Nightskywatching
by
Kamal Lodaya

When I was in high school, we lived in a city. On clear winter nights we could look up and see the stars. Today city lights are so bright that we have to go to a place where they are blocked to see the darkness of the night sky. Using a small book of maps, I learnt to recognize constellations. A constellation is an area of the sky, which people from ancient times have recognized by the pattern of stars inside it. 
 
These patterns were different in different cultures. In India we saw three stars forming a line as an arrow in the body of a deer, which forms the constellation Mriga (deer in Sanskrit). In Tamilnadu and in Europe, the same three stars are seen as a belt worn by a hunter. The constellation is called Vettaikkaran (hunter in Tamil) or Orion (a name in Greek).

Beginning from this issue, JM will have a map of some stars seen during the month, with a small explanation. Take this map to a place where the sky when you face East is dark and there are no lights in that direction. East is where the Sun rises in the morning.

The map shows stars seen at 9 pm on February 1st, or at 8 pm on February 15th, or at 7 pm on February 29th. Take a few minutes to let your eyes get adjusted to the darkness. Then you will start seeing stars. Use a small torch (maybe from your phone) covered with red paper to give a soft red light to the map. Red light interferes least with your ability to see things in the dark.

What do you see? 
The brightest star (vinmeen) that you see in front of you, halfway up the sky, is called Vyaadha, Rudran in Tamil and Sirius in English. To its left and downwards, you will find a star called Prashwa or Procyon. Further left, this time you will reach two stars. These are together called Punarvasu, in English they have separate names Pollux and Castor. They are in a constellation called Gemini.

Above Vyaadha, a little to the left, overhead in the sky, you can see three stars in a line that form the arrow of Mriga, or the belt worn by Orion. These stars are inside a large rectangle, with the upper right star a bright white (Raajanya or Rigel) and the lower right star a bright yellowish-red (Aardraa, Tiruvaadirai or Betelgeuse). Together they form the constellation Mriga or Orion.

Continuing the line from Vyaadha to the arrow in Mriga by the same distance upwards beyond the arrow is another bright yellowish star. This is Rohini, called Aldebaran in Arabic and English. A little beyond Rohini you will see a little cluster of half a dozen stars, this is called Krittika, Kartikkai, or the Pleiades.

Now we are going to construct a large hexagon. Begin with Vyaadha. Turn left to Prashwa. Go left to the two stars called Punarvasu. Now go up and left, you will reach a bright taare called Brahmahridaya or Capella. Turn right and up and reach Rohini. Right and down is Raajanya, upper right of Mriga. Come down to Vyaadha. 

Did you get it? It is a huge figure, this winter hexagon going up from the Eastern sky to overhead and into the Western sky. Each star is in a taarapunja of its own. We learnt Mriga, the other names we will learn another time. At the centre of the hexagon is the bright Aardraa.

In many Indian languages, the word nakshatra is used for stars. But some stars are special, and they were called nakshatras in our history. Krittika, Rohini, Aardraa and Punarvasu are nakshatras. The other stars are not nakshatras. Why are these stars special? We will find out in the next issue of JM.

Activity: 
On 2nd February there was a half Moon, high up behind you in the Western sky. In the next few days, as the phase of the Moon became bigger, it came into the Eastern sky, lower and lower. If you can recognize the stars in the hexagon, mark the position of the Moon on the map every day.

Questions:
Please send questions and experiences about your night sky watching to JM.