Varying conditions affect how many stars we can see in the sky

How many stars

.. are visible to the unaided eye? This question is often asked of me and there is no simple answer. There are several factors that come into play. A person with 20/20 vision viewing the sky from a dark site with eyes have become dark. adapted ma:y see about 6,000 stars, viewing every month for a year. This includes both northern and southern skies.

As the seasons

change, different constellations of stars appear. Most of us take about 20 minutes for our eyes to become completely dark adapted. With good eyesight, most people can see down to a sixth

Jack Wine Stargazing

magnitude star. The greater the number, the fainter the star. The brightest stars you see are of the first magnitude class.

Conditions greatly effect stargazing. The darker and clearer the sky, the more stars you will see. It's probably safe" to say that from the Shenandoah Valley we see substantially fewer stars because of light pollution than those living in less light polluted areas.

With a good telescope, you would find that

As the seasons change, different constellations of stars appear.

about 60percent of the visible stars are double or multiple stars. Most are so close together that our eyes cannot separate them.

Alcor is the only one that is easy to see with the unaided eye. Alcor is the second star from the end of the handle of the Big Dipper. The actual separation of this double in space is 60 trillion miles or ten light years. Alcor's fainter double is

. named Mizar. In ancient times, this double was used to test the eyesight of Roman soldiers. Through a telescope you will find three stars in the field of view. Mizar's

double, Mizar (b), is only an optical double. Alcor and Mizar rotate around one- another. If you have trouble seeing this double, binoculars make it easy to find.

The Draconid meteor shower peaks Oct. 7 and 8.The number of meteors seen from the Draconids is highly variable.

The Orionid meteor shower peaks on the morning of Oct, 21. This shower usually produces about a dozen very bright meteors an hour. The last two years, this shower has been unusually active.

In early October,

Venus rises higher above the south western horizon sky each evening. Jupiter, which is a little dimmer, is to the upper left of Venus. At the beginning of October; Saturn rises in the east about 3 a.m.

Neptune in Capricornus and Uranus in Aquarius are highest in the south at 10 p.m. Mercury makes its best appearance of the year for mid-northern latitudes. Look for it above the eastern horizon far below Saturn as dawn brightens.

Full moon occurs' Oct. 14 and new moon is Oct.

Write News Leader columnist Jack Wine at starman34@comcast.net