A Home on the Island: Backyard astronomers

You really can’t help but notice how easy it is to view the stars on Shelter Island.

The lack of streetlamps and large commercial buildings allows the beauty of the night sky to be easily visible. Although we tend to hunker down and get cozy inside once the sun goes down, winter skies are actually the most favorable time of year for stargazing.

According to Alan Cousins, vice president of the Custer Institute & Observatory located in Southold, winter nights are longer, and the air is crisper and drier for better viewing. Cold air holds less hazy moisture, so nights tend to be very clear.

My son received a children’s constellation book in his Christmas stocking this year after Santa must have noticed that he was taking a particular interest in the night skies. The Custer Observatory is open for outdoor public viewings every Saturday evening from dusk until midnight, but we were able to enjoy the marvels of the sparkling stars right from our own front porch.

While we didn’t use any telescopes, we did download a free app that would help us to correctly identify the configurations.

The book taught us that each season brings different constellation viewings. For us in Shelter Island the winter powerhouses are Orion (the hunter with his distinct three- star belt), Canis Major (Latin for “greater dog”) and Gemini (“the twins” — Castor and Pollux).

Taking a peak in the south/southwest direction, these constellations were very bright and easily visible. We also easily spotted a few bright stars that were part of Taurus (“the Bull”). This discovery was exciting in the Palmiotto house, as both of our children are born under the Taurus zodiac sign and my husband and I are both Geminis.

Traditional personality traits of our Taurus children indicate that they will be ambitious, focused and resilient. They also have the potential for stubbornness and jealousy, so as long as each kid gets the exact amount of time holding the phone to use the star app, we should be fine. Using the app was easy and fun.

Just holding the phone pointing up, the screen overlays a full planetarium-like view of all of the stars. Hovering over one star illuminates it on the screen and the identification label pops up, letting you know what exactly you’re looking at. It also connects the dots, if you will, so the full visual of the start groupings comes together as an actual picture.

Since it’s still winter, we were quick to rush back inside, but to keep the fun going, we had our Alexa play the Star Wars soundtrack. (Side note, asking Alexa to play “songs with the word star in the title” didn’t get us very far. We gave the kids a bag full of mini marshmallows and a box of toothpicks so they could create their own constellations.)

The Custer Institute advises that during March, there are more than 30 constellations visible during the night, including Virgo, Ursa Major, Perseus, Leo, and Cancer, in addition to the ones mentioned above. The book we used focuses on the most easily visible, so we felt like champs having found each of the four “beginner” constellations.

The Custer Institute website also has a section listing the meteor showers visible and the dates when they will peak. Of the meteor showers occurring during March and listed on the Custer Institute site, the Virginids and the Delta Leonids are visible at our latitude. The Virginids (March 1 — April 15)  appear to emanate from the direction of the Virgo constellation.

The Leonids (March 11 – April 16) emanate from the direction of the Leo constellation. The Leonids is said to peak on March 30, which could potentially bring some excitement on a Wednesday evening.

I’m not sure if our astrology skills are advanced enough to catch the meteor showers, but I’m happy enough to get some more marshmallows and give it a try.