Sea Island Life Magazine Fall/Winter 2014 | Page 50

Galileo Galilei was the first scientist to determine that the light of the Milky Way emanates from billions of dim stars.

AN APP FOR
THAT

Download your way to the night sky with
these apps that lend a helping hand to
users getting started in stargazing.
SKYVIEW BY TERMINAL ELEVEN
Device: iPhone and iPad
Price: Free or $1.99 version
To identify stars, constellations, planets
and satellites at any location, simply
point your iPhone or iPad at the night sky.
The app also features a night mode for
preserving night vision and a social media
interface for sharing.
SKY MAP BY GOOGLE
Device: Android
Price: Free
Transform the night sky into a detailed
map of stars and planets right on your
Android device’s screen. It will identify
stars, constellations, planets and other
celestial bodies. You can also type in the
name of a planet to have Sky Map point
you in the right direction.

craters, mountains and valleys of the moonscape. The ease of visibility and luminous
vistas make the most observable object in
the night sky a fascinating starting point for
novice astronomers.

Star Light, Star Bright
“From the moon, we move on to learning how
to identify certain stars and constellations visible in the fall and winter skies,” notes Raleigh
Nyenhuis, a naturalist at Sea Island who leads
beach stargazing workshops. “We start with
the Big Dipper and Little Dipper. I point out
the North Star, Polaris, in its location at the
end of the Little Dipper’s handle. From there,
we move outward and start identifying more
stars and formations like Draco the dragon,
Canis Major the dog, Orion the hunter, Taurus
the bull and Gemini the twins.”
short PowerPoint presentation and explains
how to visually navigate the sky before taking
the group to test their skills at a location near
the Beach Club. After orienting themselves
with north, south, east and west, the fun begins.
Students are awestruck when they recognize the constellations they’ve only discerned
from pictures. “They get super excited and

they love looking through the telescope.”
Betelgeuse is a popular twinkling light in
the Sea Island stargazing class. A distinctly
reddish star located at the shoulder position
of Orion, Betelgeuse is the ninth-brightest
star in Earth’s visible nighttime sky.
“Betelgeuse is more than 1,000