FoxTrot Classics by Bill Amend for September 10, 2020

That, Jason, would be the moon (of the Earth).

I’m familiar with only the Big Dipper (or Ursa Major) and Orion’s Belt.

I went with my college room mate to the university observatory, and her teacher was lecturing on the planets. He listed them in the wrong order, and I corrected him. My room mate backed away from me realllllly fast.

Most people call it the moon, but it can be called Luna.

I remember the Christmas I got my telescope. I went out, set it up, and noticed a star that seemed a good one to start with. I focused, and saw the “star” and found other “stars” two on each side. I quickly realized that I had rediscovered the moons of Jupiter. Quite a moment.

Actually, “Crater-pocked orb” might describe Peter’s face.

Now days you can get an app for your phone to help you identify them, by pointing your phone at the object in question and it telling you what is there in that direction.

https://stellarium-web.org/ <- I highly recommend this site for anyone who has any interest in astronomy at all.

I walk early in the morning. It’s dark then. Now I know what I am looking at.

Just let him point them out to you, Roger. That would be more enjoyable than this!

For more astronomical fun right now:At the moment, Jupiter and Saturn are moving slowly closer and closer together in the sky. It makes them unmistakable in the evening sky. If you are in the northern hemisphere, Jupiter is the brightest object you’ll see to the south south west just after sundown, and Saturn is a dimmer but still bright “star” a bit to its left. (I think about a handspan apart, though I guess that depends on the size of your hand and the length of your arm.) And once a month, the Moon moves right by them.

Deneb is the tail of Cygnus the swan, or top of the Northern Cross depending on which way you want to see the constellation. On a clear night, Cygnus is visible even from suburbia and appears to “fly” along the Milky Way — so from dark skies, it’s even easier to find since you simply have to follow the Milky Way. But the dimmer Albireo at the opposite end of Cygnus is more fun with a telescope; it’s a double star (though only an optical double — the two aren’t really orbiting one another) and their colors are different enough that the human eye can distinguish them — one is bluish and one is yellowish. Albireo is a popular backyard telescope target for this reason.

Polaris is not a very bright star, but it is the brightest star in Ursa Minor (the Little Dipper), and from my home, sometimes it’s the only star in Ursa Minor that I can even find. To find it, first find Ursa Major, which is much easier. Both constellations are visible all night from the northern hemisphere, all year long; from the Southern you cannot see Polaris but may be able to make out Ursa Major for part of the year if you’re not too far south. Look for the two stars that make up the end of the “bowl” of the dipper. Draw an imaginary line in your mind between those stars and follow it north — they will point to Polaris (more or less).

I would not get the planets right either.

umm snow in sept?

The snowman has turned to look at them…

I’ve never heard of Deneb before reading this comic.

There’s an app for that. Let Dad teach you how to use it. :)

Well, dad might get that one right…

u r all nerds

I will give a special prize to the first person who can name the three stars in Orion’s Belt without looking them up in google or any other search tool.