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Home My WebLink AboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 2016-09-28, Page 10Star Column: The Great Rift in the Milky Way John Hlynialuk Bluewater Astronomical Society September is one of my favourite times of year for stargazing. Temperatures are moder- ate, mosquitoes are either absent or dozy and there are more hours of true darkness between supper and bedtime. In June and July, even night owls like myself have trouble getting enough dark sky to do stargazing, -twilight lasts until an hour or so before midnight and the glow of dawn starts an hour or so after. It is hard for an astronomer to get a good dark star fix in the summer. The best part of stargazing in September is that the most interesting part of the sky is overheard, not hiding in the murky air near the horizon. You have seen it, I am sure, the Milky Way, and this time of year, it arches straight overhead. Find a dark sky with a flat northern horizon and you can follow it from the obvious glow in the south for a full 180 degrees all the way to the northern horizon. It's beautiful! The Milky Way is best seen when the Moon is absent from the sky (new moon is Sep 30 this month). When you go out, be patient for 15 minutes to let your eyes get dark adapted. You will soon notice that there are dark lanes that look like gaps or holes among the star clouds. Swirls start to show up as well as bright patches against the darker back- ground. The most famous of the dark regions is called the Great Rift which starts in Cygnus (overhead) and appears to split the Milky Way in two all the way to our southern horizon. The Great Rift is a large area of dust and cool gas (like smoke seen from a dis- tance) that blots out the brighter background of more distant stars. It lies between our Sun which is in group of stars called the Orion Spur, and the next spiral arm closer to the centre called the Carina -Sagittarius Arm. So looking at the Dark Rift, you are actually seeing part of the structure of the Milky Way Galaxy, the arms are the star lanes and the rifts are gas and dust in between. The Great Rift continues into the southern hemi- sphere sky and is even more prominent there. In fact, Australian aboriginal star stories focus more on dark rifts than stick figures as in the north. There is a dark sil- houette of a Great Emu there, stretched across half the sky, with the Emu's head, an especially dense cloud called the Coalsack Nebula, right beside the famous Southern Cross. In our northern sky, we have a less obvious dark patch called the Northern Coalsack and now that your eyes are fully dark -adapted, have a look for it. It is labelled on the included image. This is only one of the Milky Way sights at upcom- ing Fox Observatory viewing nights, Sept. 24, Oct. 1 and Oct. 29. More details at www.blue- waterastronomy.com, By the end of October, a typically cloudy month locally, the dark clouds in our atmos- phere only a few kilometres up will hide the clouds of the Great Milky Way Rift thou- sands of light years away. Pity Wednesday, September 28, 2016 • Lucknow Sentinel 15 Image by John Hlynialuk Sep 18, 2016 The Great Rift starts at the Northern Coalsack and divides the Milky Way in two. AD OENTIU EXTEND YOUR REACH -ADVERTISE PROVINCIALLY OR ACROSS THE COUNTRY! For more information contact your local community newspaper or visit wwwnetworkclassified.org MORTGAGES BETTERORTION MO R TG AGE LOWER YOUR MONTHLY PAYMENTS AND CONSOLIDATE YOUR DEBT NOW!!! 1st, 2nd, 3rd MORTGAGES Debt Consolidation Refinancing, Renovations Tax Arrears, No CMHC Fees $50K YOU PAY: $208.33 / MONTH (OAC) No Income, Bad Credit Power of Sale Stopped!!! 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