We are now in the dark of the Moon. It will not show at night for several days. Sky watching in the late winter is at its best. Now we have a real opportunity to study, to experience, the nighttime sky. Find a place on the mainland across Number Four Bridge where the lights from the city and the vehicles on the road won't interfere, say, a couple or three hours after dusk.

            Notice the Milky Way. That's the bright band of stars, myriads of them as if a snow storm frozen in time, extending generally from the southeast and overhead toward the northwest in a large curve. The Milky Way is a galaxy, the one that houses the Sun and our solar system of planets, moons, asteroids, cornets, dust, and the like. You are looking through the Milky Way as you observe it much as if sighting across a dinner plate along the edge.

            To the north and slightly east you will see seven brighter stars that make up the constellation called the Big Dipper. The Big Dipper balances on the tip of its handle. The second star up on the handle is part of a double star system. Nearby you'll see a second fainter star. They revolve around each other rapidly though much too slowly for humans to ever notice.

The two stars on top of the Big Dipper that form the pourspout point to the left, to the North Star about five times the distance between those two stars away. The North Star is a bit fainter than the stars of the Big Dipper. The Earth's geographical North Pole points towards the North Star year around.

            Notice below the North Star another arrangement of fainter stars again forming a dipper much smaller in size that the Big Dipper. The Little Dipper hangs down from the North Star which is the tip of the handle.

            To the left, to the west, of the North Star is a constellation known as Andromeda. It is to the left of the four stars that form a "W" lying on its side. Andromeda contains a galaxy named the Andromeda Galaxy. If you notice closely, one "star" is kind of fuzzy while the rest are more clearly points. That's because it is made up of many millions of stars, not just one. Through a telescope or strong field glasses, it resembles a pinwheel frozen in space. It looks that way to us though it is spinning at a very rapid rate. It is similar to the Milky Way.

            Now look to the south almost overhead, a little to the east. You'll see Orion the Hunter. You can see the three bright stars in a line that make up Orion's belt. Below that, to the left at an angle to the belt, notice his knife, his sword. To the right of Orion, to the south and the west, you can see the fainter outline of his bow with its graceful curves stretched ready for use. Below the belt are his legs, spread as in a stick figure.

Above the belt are two brighter stars that form Orion's shoulders. The star that makes up the higher shoulder is Betelgeuse believed to be the closest star to our Sun. It is about two hundred sixty light-years away. By comparison, the Sun is about ten light-minutes from the Earth and the Moon is a little over one light-second from us.

Looking west, now, just above the horizon you'll see a very bright object that seems to have a round form rather than a point and it doesn't twinkle as do the stars. That's the planet Venus. Above Venus, straight up at about sixty degrees, is the planet Saturn. You need a telescope or strong field glasses to see the rings around Saturn. And just above Saturn is the planet Jupiter, quite bright, the largest planet in our solar system.

            Wow! We've just talked and walked our way right through the heavens. And now is the best time of year in Cedar Key to do so as the sky is fairly clear of haze and humidity. And there is no interference from the Moon as it is down. And the journey and the vastness leaves a lot to think about, a lot to ponder, a lot to wonder and consider in awe…

            Till next time…