The Wilderness Stargazer

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FROM THE BOUNDARY WATERS JOURNAL / SUMMER 1989

leave something for the imagination

 by Mark Sakry The Wilderness Stargazer

With one stroke of the paddle I leave the world behind, and pass into a delicate realm of sunset and moonlight, … our eyes are bathed in these lights and forms. These sunset clouds, these delicately emerging stars …

—From Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson

The petulant hum of mosquitoes fades into the forest. You poke the fire one last time. A flurry of sparks whisks skyward and disappears among the stars. A nebula of smoke looms like a phantom above your fire. Then you see it. Through the smoke—sweeping earthward across the northern sky—another phantom. A streaming, green band of light. Then another. Waxing violet. Trailing, multiplying, spreading—luminous, broad shafts, suspending from heaven—pulsing, shifting like curtains in the stellar wind. Aurora Borealis … the Northern Lights.
A loon croons across the lake. Quietly your canoe slips into the water. You are suddenly adrift in a timeless universe— more ancient than the wilderness itself—floating silently across the mirrored surface where the stars dazzle both above and below you. Sinking into the air mattress on the bottom of your canoe, you suddenly feel weightless. You gaze skyward. There—Aurora's curtain slowly rises and a brilliant concert of lights and forms unfolds. Your imagination orbits the sky. You are free. You are happy. You know the joy and the beauty of the wilderness night.
Who has visited canoe country who has not witnessed the exceptional brilliance of its summer nights? Nowhere else do conditions provide more spectacular viewing. The nighttime sky is vast, unobstructed, free of city glare and lights. The air is crystal clear. The stars appear almost magnified.

TWILIGHT HUNTERS

For those who know where to look, the heavens are sown with jewels …
—Robert Claiborne

    Stargazing is a fascinating wilderness diversion. While passive observation may be truly engaging, knowing the objects in the wilderness sky—and understanding some of the events going on—can be extremely satisfying.
    During the summer months, stargazing is greatly enhanced by warm weather. If you can deal with a few bugs, you can observe comfortably for hours though you must wait longer for nightfall.
    In the dim twilight following sunset only the brightest objects are revealed (moonlight and Aurora produce a similar effect). This is a good time to identify brighter stars and planets, as well as to learn major constellations which are not yet obscure from surrounding stars.
    For viewing fainter stars and planets—as well as minor constellations and nebulae—dry, clear, moonless nights are best. Here, the dark skies of the Boundary Waters bring out the Milky Way in its highest splendor.
    With the exception of meteor showers, which put on their most elegant displays during the early morning hours, some of the most interesting objects may be observed before midnight in summer, such as the wonderful star cluster and nebulae in the constellations of Scorpius and Sagittarius.

CELESTIAL LANDMARKS

The blue zenith is the point in which romance and reality meet.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

With the aid of a star chart, you can get a good bearing on celestial "terrain." It reads like a wilderness map. The physical horizon in border country is generally level and permits a full view—especially when adrift in the middle of a broad, calm bay. A good astronomy field guide (see sources at end of article) and a flashlight make useful companions, as well.
To learn the summer sky, it helps to first become familiar with a few major stars and constellations. Certainly it is fun just identifying them, but you may find their mythical background and lore interesting too. You will also find them useful for locating other extra-terrestrial events—such as meteor showers named after the constellations from which they originate.

SCANNING THE HEAVENS

There is no lack of beautiful and fascinating objects that the amateur can see with a small telescope, or even binoculars.
—Robert Claiborne

    Each season has its own starscape, and there are ways to find your bearing with each (see sidebar for tips on locating this summer's constellations). But it helps to become familiar with the circumpolar stars and constellations first; they are visible—in varying positions—during every season of the year.
    The most obvious is the Big Dipper. From there you can follow its "pointer" stars to find Polaris (the North Star), which happens to be at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper. Draco's long serpentine form is right off the lip of the Little Dipper—and so on.
    You can connect similarly with seasonal constellations. In summer, for instance, you can find the dominant star Arcturus by drawing an arc off the handle of the Big Dipper (hence the expression "arc Arcturus").
    A pair of binoculars is all you really need to enjoy most of the events in the wilderness heavens. They are ideal for viewing the moon and planets, and they bring out the stars of the Milky Way in spectacular detail. You can detect some nebulae and the rings of Saturn with a good pair.
    Laying on your back with something to prop your elbows on makes viewing steadier and more comfortable. The gunwales of a canoe work great if you have an air mattress underneath you. So settle back and enjoy the spectacle!

RECOMMENDED ASTRONOMY FIELD GUIDES

Peterson First Guide to Astronomy by Jay M. Pasachoff, star maps by Will Tirion (Houghton-Mifflin, $3.95).

Leslie Peltier's Guide to the Stars: Exploring the Sky with Binoculars by Leslie C. Peltier (Cambridge University Press, $11.95)

The Summer Stargazer by Robert Claiborne, star maps and drawings by Jonathan Field (Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, Inc., $7.95).

Celestial Events in the BWCAW—Summer 1989
by Mark Sakry

MOON:
Full moons this summer will fall in the middle of each month, rising at sunset and staying up all night. The best times for stargazing will be during the new-moon periods at the beginning (or end) of each month.

CONSTELLATIONS:
The following constellations are prominent in border-country skies during summer. With the aid of a flashlight and a good star map, you should have little trouble locating them during the first hour after sunset. The first three (Lyra, Cygnus, and Aquila) are marked by extremely bright stars which form a triangle high above; this is commonly called the Summer Triangle, which is easy to spot and provides an easy way to locate these, as well as other, constellations.

LYRA, THE LYRE—a small constellation, just off the head of Draco, marked prominently by the bright star Vega.

CYGNUS, THE SWAN—also called the Northern Cross, which gives some clue to its whereabouts and shape, marked by the bright star Deneb.

AQUILA, THE EAGLE—just southeast of Cygnus, marked by the third star in the Summer Triangle, Altair.

HERCULES—high above and, like Lyra, just off the head of Draco; look for the famous "great cluster" just below his belt, which consists of more than 50,000 stars.

SCORPIUS, THE SCORPION—directly above the south horizon lies the bright star Antares, which marks the upper portion of the hook-shaped Scorpius.

SAGITTARIUS, THE ARCHER—just east of Scorpius, Sagittarius aims his arrow to kill the scorpion that fatally poisoned Orion. Hence, according to myth, the winter constellation Orion is not visible when Sagittarius and Scorpius are in the sky!

PLANETS:
To observe all the planets visible this summer, you must be an early riser.

MERCURY—visible only in mid-June, during the early morning hours, in the constellation Taurus (northeast sky). Because this small planet's orbit lies between the earth and sun, it sometimes appears in phases, like the moon.

JUPITER—from the end of June through summer, also visible in Taurus early in the morning. If you have binoculars, look for moons which may be visible around the "giant planet."

SATURN—visible all summer long, low in the southern sky in the constellation Sagittarius. With a steady hand, you may get a glimpse of Saturn's rings through binoculars.

VENUS—the bright "star" you will see early in the evening, all summer long, above the western horizon. Though it is smaller than many of the other planets, Venus is bright due to its close proximity to the earth. Like Mercury, it too can sometimes be seen in phases.

METEOR SHOWERS:
The best time for viewing meteor showers is after midnight when the earth rotates into the "path" of the meteors. Only two of the major meteor groups will be visible this summer in the BWCAW. Meteor events are named after the constellations near which they occur, a clue to where you might look for the following:

JULY 29 (2:00 A.M.)
DELTA AQUARIDS—some bright (many fainter), 10-35 per hour, traveling 42 km/ second. Moon in last quarter will permit adequate viewing.

AUGUST 12
PERSEIDS—noted for fireballs (large blazing meteors), 40-100 per hour, traveling 60 km/second. A gibbous moon will unfortunately hinder viewing somewhat.

AURORA BOREALIS:
Because we are nearing the peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle in 1990, this summer promises spectacular viewing of the Northern Lights. They can appear any time, so keep your eyes open!

NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS:
An eerie phenomenon, which translates from Latin to mean "night shining." It appears in the form of dark-blue luminescent clouds low on the horizon, created from actual high-altitude (80,000 feet) clouds, about which little is known. They luminesce from reflected, low-angle sunlight. You may see them from mid-May to early August, an hour after sunset on the northern horizon or an hour before sunrise on the southern horizon. They will be most frequent during the first half of July.

LUNAR ECLIPSE—AUGUST 16:
This is, without question, the highlight of this summer's celestial show! A total lunar eclipse will occur beginning at 7:23 PM and ending at 12:53 AM. The moon will be fully covered by the earth's shadow at 10:08 PM. It will appear rust-red as it nears total eclipse. Let's hope it doesn't rain!