Week of January 3-7, 2016

Finding the Celestial River

The winter night sky is more brilliant than at any other time of the year. It's truly remarkable that during the early evening hours right now, you can find three-quarters of the 50 most brilliant stars in the entire heavens. It's too bad so many people are in a deep-freeze, and that most don't venture out to check out the amazing nighttime sights of the season.

Those of us who love the sky, however, are a different lot — and, yes, maybe a little crazy. When we peer skyward after dark on cold winter nights, we find it difficult to ignore Orion, the hunter, standing stoically over the southeastern horizon. Even those who just "accidentally" glance upward as they race from their cars to their nice warm homes almost instantly notice the four bright stars that outline a rectangle, and three more that trace a straight line in its center.

It's true that Orion represents the wintertime's most attention-grabbing star grouping, but it's not the only constellation in that celestial region. In fact, you can find one of the longest of all constellations near the foot of the great hunter. Its name is Eridanus, the river.

In Greek mythology, Eridanus is the river in which young Phaethon crashed after his failed attempt to fly the Chariot of the Sun; which river it's supposed to represent remains a mystery. Some claim it's the Tigris or the Euphrates, others suggest it might be the river Po or possibly even the mighty Nile.

Finding this sinuous string of relatively faint stars isn't all that difficult. First, locate the southwestern-most star of Orion (Rigel). Next, look just above and to its right for the fainter star that marks the "head" of the celestial river. If you've got a dark night with no moonlight and have a fairly low southern horizon, you should be able to trace much of the river as it meanders to the west and south.

Because Eridanus lies so far south, stargazers in the Earth's Northern Hemisphere can see only part of it. In fact, if you live in middle- or high latitudes, you may only be able to see one-third or half of it. Those living in more southern locations will see nearly all. Only those who do their stargazing near or south of the equator can see the entire constellation, as it meanders almost all the way toward the south celestial pole.

Though the constellation is rather obscure, one of its stars has captured the imagination of astronomers and science fiction authors alike. Its name is Epsilon Eridani — a slightly orange star appearing about midway down the constellation's winding stellar string.

It was back in 1960 that scientists proposed that, because the star lies relatively nearby — only about 10.4 light years from Earth — aiming a radio telescope in its direction might detect signals from an intelligent civilization orbiting nearby. And that's exactly what astronomers did; unfortunately, they have not yet received signals of any great interest.

They have not stopped their monitoring programs, however, for today we believe that Epsilon Eridani has at least three planets in orbit nearby ... and who knows how many more!

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