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Teapot constellation brightens evening sky

The Little Teapot, more formally known by its ancient Greek and Roman name of Sagittarius the Archer, can be seen in the low southern sky between 8:30 and 9 p.m. The best place to see this constellation is away from the bright lights of Butler, Cranberry Township and other well-lit parts of Butler County.

As soon as it gets dark in Butler County - between 8:30 and 9 p.m. - take a look at the low southern sky and see if you can spot a little teapot.

Look for a triangle made up of three bright stars. That will be the spout on the right side of the constellation. A trapezoid of four stars on the left makes up the handle. In between those two parts is the body and, slightly above, the lid.

The teapot is more formally known by its ancient Greek and Roman name, Sagittarius the Archer.

According to those cultures, Sagittarius is supposed to outline a half-man, half-horse that is flinging arrows into the western sky. While it's not too difficult to make it out that way, it is easier to see as a teapot.

The best place to see this constellation is away from the bright lights of Butler, Cranberry Township and other well-lit parts of the county. If you happen to be in a darker region, notice the band of light that seems to stretch from the northern to southern horizon. This is the core of the Milky Way Galaxy.

It would seem like the millions of stars in the "downtown" section of our celestial neighborhood would be brighter, but there is a lot of interstellar gas and dust obscuring the view - not to mention light pollution here on Earth. If it weren't for these things, the light around Sagittarius would be brighter than the full moon.

Nonetheless, that part of the sky is loaded with interesting sights. Even with a small telescope or binoculars, you should be able to see many star clusters and nebulae.

There is a specific cluster that sits right above the teapot - looking like a puff of steam coming out of the spout. Astronomically, this is known as M8, or the Lagoon Nebula.

M8 is one of the largest and brightest "star factories" we can see. This giant cloud of hydrogen and raw material is more than 5,000 light years away - and roughly 100 light years in diameter.

Just to let you know how wide that is, a light year is equal to 6 trillion miles.

Stars form in M8 when dense pockets of hydrogen gas collapse due to gravity, causing a temperature rise of millions and millions of degrees. A core forms and, when it reaches a high enough temperature, nuclear fusion starts and a star is born.

These young stars are very hot and produce an extraordinary amount of ultraviolet radiation. These energize the surrounding hydrogen gas clouds, causing them to glow like a neon light.

If your view is clear enough and you have a strong enough telescope, you can actually make out these clouds from Earth.

In other celestial news:

Check out the close conjunction this week between Jupiter and Venus in the western sky shortly after sunset. By Friday they will be within two degrees of each other.

There has been misinformation circulating on the Internet about the closeness of Mars and Earth - saying the two planets are the closest they've been in the past 60,000 years.

This just isn't true. The planets reached that point on Aug. 27, 2003 - only 34 million miles apart - and the information has been circulating online ever since.

Mars lovers shouldn't despair though. The red planet and Earth are still close, coming within 42.5 million miles of each other in early November. That's still impressive.

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and author of the new book, "Pennsylvania Starwatch," available at bookstores and at his Web site www.lynchandthestars.com

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