| Winter rolls around again bringing long dark evenings and lots of bright, easy to recognise, constellations filled with delightful sights. Basic binoculars will reveal glorious nebulae, beautiful clusters. |
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| At the time of writing (November ‘07) our evening skies are dominated by a comet which has undergone an explosion and has brightened by a factor of a million. It can now be easily seen in the constellation of Perseus as a slightly fuzzy star and looks remarkable through binoculars. Comet 17/P Holmes is getting bigger by the day and hopefully will be visible for the next number of months. Latest sightings on www.kerryastronomyclub.com. |
| Every two years or so, the planet earth and the planet mars move closer. This usually triggers a rash of hoax emails and publicity saying that mars will be as big as the full moon and will be a spectacular sight. Thankfully mars will not be as big as the full moon in the sky, (if it was it would probably mean the end of life on earth) but it will be a spectacular sight. Look to the constellations of Gemini and Taurus over the next few months to see Mars glowing like a brilliantly bright ruddy orange star. |
| Even through a small telescope Mars is reluctant to show much detail. A larger telescope will begin to show details such as the polar ice caps and dark markings on the planet’s disc. This year Mars is at its closest to earth on Christmas Eve. |
| The ringed planet Saturn makes its return to our skies towards the end of 2007 and is well placed for viewing early in 2008. Saturn can be found in the constellation of Leo and like Mars it appears like a star but Saturn has a bright yellowish or golden colour. Saturn’s rings are visible in any telescope and may be just about glimpsed in powerful binoculars. Through a telescope Saturn’s rings are spectacular. |
| If you don’t have a telescope there are still lots of things to see in the winter sky. The Constellation of Orion, the hunter, marked by three equally bright stars in a row which represent Orion’s belt is a glorious sight and Orion and his belt can be used as a signpost to find other winter constellations and clusters and nebulae (see chart). |
| The International Space Station (ISS) blazes across our evening skies from the 4th to the 24th of December and again in February. The ISS appears like a bright star and moves gracefully across the sky from east to west over the course of a few minutes. The ISS is also visible in our morning skies for a number of weeks. To find out exactly when log on the kerryastronomyclub.com and follow the link from the home page. |
| If you have binoculars, the winter sky has a wealth of objects to look at. Starting from Orion’s belt extend the belt up to the right until you come to a bright red star. Turn your binoculars on this star and you will see a beautiful ‘v’ shape of stars leading off from it. This is the Hyades star cluster. If you continue this imaginary line from Orion’s belt through the Hyades and on for the same distance, you will come to a spectacular sight that fills the binoculars with brilliant white stars. This is the seven sisters or Pleiades star cluster. You can see this with the naked eye. It looks like a miniature version of the plough. |
| If you don’t own binoculars but want to learn a few of winter’s brightest constellations, simply bring your copy of Guide Killarney outside and use the sky map to locate the constellation of Orion which can be recognised by the three bright stars in a row that make his belt. |
| Follow the red lines to learn your way around the winter sky. Learn to spot some of the brightest stars and constellations. |
| Don’t forget to keep an eye out for shooting stars over the first few weeks of December. The Geminid meteor shower is active from the 6th to the 19th peaking on the night of the 13th and the early morning of the 14th of December. These shooting stars can appear anywhere in the sky. |
| – Trevor O’Donoghue |
| For anyone interested in natural history‚ and bird watching in particular‚ Kerry has just about every variety of habitat … the rugged mountains in mid‚ south and west Kerry … the great limestone plain and gently rolling hills at the northern end of the county … the lakes and rivers‚ seas and inland cliffs‚ forested areas in the south and the offshore islands with their teeming colonies of seabirds. |
| By mid-winter the Scandinavian Thrushes are well entrenched throughout Kerry. Arriving in October‚ Redwings and Fieldfares first take to apple orchards for windfalls and to the hedgerows for the haws and other wild fruits. These sources exhausted‚ the birds spread out across the short-grass fields where they may be easily observed from the public roadway. Less well known is the fact that enormous numbers of Song Thrushes and Blackbirds - quite indistinguishable from our own resident stock - also invade Kerry from Scandinavia and from northern Britain. Ringing has shown their place of origin. |
| The Finches crowd into the county too‚ flocks of Chaffinches and Linnets‚ Greenfinches‚ Redpolls‚ Goldfinches and Siskins. Of course we have resident populations of all of these as well‚ the Siskins notably in the woodlands of Killarney. Other woodland birds that are with us all year include Treecreeper‚ Jay‚ Coal Tit‚ Woodcock - the latter a fairly scarce breeding bird here. Winter sometimes brings other Finches‚ flocks of Bramblings or wandering parties of Crosbills‚ the latter becoming resident for a few years after each 'invasion'. The Killarney area is especially favoured by the Brambling‚ attracted by the beechmast shed by the great Beech trees to be found in the vicinity of Muckross and elsewhere. |
| As winter melts into Spring the first of the returning summer migrants begin to appear. In the second half of March come the first Chiffchaffs and Wheatears; also the very first of the Sand Martins. April sees the floodgates open with Swallows and Willow Warblers‚ Cuckoos‚ Whitethroats and House Martins‚ Sedge and Grasshopper Warblers arriving on all sides. At this time‚ too‚ the Common Sandpiper is our only wader that is a regular summer visitor. |
| – Frank King‚ Ornithologist |