Orion's Little Dog + Space Update!

Orion's Little Dog

Last week I wrote about Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. Sirius is the main star in Canis Major, the Big Dog. If you can find Orion and Sirius, you can easily find the Little Dog in the sky! 

Procyon make one corner of a triangle with Orion's shoulder and Sirius. If you find it, you have found the Little Dog! Image Credit: Stellarium

To find Procyon, first locate Betelgeuse, the orangish star in Orion's shoulder. Then, find Sirius. Finally, find a bright star that forms an equilateral triange, and you have found Procyon. Procyon is the brightest star in Canis Minor, the Little Dog. Canis Minor is a tiny constellation, with only two visible stars in it. There is a fainter star a little up and to the right of Procyon, Gomeisa. This constellation is an example of how a lot of constellations don't actually look like what they are supposed to be - I've never understood how a line equals a dog. 

Canis Minor is a simple line between two stars, Procyon and Gomeisa. Image Credit: Stellarium

Procyon is the 8th brightest star in the night sky. It is pretty close to us, only ~12 light years away. Like Sirius, Procyon has a tiny white-dwarf companion, invisible to the naked eye. Next time you are out on a clear night, look up! Procyon should be easy to find, even through city lights.

Space Update!

There are some very cool missions exploring space right now. Opportunity, the little rover that could, has been exploring Mars for 11 years now! Here is a beautiful panorama to celebrate: 

Click on the image to enlarge and zoom in! This is the view from the top of Cape Tribulation, showing the 14-mile wide interior of Endeavor Crater. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.

2015 will be the year of the dwarf planet! There are two missions on the way to dwarf planets right now. Dawn will be the first mission to orbit a dwarf planet. It is nearly to Ceres, orbiting in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Dawn will also be the only mission to orbit one object (the large asteroid/protoplanet Vesta), escape its gravity, and then orbit another object.  See previous post about Dawn here. 

Dawn will reach Ceres in March. It will be taking better and better pictures as it gets closer. The best so far is below. The images will drastically improve soon, so keep watching!

What could that white spot be? Click on the image to see the animation. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

New Horizons will fly by Pluto on July 14 of this year! I can't wait to see what Pluto looks like. New Horizons just woke up again in December, but has yet to take any new pictures of Pluto yet.

However, Rosetta is still busy taking images of its comet! The science team recently released a bunch of images and scientific papers. One interesting feature that has emerged is a crack running through the comet. 

Scientists don't think this crack will cause the comet to break up, but they will be interested in watching it as the comet gets closer to the Sun. Image credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

There are so many exciting missions this year. We are really reaping the benefits of decades of planning and flying.

If you want to learn more about current space science and astronomy, visit the Dome Planetarium at the Peoria Riverfront Museum! We have public shows daily. You can also take an adult astronomy class, or join one of or special events coming up.