Saturday: At 9:15
p.m., the bright star Regulus is about a half a fist held upright and at arm’s
length above the west horizon. But, who is this Regulus? He has many potential
identities. The most interesting from a pop culture standpoint is Regulus
Black, the brother of Sirius Black who is Harry Potter’s godfather. Regulus
Black was a former follower of Voldemort, the bad guy of the Harry Potter
series. However, Regulus tried to dissociate himself from Voldemort and was
killed. He would be in the pile of forgotten Harry Potter characters except
that he is so interesting. Also, in the sixth book, Harry found an important
note written by someone known only by the initials R.A.B. Hmmm. R.A.B. Regulus
A. Black perhaps? Summer is a great time to read the books. Just seeing the
movies is not good enough. Venus and Jupiter are just below Regulus in the sky.
Venus, the brightest of the trio, is to the lower left of Regulus and Jupiter
is to the lower right.
Sunday:
But what does the “A” stand for? Anthony? Abercrombie? Alfonzo? Not
astronomical enough. It stands for Arcturus, the second brightest star visible
in the nighttime sky in Washington and at Hogwarts. Arcturus is five fists
above the southwest horizon at 10 p.m. The bright star Spica is below Arcturus,
one third of the way up way up from the southwest horizon.
Monday:
Bellatrix Lestrange is Sirius Black’s cousin. But, far from being kissing
cousins. They are killing cousins. Bellatrix kills Sirius in a fight at the
Ministry of Magic. Bellatrix the star is the third brightest star in the
constellation Orion the hunter. It is one fist above the east horizon at 4:45
a.m.
Tuesday:
Of course, Bellatrix is in cahoots with “he who must not be named”. Now, that’s
a poor sentence, using an obscure synonym for “conspiring” and a non-specific
reference. I must be under the curse “writicus dreadfulium”. Clearly this is
the work of Tom Riddle, whose mother is named Merope Gaunt. Merope is a star in
the Pleiades, an open star cluster about two fists above the east-northeast
horizon at 4 a.m.
Wednesday:
Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter’s young nemesis, is related to Sirius Black. Draco’s
mother, Narcissa Black (Sirius’ cousin), helped develop a plan to trap Harry at
the Ministry of Magic in the fifth book. Draco’s namesake, the constellation
Draco the dragon is one of the largest constellations in the sky, winding
around the North Star. Draco’s head is a four-sided figure nearly straight
overhead at 11 p.m.
Thursday: Saturn
is two fists above the south-southwest horizon at 9:30 p.m., right next to the
constellation Scorpius. Draco Malfoy was so impressed with this constellation
name that he used it for the first name of his son.
Friday:
Not every woman in the Black family is evil. Let’s focus on the good. Andromeda
Black, Bellatrix’s sister, is a good witch and the mother of Tonks, a young
witch from the last few Harry Potter books. (If these Harry Potter references are
confusing, talk to an adolescent about them.) Andromeda the constellation is an
interesting one. It contains the Andromeda galaxy, the most distant object
visible with the naked eye from a dark site. To locate the Andromeda Galaxy,
first find the Great Square of Pegasus. At 11 p.m., the left hand corner of the
square is about two and a half fists above the east horizon. Less than two
fists to the left and down a little bit is another star the same brightness as
the star at the corner of the square. From that star, hop about a half a fist
up to a star that is about one fourth as bright. Less than another half fist in
the same direction is a fuzzy oval patch of light known as the Andromeda
Galaxy. The galaxy is impressive to see in binoculars. It consists of about 400
billion stars and is 2.2 million light years away.
The
positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically
accurate for the entire week. For up to date information about the night sky,
go to http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.
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