a -" me ar ere : Me pester y MeCN TEE Set phage TUT TREE a Sea Ta pg Ea Rte a A NEN ay epee ai Rt Nag on A Ys mais wantegtand me TE EE Ged pte T PE, noc ae ‘1 by Alien Wootton 7 _ At this time of the year some of the most beautiful constella- tions are prominent in the evening sky. The most: obvious of these is Orion, a majestic constellation whose bright stars outline a figure that even resembles the hunter shown on ancient star ‘maps. The zodiac constellations Taurus and Gemini and the ‘bright star Sirius (in the otherwise dim constellation Canis Major) ‘complete this group of exceptional stars. Along with these stars are two planets. By far the brightest of these is Jupiter; it stands out in Taurus. It is brighter than any ‘stars and you will have no trouble picking it out. To the west of Jupiter, in the constellation Aries, is Mars. It is much fainter than Jupiter, but brighter.and redder than any star in Aries. February is a great time for using binoculars to study the sky, too. The accompanying star map shows some of the objects that you will have no trouble finding even without optical aid. When you use binoculars to aid your observations of them, more stars will stand out and: you will see collections of stars rivalling anything that can be seen in the sky. You might begin an evening’s observation this month by work- ing from west to east. First you will see Mars high in the southern sky. A small telescope will show the disc of this planet, but binoculars will not, . Jupiter is a good object to observe next. In fact, it is one of my favourite objects because even with binoculars it is possible to , make out the brightest four of Jupiter's moons (the so-called Gallilean Moons) and the movements of the moons can be fol-. lowed over a period of a few hours. If you see only three or even two moons near Jupiter, you should not blame your binoculars. ‘After a few hours the missing moons will appear from behind or -move from in front of Jupiter. . 7 Next you might try observing some star clusters. Taurus con- tains two superb examples, the Pleiades and the Hyades. The ° Pleiades is the brightest and most obvious example of a star cluster in the whole sky. Without binoculars there are many stars - in this group, With binoculars you will see many more. This is one group of stars that appears much more spectacular in binoculars than in a telescope because a telescope shows only a very small section of this cluster at a time while binoculars can show the whole thing. con The Hyades star cluster is not as obvious as the Pleiades — _ "you will find it easily, however, if you look for the bright star Aldebaran (the eye of Taurus the bull) south and slightly to the , ‘east of the Pleiades. This reddish coloured star is not. part of the Hyades even though it appears at one tip of the V-shaped cluster. This is just a chance association — the stars in the Hyades are close together (as star distances go) while Aldebaran is about half as far away as any star in that cluster. The Hyades appear much more spread out than the Pleiades and are located about one- third as far away, so close in fact, that to modern astronomers it is one of the most important groups in the sky. Like the Pleiades it is best observed with binoculars because they allow observation * of the whole cluster at once. _. To the south and east of the Hyades is another object that _deserves careful binocular observation. This object is the Orion ‘Nebula. Like the other objects that I have described this month, it can be seen without optical aid. With binoculars it appears as a faint haze that surrounds the region of the star theta Orionis (the central star in Orion’s sword). This nebula is a vast cloud of glowing gasses whose total mass contains enough material to form 10,000 stars like the Sun. The glow from this huge cloud is caused by the light from stars within it — ultraviolight light from the stars excites the hydrogen gas of the cloud. Then the hydrogen gas re-emits the light which we see. _ While I have concentrated on the ‘evening sky for this month, you may see some interesting things in the morning, too. On or near February 18, you may see Mercury very near the eastern -horizon just before sunrise. Mercury can be seen from Terrace, but you need an unobstructed horizon in the appropriate direc- ‘ tion to see it. - “§aturn is also visible in the morning sky. It rises about two and ‘a half hours before the Sun arid will be very low in the southeast “at sunrise. _ . -- As.always, the Terrace Astronomical Society will be holding _ viewing nights in the park near the Terrace Public Library on any - élear Tuesday night from 8:00 p.m. to about 9:30 p.m., and -- anyone who would like a telescopic view of stars or planets is - griost welcome. As well, the next general meeting of the - Astronomical Society will be held in the public library at 7:30 _ pth. on Tuesday, February 28. . Works Committee with “Gemini e. \ gaurus 7 | A” _@e Hyades ~ Aldebaran *-#e Star Cluste Saunders seeks industrial land Roy Saunders Hauling Ltd. has proposed a new industrial development which may add to the area’s move to become the hub of the Northwest: an 8,000 square. foot retail outlet for truck repair shop don’t require rezoning. They added, however, that the retread plant would be a different matter and - rezoning 7 , truck parts and accessories, a — shop for maintaining approxi- . mately 16 logging trucks, and eventually, a 12,000 square-foot tire retreading plant. , But before this development can begin, Glen Saunders and city administration are discuss- ing: preliminary plans and ser- vicing and access requirements ‘for a site next to Pacific North- ern Gas on Hwy. 16 in order to provide the Planning and Public all necessary information so that a rezoning request can proceed, Rezoning required for the project would change the prop- erty from Light Industrial to Heavy Industrial. The commit- tee originally noted that the zoning change would be con- trary to the current Community Plan, but according to city ad- ministration the retail outlet.and oF NORTHERN MOTOR =INN=| [FiReRBIN LSE] CATCH THE ACTION would be required before that portion of the project could pro- fi Visit the Northern Motor Inn, for nightly entertainment. Come to where the ACTION is. 3086 Hwy. 16 East 635-6375 WITH YOU! SHARON HARGREAVES YOU ARE INVITED TO __ & SERIES OF GOSPEL SERVICES _ EACH SUNDAY AFTERNOON — 3:00 to 4:00 P.M. BEING HELD IN THE "HAPPY GANG CENTRE 2 ~ KALUM STREET — TERRACE, B.C... "WE ARE IN FELLOWSHIP WiTH THAT WORLD-WIDE BODY OF CHRISTIANS WHO WORSHIP IN THE SAME MANNER THAT YOU READ OF IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. WE ASSUME NO OTHER NAME THAN '“CHRISTIANS® OUR MISSION IS TO PRESENT THE GOSPEL TO ALL AGE GROUPS. WE HAVE NOT COME TO TAKE FROM THIS COMMUNITY BUT TO SHARE WITH YOU A PEACE AND SATISFACTION THAT YOU COULD NEVER RECEIVE APART FROM SEEING AND HEARING FOR YOURSELF. 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