Stargazing
Beausejour, Manitoba
Current Weather
Current Weather
11°C
Light rain
| Sunrise | 6:50 |
|---|---|
| Sunset | 20:03 |
| Ceiling | 1250 m |
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BookmarkUpdated:Friday Sep 5 2008,8:00 CDT - Winnipeg Airport
Clear Sky Forecast
Mainly cloudy
P.O.P. 30%
Wind NW 10km/h
Cloudy with clear breaks
P.O.P. 20%
Wind W 5km/h
Moon Phases
Sep 7
Sep 15
Sep 22
Sep 29
This Week in the Sky
Queen of the Night
With fall season around the corner, new constellations begin to take centre stage in the night sky. One easiest to identify is a group of stars that form a large lopsided 'W' above the northeastern horizon. Cassiopeia, the Queen, is a striking zigzag pattern of five bright stars that lie near to the North Pole star, Polaris.
Greek legends say that the vain queen of Ethiopia, wife of King Cepheus, was condemned by the god Zeus to the heavens after boasting that her own beauty rivaled that of the god's own daughters. Cassiopeia now sits on her star-studded throne, eternally circling Polaris - never to set below the horizon.
While Cassiopeia's five brightest stars appear to shine with similar brightness, their distance from us differ tremendously. The second brightest of the group, Caph, located at the right-end of the 'W' only 54 light years away, while Gamma, the middle-star in the formation sits at more than 650 light years from Earth.
