Ahhhh! A warm summer night, a clear sky. As I lie back on my lawn cot, the heavens above me unfold in thousands of small dots of light and one large, incomplete circle just over the western horizon. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am an addicted sky watcher. First and foremost, I am a weather watcher, but I also enjoy looking past the lower atmosphere toward those sparkling dots in the heavens.
Star-gazing -- and planet-watching -- can be a very rewarding experience, particularly when you allow yourself to transcend time and place. Many, many nights ago, I was camping in Northern Ontario, lying beside the campfire, my eyes looking straight up. Away from the city lights and human, polluted air, the heavens above me sparkled and shone with billions and billions of points of light from the Milky Way and beyond. Frequently a dash of light streaked across the overhead vault. My mind took me back to those ancient times and truly saw for the first time the awesome spectacle that greeted shepherd and sailors every night.
I will bet that many of you look on astronomy and star-gazing as an expensive pastime, but think again. Like weather watching, it can be enjoyed, and enjoyed well, for free. All you need are two eyes and an unobstructed spot to look up. Yes, you can enhance the experience by purchasing or borrowing guidebooks, star charts (hardcopy and software) and binoculars and perhaps traveling away from the city. True, telescopes and photographic equipment can take you deeper into the pastime. But these aids are not necessary for enjoyment.
You can often join a local astronomy club for a small fee that will give you access to telescopes if you wish to see the heavens in greater detail. They can also put you in touch with people who can help you interpret what you see. Many observatories, national or university facilities, have nights when they open their doors and allow the public to "look" through their large telescopes (although today viewing is mostly done through video monitors).
Here in Victoria, British Columbia the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory has opened it observatory dome on Saturday nights to the public for a look. Many local astronomy enthusiasts take the opportunity to set up their personal telescopes along the parking lot atop Observatory Hill. They are usually more than happy to share a peek at the heavens with you.
Summertime provides many advantages for star and planet viewing, particularly the pleasant temperatures late at night. One annual summer-sky event is worth mentioning here: the Perseid meteor shower (so named because the majority of meteors enter the atmosphere near the location of the constellation Perseus in the northeastern sky). This meteor shower is the largest recurrent event, averaging 75 meteors per hour.
The past decade has given us at least two comets easily visible with the naked eye, some spectacular alignments of planets and several lunar eclipses. In the next year, we will enter a phase of increased solar storm activity -- scientists currently predict its peak next spring -- which will bring more auroral activity to the northern skies, perhaps extending further south. Away from city lights, the aurora borealis can be fascinating to watch. In many rural areas of Canada, the shimmering, multicoloured auroral curtains can be quite spectacular to see.
The ancients named certain star groupings for the patterns they believed they saw. We know many of these constellations and individual stars by their Greek, Roman and Arabic names, but other cultures had their own interpretations and names. Most of us know several, at least by name: the twelve signs of the Zodiac, the Big and Little Dippers -- or their official names Ursa major and Ursa minor, the Big Bear and Little Bear -- and Orion. Then there are our sister planets -- particularly Venus, Mars, Mercury, Saturn and Jupiter -- whose positions in the heavens change day to day against the backdrop of stars whose position changes slowly with the seasons. Individual stars are also known to many: Polaris -- the North Star -- Sirius -- the Dog Star and brightest in the heavens after our Sun -- Betelgeuse; and Andromeda -- actually a galaxy of stars.
If you have a computer, I strongly recommend you obtain star-chart software. These packages come in a wide range of prices, complexity and features. Such software can greatly enhance your viewing pleasure by helping you to identify the planets, stars and constellations at just about any time or viewing point on the planet. This allows you to see the state of the heavens, for example, on your birthday or any other special day. Or you can preview what to look for on some future day, perhaps next week's camping trip to the lake.
I have often said: "Weather Eyes are always looking up!" Star Eyes are too. Enjoy the summer and all other seasons by looking up, way up, every chance you get. It is well worth the effort.