SIRIUS A AND B TAKEN BY THE HUBBLE TELESCOPE (courtesy of NASA, ESA)

December sees the shortest day of the year when, on Thursday December 22nd at 0530, the winter solstice occurs and as a result of the tilt in the earth’s axis the sun reaches the lowest point in the heavens – as seen from the Northern Hemisphere. By early New Year the later setting of the sun in Spain becomes noticeable here although it takes a few more days before sunrise is noticeably earlier. Thereafter it becomes quickly light earlier in the mornings and stays light later in the evenings until the end of June and the summer solstice on June 21st.

This year we have a Christmas star viewable in Spain – actually it’s the planet Venus, hanging like a lantern and shining brilliantly in the western twilight sunset. By New Year’s Eve Venus remains visible for about three hours after the sun has set and by then will outshine the highlight of last month, the planet Jupiter. 

The historical star in the east in biblical times guided the Magi (Three Wise Men or Kings) to the birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem and to this day the festival of the Three Kings is widely celebrated in Spain.

Epiphany, the festival of the Three Kings (in Spain, Los Reyes Magos) is celebrated on January the 6th and is traditionally the day during which Spanish children receive their gifts.

The Magi travelled to Bethlehem following the eastern star bearing gold, frankincense and myrrh as precious gifts for the new born child. In Spain, Father Christmas may leave children a token gift on the 25th, Christmas Day, but the festival of the Three Kings is most children’s favourite day, especially as Baltasar, who rides a donkey, is traditionally believed to be the one bearing the gifts.  This is appropriate as it is on the festival of the Three Kings that Spanish children receive a gift and sometimes their most important one.

THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI BY BARTOLOMÉ ESTABAN MURILLO

There has been much debate as to what the guiding star for the Three Kings actually was. Astronomers have debated and researched the truth over the centuries and variously decided that it was either a comet, an alignment of the three major planets or a supernova (an exploding star).

Of course, the longer nights in Spain provide an excellent opportunity to enjoy the views of Spanish night skies – and the constellation of Orion the Hunter remains a major dominating feature in the southern night sky of Spain. The constellation of Orion rises in the East and remains in full view until just before sunrise.

Just to the left (or east) of Orion is the brightest star in the sky: Sirius or the dog star. Sirius is one on the closest stars to earth and only eight and a half light years away (a light year is approximately six trillion years) and because of its proximity and natural luminosity it twinkles and almost appears to be made of different colours. In the right conditions of good visibility, a low sun and when viewed from altitude, it is possible to see Sirius in the daylight. Sirius is estimated to be twice as massive as our own sun and 25 times as luminous. 

Here, in the La Safor region of Valencia Province, the expected shower of shooting stars in Spain on the 17/18th of November was totally invisible – with 48 hours of heavy rain and low mist obscuring the surrounding mountains, never mind the normally clear Spanish night sky! 

There is another meteor shower, the Geminid, due on the 13/14th of December but as this coincides with the full moon in Spain the shower will be almost impossible to see in the bright moonlight. 

The full moon in December is on the 10th and the new moon on Christmas Eve (the 24^th).

Enjoy clear night skies in Spain – and a Happy Christmas…

Iain Henderson - Culture Spain

Iain lives in Spain, was a professional soldier and is a businessman who has lived in many different parts of the world.  His lovely villa in Valencia, Spain is available for rent during the summer months.

ENGRAVING BY ADOLF VOLLMY FROM A PAINTING MADE FROM A DESCRIPTION OF THE LEONIDS METEOR SHOWER IN 1833

As we move towards the middle of November the waning of the moon and darker night sky in Spain (it was a full moon on the 10th and will be a new moon on the 25th) will give a clearer view of the stars and planets here. The recent spell of fine weather here in La Drova (near Gandia, Valencia) together with the changing of the clocks has provided some excellent opportunities to look at the heavens at less anti-social hours.

Certainly, from areas with less light pollution and without an urban haze the early winter night sky in Spain has been spectacular in recent weeks.

Jupiter is still by far the brightest object in the Spanish southern night sky, apart from the moon, and can easily be seen with the naked eye.  With a pair of binoculars and a steady hand the larger moons of Jupiter are also visible.

GANYMEDE ONE OF THE LARGEST OF JUPITER'S MOONS

Jupiter has 64 confirmed moons but only four are easily seen by the amateur astronomer. The four largest and most visible are the Galiean moons of Ganymede, Calista, Lo and Europa and all were discovered by the Italian Galileo Galilei in 1609 -10.  Ganymede, named after the cupbearer of the Gods and Zeus’s lover in Greek mythology, is the ninth largest object in our solar system after our sun and seven of the planets. If your hands shake when trying to see the moons (or any other object in the Spanish night sky) rest your binoculars on an upturned household broom for greater stability.

From late at night on Thursday November 17th through until dawn on the 18th the Leonids meteor shower should be visible from Spain. Historically the Leonids have produced some of the greatest meteor showers in history with the one in 1966 producing thousands of “shooting stars” in an hour. These major storms happen in a cycle of every 33 to 34 years so unfortunately this year (2011) will produce only about 20 to 30 meteors per hour.

The Leonid meteor shower should be visible in the Spanish night sky from just after midnight on the 17-18th and will be at its most productive just before dawn on the 18th. Unfortunately the radiant point in the sky from which the stars will seem to appear – in the constellation of Leo, hence the name - is quite close to the waning but still bright last quarter moon.

SHOOTING STARS (Courtesy of NASA)

Incidentally, the constellation of Leo is so called because the informal group of stars was thought by the ancients to represent a lion’s head. From Spain at this time of the year it is in the eastern sky and, to see the shooting stars: look towards the moon and before dawn towards the faint rising sun.

Shooting stars or, more correctly, meteor showers are seen when the earth passes through a stream of particles left by a comet and, in the case of the Leonid meteor shower it is debris from the comet Temple-Tuttle. The size of the debris which causes the shooting star effect is tiny and around the size of a pea! The debris is produced when frozen gases evaporate the particles from the comet under the heat of the sun.

So, wrap up well early on Friday the 18th, hope for a clear night sky in Spain and – most off all – have patience!

Good luck and enjoy a terrific display from the Leonids meteor shower!

Iain Henderson - Culture Spain

Iain lives in Spain, was a professional soldier and is a businessman who has lived in many different parts of the world.  His lovely villa in Valencia, Spain is available for rent during the summer months.

ORION

One of the delights to living in rural Spain is the amazing night sky in Spain with November onwards often providing a clear winter sky that shows the heavens at their best. The clocks have gone back, dusk comes early, dawn late, the television reception falls away and, as we move towards mid-winter in December, it’s worthwhile going outside and having a look at what you can see in the night sky in Spain.

You can view the night stars and planets in Spain with a naked eye but a simple pair of binoculars or, even better, a telescope will reveal the full glory of the universe.

One really good web site which allows you to see exactly what you can view from your Spanish property (particularly if you are living in rural Spain) is www.stellarium.org – it’s free, easy to use and download and it allows you to enter your own personal location and find exactly what constellations, stars and planets are on view from your property in Spain. You can use the easy tool bar to add overlays of constellations (groups of stars) and individual objects and you are able to move around the night sky in Spain on your screen. And as the earth moves – so the views change!

Probably the easiest to find major feature of the November Spanish night sky is the constellation of Orion the hunter. Orion rises (to be exact it’s the earth that is moving!) in the east and is in its full visible glory through to shortly before first light. To find it: look towards the southern sky after dark – Orion is a large squarish group of stars which dominate the winter sky in Spain.

ORION - THE PICTURE WE SHOULD SEE!

The ancients thought that the group of stars that make up the main pointers of Orion looked like the outline of a hunter. The square representing the shoulders and feet and the centre: the belt and sword. To the right as you look at the constellation is a fainter representation of the hunter’s bow. The top left hand orange star (Betelgeuse) is one of the brightest stars you can see and the light we can view from Spain left is over 650 years old – so the Moors still ruled Spain when it started its travels to earth! It’s a star reaching the end of its life.

The bottom right hand star is Rigel which is white and marginally brighter, with the power of 60000 of our suns and over 700 light years away, meaning the light is nearly 700 years old when it reaches earth.

If you look at the hunter’s belt in Orion the bright object to the east or left is Sirius the Dog Star which is much closer to earth, the light taking only six light years to reach us. Sirius is frequently wrongly thought to be a planet because it is so bright. To the right (or west), during November, the very bright object is the planet Jupiter which is currently the closet to the earth it will be until 2022.  It will be visible from Spain until just before dawn. Try to see it early in the month before the full moon in Spain makes the night sky too bright. Stars, just like our sun are nuclear balls of gas and dust  and emit light and heat – whereas planets reflect light from the stars.

If you keep travelling west and upwards to the right along the hunter’s belt you will find a cluster of stars – Pleiades or the seven sisters. When viewed through binoculars, you quickly realise there are a lot more than seven stars!

THE NIGHT SKY IN SPAIN IN RURAL AREAS CAN REVEAL THE STARS AND MOON SUPERBLY

The full moon in Spain in November is on the 10th, the new moon on the 25th and there will (with luck) and good visibility be a shower of shooting stars on the 17/18^th!  I will give you more details of that wonderful event later in the month together with further information on the fascinating things that you can see in the Spanish night sky as we head towards Christmas…

Iain Henderson – Culture Spain

Iain lives in Spain, was a professional soldier is a businessman and has lived in many different parts of the world.  His lovely villa is available for rent during the summer months.