SOMETHING FISHY
November marks the peak evening visibility of several “fishy” constellations. Unfortunately, most of them contain few if any bright stars, so it can be helpful to bring binoculars along to spot several of these groups if you are viewing from close to the city. They can be seen in their entirety if you can head to a dark site well away from the urban glow.
Let’s start with something quite easy to spot- the planet Saturn. It is easily identified as the only pretty bright starlike object about halfway up in the southern sky during the early evening. Since it is much farther away and receives much less light from the Sun, it doesn’t dominate the sky like Venus or Jupiter usually do, but It still shines about equal to the brighter stars in the sky. You might notice Saturn’s slight yellowish tint, and that it twinkles less than actual stars, especially those seen at somewhat equal heights in the sky. We can use Saturn as our guidepost to find the other sights I am going to discuss this month.

The ringed planet Saturn leads the way to several interesting stars and constellations.
More or less straight below Saturn during the early evening is slightly less bright Fomalhaut, the only bright star in the constellation of Piscis Austrinus, the Southern Fish. Between the dimness of the stars and their low altitude in the southern sky, even from the country you may need binoculars to trace out the figure of the fish. To the lower left of Saturn, forming a triangle with Fomalhaut, is the star Diphda, a little dimmer yet but still easily seen. The remainder of the huge, sprawling constellation of Cetus, the Sea Monster, is very difficult to trace out. In mythology, Cetus was slain at least twice, by the heroes Perseus and Hercules, depending upon which story you consult. I plan to go through the famous Perseus myth within the next few months, when more of the constellations associated with it are clearly seen. Although it looks a little fainter, Diphda is intrinsically much brighter than Fomalhaut as it is about four times farther away from us- 96 light years as opposed to 25.
At this point in its nearly thirty-year orbit around the Sun, the dim stars of the constellation Aquarius are seen behind Saturn. You might discern a Y-shaped group of stars to the upper right of Saturn, perhaps with the help of binoculars if you are near the city- these are known as the Water Jar. It is somewhat special to me as I remember my much younger self watching Halley’s Comet near this celestial “Y” in January 1986, on its way to its most recent approach to the Sun. The Water Jar is the most distinctive part of yet another dim, scattered constellation. Although hard to find, Aquarius is famous for being part of the Zodiac, the twelve constellations that the Sun passes though in its annual path around the sky.
As you probably know, the line from the center of the Earth through the poles, also known as the axis of the Earth points out into space if you were to continue the line. This axis nutates, or wobbles, over a cycle of almost 26,000 years, causing important landmarks such as the north and south celestial poles to change relative to the sky background. Another important point is called the Vernal Equinox, and this is the Sun’s location on the first day of spring. Sort of like the Prime Meridian on Earth, celestial longitude is measured east and west from this point. Astronomer Jean Meeus calculated that the vernal equinox would move into Aquarius around the year 2597, or only 573 years from now. Relative to the eons of time that is actually quite soon. It could be said, to coin a phrase :-), that we are at the dawning of the age of Aquarius! By some non-scientific measures, we will be there much sooner, or perhaps this age has already dawned.
Another tricky-to-see constellation is seen to Saturn’s right at this time of year- Capricornus, the Sea Goat. To me it stands out just a bit better than Aquarius, with the main stars resembling a boat shape, or even a ghostly smile in the sky. Even dimmer yet is Pisces, shown on the map as two fishes strung together. You will probably need those binoculars to make out the Circlet of stars to the upper left of Saturn, or the northern fish, looking more like a triangle further east.
In Greek mythology, Pisces and Capricornus are both involved in the legend of Typhon, a monster with 100 heads, coils of vipers, and able to breathe fire through its many orifices. The goddess Aphrodite and her son Eros (Venus and Cupid in Roman lore) escaped from being eaten, fried, or both by changing themselves into fishes or rescued by them, depending upon which version you follow. Capricornus may represent the deity Pan, who had a goat’s horn and legs. In order to escape Typhon, he added a fishes’ tail to himself and dove into a river. It would be nice if regular people like us had these sorts of powers!
You might have noticed the recurring theme that most of these watery constellations are rather inconspicuous in the night sky. Believe it or not, there are a couple more that are completely invisible at our latitude, because Earth’s northern hemisphere is tilted too far away from them. These two obscure southern constellations are Volans, the Flying Fish, and Dorado, the Swordfish, here making their first and likely only appearance in this blog.
The Gateway to the Stars program is complete for 2024. Tentative dates for 2025 are May 10, June 7, July 5, August 2, September 27, and October 25. These programs will feature an astronomy or national park related talk that will precede telescope viewing held on the Entrance Plaza. E-mail richard_fefferman@nps.gov if you have any questions.