What You’ll See along the Starry-est Route
in America!
When you reach your dark sky viewing location, deep in the heart of Nevada,
here is what you can expect to see in the night sky!
The Moon
The Moon is our nearest neighbor in space. When visible, the moon can be seen even in a city sky. Look closely at the surface of the moon, especially when it is full or nearly so. You should easily be able to see dark blotches on the surface. These dark places on the moon are actually ancient lava lakes, or maria. One of the more famous maria is Mare Tranquillitatis, “Sea of Tranquility”, where Apollo 11 landed.
A few large craters are also visible by eye.
Most noticeable is Tycho’s crater, in the Southwest quadrant of the full moon. How many maria or craters can you see? A less-than-full moon often reveals details along the light-dark line or terminator that you won’t notice when the moon is full.
Stars
In a typical city, you might be lucky to see 15 stars. Once you get out into the countryside, on a night with little or no moon, you will see thousands of stars. Stars of different brightnesses. Stars of different colors.
Some bright stars you would think are quite close are actually very far away.
Some dim stars that you would think are far away are actually quite close by (still trillions of miles away, though). How many stars can you name?
Constellations
Many of the bright stars seem to form patterns representing people, animals, and things. Many constellations date back to antiquity, but are still recognized by modern astronomy. Some of the more easily recognized constellations include the Big Dipper (Part of Ursa Major. Such subsets of constellations are called asterisms.), the Little Dipper (Part of Ursa Minor), Orion, Leo, Sagittarius, Scorpius, Cygnus and Cassiopeia.
How many constellations can you identify/name?
It may sound counter-intuitive, but the darker the sky and the more stars you can see, the more difficult it is to identify constellations.
Planets
Even though the solar system has seven major planets (besides Earth), only four of them are easily seen: Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Planets can be easily picked out from among the stars because they are usually noticeably brighter, and they do not twinkle like stars.
Planets don’t twinkle because they are close enough to us to appear as tiny disks.
Even the closest stars twinkle because they appear to us as points of light and the shifting of the layers of the Earth’s atmosphere make the point sources of light appear to move slightly and vary in brightness.
The planets move along a line in the sky traced out by the path of the Sun, called the ecliptic, and occasionally reverse their direction of movement against the background of stars in the sky. Not all planets are visible at any given time. You will probably need to use an Astronomy app or website to know where and when planets are visible on a given night. Are any planets visible tonight?
Star Clusters
Star clusters can be seen most any night of the year. They require a little more patience, and clear moonless skies to locate. The most famous star cluster of all is the Pleiades, which are also known as “The Seven Sisters”. They are best visible in the evening sky from November through February, near the bright reddish star Aldebaran, in the Constellation Taurus. Aldebaran itself is also part of a V shaped star cluster, called the Hyadaes.
In the spring, another bright cluster, M44 or Praesepe, or the “Beehive cluster” is visible in the Constellation Cancer, roughly on a line between the bright Castor and Pollux in Gemini, and bright Regulus in Leo.
In summer, two bright star clusters can be found near the point of the fish hook of Scorpius, M6 (The Butterfly cluster) and M7 (The Ptolemy cluster) Other star clusters can be seen throughout the night sky, especially near the Milky Way.
NOTE: You will see a number of objects identified with M numbers in this tutorial. These numbers, called ‘Messier numbers’ referred to a list compiled by astronomer Charles Messier. Although as a comet hunter, Messier created this list as objects to avoid, it inadvertently became a list of the 110 best deep sky objects to look at in the Northern sky! Even very basic star charts tend to use these numbers.
Nebulae
Although harder to see than star clusters, nebulae are a wonderful treat when you can spot them. There are many different types of nebulae, but the ones that can be seen by the naked eye are star forming regions. There are two that are easy to spot.
The first, and most famous (and easiest to find) is the fuzzy spot in the “Sword” of Orion. This fuzzy spot is called M42 or the “Great Orion Nebula”.
There are also several small open star clusters that make up the rest of the sword. The second nebula is visible in summer, a bit Southeast of the lid of the teapot asterism in Sagittarius. Called M8 or “The Lagoon Nebula”, it is smaller and dimmer than the Great Orion Nebula. But definitely worth the look. Under clear skies in a dark place, you might be able to spot a couple other nebulae if you look carefully. Like star clusters, they are often close to the Milky Way.
Galaxies
Two galaxies are easily visible to the naked eye. The first is our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Although the Milky Way can be seen any time of the year under dark skies, it is most spectacular in summer. When you look towards the Constellations Scorpius and Sagittarius, you are looking toward the center of our galaxy, which is largely shrouded in dust.
Just above Sagittarius, the Milky Way splits in two.
What you are seeing here is an edge-on view of a dust lane bisecting the Milky Way. The light of the Milky Way is produced by a haze of millions of distant stars.
The other galaxy you can see, at 2.5 million light years distant, is actually the most distant object visible to the naked eye. This is the “Great Andromeda Galaxy” or M31 in the Constellation of Andromeda. Best seen in the fall, you can find it by tracing a line from the end of the W of Cassiopeia down to a noticeable square of bright stars, also known as the “Square of Pegasus”. Along this line, about midway, you will find an oval fuzzy spot that is actually quite large. A lot of people look at the night sky for years and never notice this splendid object! We are moving towards this galaxy, and should merge with it in about 4 billion years.
Meteors
Meteors, also known as “Shooting Stars” are produced when a (usually) small piece of a comet or asteroid enters the earth’s atmosphere. Unlike re-entering space junk, meteors are usually small and relatively fast-moving. They can range from barely visible to fireballs that can last in extreme cases, 10 or more seconds and light up the night as day.
Fireballs are uncommon, but some meteor showers like the mid October Orinids can produce several a night.
Although meteors can be seen in any part of the sky at any time, they tend to be concentrated in Meteor showers that occur at various times of the year.
A few of the better meteor showers: The early January Quadrantids favor the Northern hemisphere. The mid-April Lyrids can sometimes surprise. The mid-August Persieds is probably the best shower, and is at an ideal time of the year to be outdoors. The mid-October Orinids were already mentioned. The mid-November Leonids feature fast moving meteors, and this shower can produce spectacular meteor storms, where thousands of meteors per hour can be seen for a short time. The mid-December Geminids is often a pretty decent show.
The Constellation in the shower name describes where the shower’s radiant can be found, the point in the sky where the meteors seem to emanate.
Consult an Astronomy website or app to determine the best dates and times to view a particular meteor shower– many are best in the hours just before dawn.
Comets
Every few years, there is a comet visible under the dark rural skies of Nevada. They are mentioned here because if visible, they are often spectacular. Bright comets often make the news, so you might make note if you hear of one.
Astronomy websites and apps might also tell you of comets that are easily visible, but may not be spectacular.
They appear as a fuzzy whitish or greenish spots in the sky, with or without a visible tail. If you are able to photograph it, often the tail or tails become visible. A good comet can actually be a great excuse for a Park to Park trip!
Satellites
There are now thousands of satellites orbiting the earth at different heights and orientations. Many are easily visible to the naked eye observer. The best time to look for satellites is a couple of hours after dusk or before dawn.
Many satellites appear as tiny dots of light that move across the sky at a constant speed and suddenly disappear when they enter the earth’s shadow.
Recently launched Starlink satellites will often form a ‘train’ of as many as sixty satellites. The brightest objects though, are the International Space Station, which is bright enough to be seen even in a city. The Chinese space station is also easy to see. The Hubble Space Telescope can also be seen, but it is harder to find. There are many satellite finder apps and websites available. Some of them will even alarm you just before a particular satellite makes a pass.
Rarely seen, but spectacular when it happens, a satellite or piece of space junk will re-enter, producing a wide variety of unusual phenomena that are meteor-like but slower and ‘not quite right for a meteor’.
Using Binoculars
Many people do not have telescopes, but they do have binoculars. This simple optical aid can greatly increase your enjoyment of casual astronomy. With a good pair of binoculars, you can see many more features on the moon. You may be able to see the moons of Jupiter, as well as a bit of Jupiter itself. Many deep space objects will become visible, like star clusters and nebulae. They are also great for looking at comets.
People interested in astronomy are often encouraged to use binoculars for a time before buying a telescope.
This can help you decide what kind of telescope to purchase if you find yourself wanting to pursue this great pastime.
Know before you go!
Learn everything you need to know to safely travel the Park to Park route.
Nevada is home to some really, REALLY wide open spaces. That means no cell service sometimes and long stretches
of highway with no gas stations, and yep, no restrooms. So please always be prepared for these conditions.
This website is sponsored in part by a grant
from the Nevada Commission on Tourism.
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