2 November 2019 | New Scientist | 51Starting next week:
Stargazing series 2
1 Mercury transits the sun
Build a viewer to see
the innermost planet
2 How to watch the Leonid
meteor shower
3 Venus and Jupiter
in conjunction
4 Mercury at its greatest
elongation
5 How to see the
Northern Lights
6 Find the Andromeda
galaxy
7 How to see Santa (the
ISS) on Christmas Eve
YOU have probably heard of the
zodiac: 13 constellations that
happen to fall along the path
that Earth traces around the sun,
known as the ecliptic. This means
that each constellation can be seen
from everywhere in the world at
some point during the year.
Regardless of your opinion
of astrology, you probably know
your star sign. This is derived
from the constellation the sun
was “in” when you were born.
In other words, it is the zodiacal
constellation that was behind the
sun at that time, meaning that on
your birthday, this constellation
is never visible in the night sky.
As I explained in week 1,
the angle of Earth’s tilt is slowly
moving, like a gyroscope. This
means the position of Earth and
the sun with respect to the stars
changes as years go by. When the
Babylonians invented their zodiac
more than 2000 years ago, the
dates when the constellations
were behind the sun were
different to what they are today.
This month, Taurus, along with
several other zodiac constellations,
is visible anywhere in the world.
Taurus is one of the brightest of
the zodiac, so it is possible to
spot it no matter how much light
pollution there is in your area. It
also happens to be one of the most
interesting constellations, because
it is home to two star clusters,
a meteor shower and a nebula.
To find Taurus, first find Orion.
Look for the iconic three stars of
Orion’s Belt, then continue that
line on the belt from left to right
until you reach a patch of skywith a bright star surrounded by a
few dimmer stars. You have found
Aldebaran, Taurus’s red giant, that
sits 65 light years from Earth.
Aldebaran is part of a V-shaped
group of stars that also contains
the Hyades star cluster, though
Aldebaran itself is much closer
to Earth. The constellation is also
home to the Pleiades star cluster,
also known as the Seven Sisters.
Taurus contains another
interesting star: El Nath is 134 light
years from Earth and the closest
bright star to the edge of the Milky
Way, from our point of view. This
means it lies in the exact opposite
direction to the galactic centre.
Taurus is also home to theCrab nebula, though you will need
a telescope to see this in any detail.
The Hubble Space Telescope has
taken some great pictures of
this remnant of a supernova
explosion, documented as
having lit up the sky in 1054.
Throughout most of this
month, peaking on 12 November,
look out for the Taurid meteor
shower. These remnants of comet
Encke aren’t that frequent, but
can occasionally be very bright.
On 11 November, we are going
to witness a rare event: Mercury is
going to transit in front of the sun.
Next week, I will have instructions
for how to build your own viewer
to watch the transit safely. ❚Find Taurus and its interesting stars to learn about the zodiac
and your “star sign” in the process, says Abigail BeallPuzzles
Quick crossword,
a clock conundrum
and the quiz p52Feedback
Future fashion and
smart spirituality:
the week in weird p53Almost the last word
Storytelling and
Jupiter’s star quality:
readers respond p54The Q&A
Apollo curator Teasel
Muir-Harmony on
US space flight p56Twisteddoodles
for New Scientist
A cartoonist’s take
on the world p53The back pages
BABAK TAFRESHI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARYEL NATHWhat you need
You don’t need anything
For next week
Binoculars
Tripod
Cardboard
Paper
Abigail Beall is a science writer
in Leeds, UK. This series is
based on her book The Art of
Urban Astronomy @abbybeall
Stargazing at home Week 7
Taurus and the zodiac
Stargazing at home online
Projects will be posted online each week at
newscientist.com/maker Email: [email protected]CRAB NEBULAHYADES