Week of Oct.15-21, 2023

Before dawn this morning, I stepped outside to check out the sky, and wow! What a sight!

I know you may be surprised by this reaction. Many folks think we astronomers are always out until dawn. A few are, but I assure you I am not. Unless I'm working on a project that cannot be automated, I try to keep my circadian rhythms in check by sleeping when it's dark.

My next time spending all night under the stars will be two weeks in late winter when I'm in Fairbanks, Alaska, photographing the northern lights. Until then, I want my sleep!

So this morning, I was surprised at how beautiful the sky was. Anyone venturing out in the pre-dawn hours will find the heavens appear much brighter than they might expect because if you've been asleep all night, your night vision has already set in. In other words, you won't need to wait 20-30 minutes to become dark-adapted. The sky will hit you squarely in the face with its brilliance.

What greeted me this morning is something you'll want to check out for yourself this week: seven or eight of the brightest stars in all the heavens, flanked by the two most brilliant planets. Like I said earlier: Wow!

Midway up in the eastern sky, you can't miss dazzling Venus, and in the west, you'll notice radiant Jupiter. Seeing just those two is worth getting up early, but between the two lie the brightest stars in all the heavens.

At center stage lies Orion, the hunter, a star grouping that can most easily be imagined in the shape of an hourglass, with three equally bright stars forming a nearly straight line across its middle. Within Orion, you'll see reddish-orange Betelgeuse and the bluish-white Rigel.

On one side, you'll find Aldebaran, which is the brightest star in Taurus, the bull. On the opposite side, you'll find Castor and Pollux in Gemini; Procyon in Canis Minor; and the brightest of all stars, Sirius, which marks the collar of the big dog, Canis Major.

If you live in more southerly latitudes, you may even spot Canopus just peeking over the southern horizon. From where I live in the Southern California deserts, this star rises only 4 degrees or so above the landscape, so most folks in the continental U.S. are unable to see it.

Once you see this scene, you may want to take a photo. It's a very wide scene, so you'll need a super-wide-angle or fisheye lens, and you still may not be able to capture it all. You'll also need a tripod for your camera or smartphone.

Depending on how much light there is around you, you can start out setting your camera to its widest aperture (e.g., f/2.8) and the ISO fairly high (e.g., 1600) and take shots of 15 seconds or so. Always experiment to get the best shot.

You can even take such starry night photos with your smartphone's native camera app or an app such as NightCap or StarryCameraPro. There will be a learning curve to make it work for you, but it'll be well worth your effort!

Since your eyes are already adapted to the dark, the pre-dawn sky can be extra stunning.

Visit Dennis Mammana at dennismammana.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at creators.com.

Since your eyes are already adapted to the dark, the pre-dawn sky can be extra stunning.