTh LaTE EVEninG
WhaT To Look for
Can you spot the Northern Cross? It’s part
of the constellation called Cygnus the Swan,
and looks just like a cross.
Have a look for the Summer Triangle which is
made up of the three bright stars: Altair in Aquila
the Eagle, Vega in Lyra the Lyre, and Deneb in
Cygnus the Swan.
Summer is a great time to see our own galaxy,
the Milky Way, stretching across the sky as a
hazy band of light.
DiD YoU knoW?
Our galaxy, the Milky
Way, is by no means
the only one. In fact
it’s one in a cluster
of more than 30
galaxies, known as
the Local Group.

sTar MaP
LookinG norTh
1
2
3
Lyra
Hercules
Cepheus
2
Draco Ursa
Minor
Cassiopeia
WhaT To Look for
Polaris (the North Star) is positioned above the
North Pole, and so it seems to stay still in the
night sky while other stars rotate around it.
As a result, it has been used for navigation
for centuries.
Can you spot Cepheus? It looks like a box with
a triangle shape attached. It’s named after the
King of Ethiopia in Greek mythology.
Can you find Capella, the brightest star in the
Auriga constellation? Although it looks like one
star, it’s actually made up of two stars which
appear very close to one another.
1
Perseus
Ursa
Major
3
DiD YoU knoW?
Auriga
oCToBEr—DECEMBEr LookinG norTh EarLY EVEninG
If you counted all of
the stars in our galaxy
at a rate of one every
second it would take
around 3,000 years to
count them all.

sTar MaP
LookinG soUTh
1
2
Taurus
Perseus
2
Aries
Cassiopeia
Andromeda
1
Pegasus
Cygnus
oCToBEr—DECEMBEr LookinG soUTh EarLY EVEninG
WhaT To Look for
Can you spot the Great Square of the
constellation Pegasus? One of the stars in
Pegasus has an extrasolar planet orbiting
around it. However, the planet itself is too
faint to be seen with the naked eye.
Can you spot the Seven Sisters star cluster,
also known as The Pleiades, in Taurus? If you
have good eyesight you should be able to see
more than seven stars here. Using a telescope
the total is around 250!
Mark’s METEor WaTCh
The Leonid Meteor
Shower peaks on
17–18 November and
the Geminid Meteor
Shower peaks on
13–14 December.

ThE Moon
BaY of rainBoWs
CraTEr
CoPErniCUs
CraTEr TYCho
CraTEr PLaTo
Looking at the Moon is another great way to
start exploring the night sky. You may think the
best time to observe the Moon is when it’s full,
but at this time the shadows on the surface are
at their shortest, making it harder to pick
out any features.
So, it’s more fun to wait until the phase of the Moon
has changed and a shadow line (or terminator) is
visible. The ‘terminator’ is the boundary between
the illuminated section on the Moon and the area
in shadow, and is where the Moon’s mountains
and craters are most clearly seen.
So, why not look for yourself? Find a clear night
and see if you can spot any of the above features
on the Moon.
sEa of CrisEs
sEa of
TranQUiLLiTY
DiD YoU knoW?
You may have heard
of the ‘Man in the
Moon’. The dark
patches of the ‘face’
are seas on the
surface of the Moon.
But these seas are not
like the ones on Earth,
they’re actually made
up of solidified lava
from ancient volcanic
eruptions.

c.co.uk/stargazing
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