Autumn Fills the Sky

Last week, my Moravian College astronomy students visited Shooting Star Farm, north of Quakertown, for their dark sky field experience.  

It was one of those iffy days where the clarity of the night was in jeopardy.  

Eastern PA remained partly cloudy while the rest of the state, including NJ, became overcast.  

My instincts to hold the event were correct because after sunset the orange tinged, purplish clouds began to dissipate, and the sky turned denim lapis, revealing diamond-like Venus in the southwest.  

West of the zenith in the twilight were the holdouts of last season’s sky, the stars of the Great Summer Triangle, Vega (brightest), Deneb (faintest), and Altair with a pale hint of the Milky Way passing in between them.  

Already high in the east were the bright stars of the Great Square of Pegasus, the flying horse, revealed like the bases in a ballgame with the seductive Andromeda trailing behind.  She had been chained to a rock as a sacrifice to Cetus, the Sea Monster.  

In the northeast was Andromeda’s rescuer, winged-footed Perseus the Hero, and above Perseus, the sideways “W” of Cassiopeia, Queen of Ethiopia and mother of Andromeda. Cassiopeia had boasted about her beauty and angered the gods, precipitating the near death of her daughter.  “Mama Cass” sat on a crooked backed chair, being swung upside-down, as punishment for her vanity.  

Low in the north, the Big Dipper was starting to the scrape the horizon, and low in the east the gossamer Pleiades of Taurus the Bull and Capella of Auriga the Charioteer were rising.  

The seasonal stars of the autumn sky were in full view after sundown with hints of winter in the east.  

By 9 p.m.my students were numbed from the cold and with frosty exhalations begged to be dismissed.  

I consented with a warm smile, still cozy in my multiple layers of fleece. 

Check “this week’s StarWatch” at astronomy.org for maps.