#regulus is from camp jupiter

[aboutnavi]

Hair turned gray, faded lines in their faces, the very proof of a life lived surrounded by love. Memories guarded on the skin. The smell of honey and hummingbird mint, a place away from tragedy. Heroes that survived.

from chapter three of a room full of my safest sounds.

[t1oui]

i've been on a pjo kick lately so i decided to plan out a character swap au purely for fun.

in this part, i'll be listing marauders era characters & my opinions on their godly parentage and planning out some of what a pjo au with them would look like. in part 2, i'll take characters from the pjo universe (specifically pjo/toa/hoo) and list my opinions on their hogwarts houses + some other stuff about them in the wizarding world. enjoy !!

peaceful au

this is the section where i do whatever i want with characters, none of them are involved in any prophecies or anything - this is an au with no wars where everything is completely made up. down further will be the section for a canon-compliant au where the big prophecies are fulfilled and people meet how they do in canon :)

characters (orange = greek, purple = roman, ✩ = year-round camper, ♔ = head counselor, ☽ = praetor, ✦ = big 3 kid):

james potter: son of aphrodite ♔

sirius black: son of zeus ♔✦

remus lupin: son of minerva

peter pettigrew: son of hecate

lily evans: daughter of demeter ✩♔

mary macdonald: daughter of venus

marlene mckinnon: daughter of ares

regulus black: son of jupiter ☽✦

barty crouch jr: son of minerva

pandora rosier: daughter of iris ✩

evan rosier: child of iris ✩

dorcas meadowes: daughter of victoria

frank longbottom: son of posidon ✩♔✦

alice fortescue: daughter of apollo* ☽

narcissa black: daughter of pluto ✦

severus snape: son of athena ✩

xenophilius lovegood: son of hebe

emmeline vance: daughter of hades ✩♔✦

andromeda black: daughter of iris ✩♔

ted tonks: son of apollo* ♔

*apollo is the name for the greek and roman god of music, archery, medicine, the sun, and oracles

relationships (siblings):

james and mary (half siblings) - children of aphrodite/venus

sirius and regulus (full brothers, thalia and jason situation) - children of zeus/jupiter

remus, barty, and severus (half brothers) children of athena/minerva

pandora and evan (full siblings, twins) - children of iris

emmeline and narcissa (half sisters) - children of hades/pluto

ted and alice (half siblings) - children of apollo

andromeda & pandora and evan (half-siblings) - children of iris

note: andromeda and narcissa are cousins in this

relationships (platonic):

james, sirius, peter, and marlene become friends right away and immediately start causing some mischief

marlene becomes friends with lily and introduces her to james, sirius, and peter

frank is the older head counselor of the posidon cabin (also the posidon cabin's only resident) and everybody has a crush on him (except for marlene, a lesbian, and peter, who's aromantic)

severus is "the quiet kid from athena cabin" but lily's good friends with him

sirius and james don't like him at first because he and sirius just clash (they both want to be the smartest of every room they're in and refuse to agree on anything) and james thinks he's being impolite to lily when he doesn't always respond to her, but he eventually understands that sev's just quiet and the two of them hash it out

pandora and evan are the weird iris kids. that's just who they are.

andromeda is the head counselor of the iris cabin. pretty much everybody knows her. she's been on a ton of quests and rumor has it she fought a harpy once.

andromeda and ted are like the parents of the camp, ted is also the head healer of the infirmary

emmeline is best friends with xeno, she sort of adopted him when she arrived at camp because he seemed lonely and she needed a tour guide.

meanwhile at camp jupiter...

remus and mary have been there since forever but they don't really get along with each other

remus is friends with regulus and barty (he finds barty annoying) and mary is friends with dorcas

narcissa and alice are older, narcissa is very broody and mysterious but everyone sees right through it. alice has a big fat crush on her.

after xeno gets with pandora, emmeline starts hanging around snape so she can give xeno some alone time with his girlfriend. like with xeno, it works because sev prefers to listen and emmeline really likes to talk.

relationships (romantic):

james/lily (past) - james and lily dated when they were younger, probably like 13, but decided to stay friends at the end of the summer. lily realizes she's lesbian soon after

sirius/marlene (past) - they also date for about two seconds before sirius realizes he doesn't see marlene like that and marlene realizes she is definitely not into guys

alice/frank (past) - they kiss once and then alice complains to frank about narcissa not liking her back and he does some super sleuthing to prove that narcissa is, in fact, gay for her

pandora/xeno (endgame) - pandora and xenophilius start dating when they're 15, they usually go out stargazing to avoid evan following them around and third-wheeling

sirius/remus (endgame) - remus starts crushing on sirius almost immediately after he first meets him when the camps are introduced to each other. they start dating like 3 months later and remus complains about his crush to reg and barty the whole time.

james/regulus (endgame) - they don't get along at first because regulus doesn't get along with anybody at first but since regulus is praetor, he speaks with "representatives" of chb like james, a head counselor, and they start to get along better and then start dating.

lily/mary (endgame) - these two are flirting with each other right away. eventually james and dorcas are basically screaming "just get together already!" so they go on a date. they're def the first cross-camp couple to get together.

dorcas/marlene (endgame) - lily and remus notice dorcas and marlene giving each other ✨looks✨ and team up to do something about it. this is how they become friends.

barty/evan (endgame) - these two take so freaking long to date. barty is enamored with evan immediately but sirius nor james really know him that well so he doesn't really have anyone to get him close to evan. then pandora notices and she's been trying to set her twin up for ages so she sets them up. evan is a little pissed that she put him on a blind date at first but he and barty hit it off.

andromeda/ted (endgame) - they're the parents of camp half-blood, they've been together for ages. that's it, that's the story. (they got together when they were 13, they're very cute, they would just bring each other flowers and eat in the infirmary together when ted had busy nights. andromeda scoffed at others for getting together so young but insists she and ted are different. they are.)

alice/narcissa (endgame) - alice has liked narcissa their whole time knowing each other and has been trying to be her friend since they first met. alice and frank kiss, which makes narcisaa jealous, and then narcissa and frank become friends when he consistently hunts her down to talk about alice. he convinces narcissa that he and alice don't like each other like that and the girls FINALLY get their shit together.

canon-compliant au

details are a lil messed up with parents being switched around and all, but here's who would be who in the different quests/prophecies. things will be similar to pjo universe events but changed some to fit the story because well... this is a riordianverse au.

these details also don't really line up with the stuff above b/c that is all structured around a more peaceful riordianverse ! down below is canon compliant stuff, as i said above. enjoy!

series 1: pjo (battle against titans)

people who the prophecy could be talking about (big 3 kids): frank, sirius, emmeline, regulus, or narcissa (tho reg and narcissa are from camp jupiter, so they're pretty much out for this one)

who ends up fulfilling the prophecy: frank, peter, and marlene -> explanation: frank is a child of the big 3 who manages to reach 16. when they're young and marlene first arrives at camp, peter gives her her first weapon - a bracelet that turns into a knife - as a welcome gift. when he betrays her by joining the titans, it curses her weapon and it's the same weapon frank gives him in order to kill kronos. rip peter 😔

frank is offered immortality but chooses to make the gods pay child support instead, what an icon

series 2: hoo (battle against gaea and the giants)

camp swap: sirius, the head counselor of chb's zeus cabin, is wiped of his memory and finds camp jupiter. mary is wiped of her memory and put on a bus with james and emmeline, who she's supposedly dating.

the seven: sirius, mary, james, emmeline, pandora, dorcas, and remus

the lost hero trio: mary, james, and emmeline

book 2 trio (wouldn't be called son of neptune because there... isn't one): sirius, dorcas, and remus

travel duo (people moving athena statue during book 5): narcissa and evan

mark of athena quest: remus (son of minerva, athena's roman form)

sirius and remus fall into tartarus (that's one way to start a relationship ig)

abilities (that cross over with hoo characters): -> sirius can fly (son of jupiter) -> mary has charmspeak (daughter of venus) -> emmeline can control gems & is basically sponsored by hecate, who teaches her to use the mist (daughter of hades)

series 3: toa (battle against nero and python)

main dude is still apollo ofc, but this time his master is lily, who's a teenager during the series (not a tween like meg)

the kids of apollo in the story are ted and alice, but ted will show up more because apollo & lily spend more time at chb

lester thinks he's destined to be w/ narcissa... she makes fun of him

the sun and the star (solangelo book)

i wanted so badly to make this jegulus but that makes 0 sense so it's nobleflower (narcissa is a daughter of pluto, alice is a daughter of apollo)

not much to say here either, tbh, but yeah. they go to tartarus and they're gay together.

closing/outro

this was so fun to make. i doubt i'll ever write it (which means others are totally welcome to, as long as they credit this post for the idea and inform me first! i'd also love to help others write it) but this was very fun to think about. i'm planning to make a part 2 with riordianverse (pjo/toa/hoo) characters at hogwarts so stay tuned for that. thanks for reading!

[tiredflowercrown]

for any of your original ocs

How did you come up with the idea for this oc?

What’s your oc’s defining personality trait? How does this impact their life and relationships?

Is your oc more introverted or extroverted?

What is the most important thing to your oc? Why is this important to them?

What is your oc’s least favorite memory? Why is this moment difficult for them?

What if you favorite thing about this oc? What is their favorite thing about themselves?

List a random fact about your oc.

Oooh, OK some of these will be multi character

How did I come up with the idea for this character?

I feel like they all started out the same way, a want for a character. Some of a lil different basis. Philip, Anastasia (the younger), and Mary (and somewhat lex) all come from wanting to play with Hamilton reincarnation aus. Philip and Anastasia were Philip and Angelica Hamilton. Mary was Bloody Mary or Mary |. The name Alexander also came from this.

A lot of the time it comes from not wanting to mess up canon too much. What do Unknown children of Regulus Black who have been hidden away do to the plot of HP? Nothing. Oh Canon characters have Family members that they don't talk about? Makes perfect sense.

What's your ocs defining personality trait? How does this impact their life and relationships?

Ali! So Ali's defining trait is protective. She has a reputation of the Dragon. She's fierce and takes no shit. She's well trained. She is the daughter of a woman who lost almost everything to a war, lost all of her family due to others' hatred and machinations. There isn't a single thing she wouldn't do for her family. Scorched earth is the only option in her eyes.

It causes some tension, some thing she's being too much or is teaching too young. But she only wants the best for them. Doesn't want anything to happen like it has to the rest of them.

Is your OC more introverted or extroverted?

Another multi. It changes some throughout time and their stories. Ali, Cecelia, Lucas, Moira, Philip, Anastasia, and Hycthina are all more extroverted. Lex, Barty, Titania, Mary, Orpheia, Damian, and Bella are more introverted. However don't mistake extroversion and introversion for charm and public speaking. Almost all of them are media train and speak very very well and can seem open to people.

What is the most important thing to your oc? Why is this important to them?

Titania constantly wears 2 rings around her neck. She rarely takes it off. Only if any damage could come to it if she was wearing it. It's her engagement rings. She will never get married, not to her Marie, but also never to anyone else. Marie's ring was one of the only things that could be salvaged from her body. It is her dearest treasure, her anchor to reality.

What is your oc's least favorite memory? Why is this moment difficult for them?

For many of them, it is death. The death of a mother, a sister, a lover. Titania was there for Marie's death. She couldn't be there for her brothers. Both destroyed her. Lex, Damian, Orpheia, and Hycthina were there for their respective mothers' deaths. There is a difference in peaceful and violent, and that is even furthered by watching it happen.

What is your favorite thing about this oc? What is their favorite thing about themselves?

Mary is beautiful. She's an example of a character that just exists to be stable and I love her for that. She's a ballet dancer, loves English, has perhaps a terrifying amount of knowledge in poisons and venoms. She loves her ability to tell a story, whether it be through dance or writing.

List a random fact about your oc

Originally, Titania and Mary were second cousins, making Mary a legacy of Apollo. This has since changed because, ehhh. Mary no longer has any "old" connection to Camp Jupiter, the only of the Romans (I will explain in a different post dw) to not have one.

[ineedtoescapefromreality]

I need to escape from reality~

Look, before you ask. Yes, we are the children of the infamous Piper Mclean. But we also have another mother, Shel. We know or mom is a famous demigoddess but quite franckly we aren't really interested in the whole camp Jupiter, camp Half-Blood shit. First and foremost I'm Rosalyn and i'll be sharing this blog with my sibling Echo. We live in California and ocasionally visit camp Jupiter to hang out with friends.

Names : Rosalyn Mclean/ Echo Mclean

Alies : Rose, Rosa, Lyn, Honeybee / Echo, E, Mclean, Sunshine

Ages : 16 (we're twins)

Weapons (if we need them) : a curved, golden dagger with a sapphire on the handle / a handgun and a knife

Relations : Piper Mclean (mother), Shel Mclean (mother), Tristan Mclean (grandfather), Aphrodite

Personalities : sneaky and inreliable. she's a good liar, but usually very honest. she's a typlical teenager, wanting to go to parites, hang out with friends and have fun. she outgoing and careless, ignoring responabilities and athority / quiet and inteligent. they usually mind their own buissness but if someone pisses them off they will tell them. they are very on point and punctual. they're also very sarcastic. they prefer to stay by themselves but if they're with people they like they're a whole different person

Fatal flaws : doesn't know when to accept defeat. she will always keep pushing / always feels like they are not good enough for anything and try to shelter themselves

Fears : the ocean, small spaces, loss / not being good enough, forests, rodents

Hobbies : drawing, dancing, music / playing bass, reading books, writing poetry

Sexualities : bisexual :] / amab non-binary and gay

people we know :

@chasing-that-jackson, our friend Charlie! She's Auntie Annabeth and Uncle Percy's kid. She and her sister are great fun

@daffy-not-a-duck, Daphne, Uncles Nico and Will's kid :]

@percy-jackson-xxx, uncle Percy! Charlie and Cassie's dad

@iggy-mini-miny-moe, Iggy! Uncle Leo and Jason's kid!

@hey-guys-its-sam, Sam, Hazel and Frank's kid!

@violent-cinnamonroll, Aria, Clarrise and Aunt Selena's daughter

@ghost-king-and-thebones, Uncle Nico, Daffy's dad. I don't think he likes Rosa a lot

@olivernotfound, Daffy's brother and Unles Nico and Will's kid

@leo-repairguy-valdez, Uncle Leo! He's very silly

@yourfavoriteadoptedkid, Eloise, Uncle Frank and Auntie Hazel's adopted kid

@doctor-sunshine-andcarebears, Uncle Will. Say, Uncle, why do always have bandages around?

@sincerely-anniejackson, Auntie Annabeth, Cassie and Charlie's daughter

@not-a-panda, Pandora, resident of chb and kid of Katie Gardener and Travis Stoll

@morningstar-of-the-night, Kallisto daughter of Selene

@evan-is-here, Evan son of Nike

@overwhelmingly-his-son, Lucas Castellan.... Son of Luke Castellan

@regulus-a-star, Regulus Star, child of Ares

@daughter-of-storm, Isla Graham, champion of Minerva

"you will fight, even after you've lost everything, even after the world has shattered. you won't stop when you need to. you'll be stuck in a cylce you cannot break. as for you, you will distance yourself from everyone, until you will be so far gone, and so lost, nobody will reach you. you will be each other's downfall, you will kill each other slowly, from the inside"

Songs that play on our headphones

Birds - Imagine Dragons

What could have been - Sting

Me and the Devil - Soap&Skin

Lotta true crime - Penelope Scott

Break stuff - Limp Bizkit

Devil Town - Cavetown

Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day

Why don't you get a job - The Offspring

ooc notes :

Rosalyn will be speaking in pink and Echo will be speaking in purple

tagss :

~rose pink~ - Rosalyn speaking

echoing silence~ - Ehco speaking

not here - ooc post

@ooc of the blog is @xrns

[daliyla]

Okay but hear me out.

(sorry if I do some mistakes, english is not my first language lol).

The Marauders in a PJO!AU.

So basically Sirius and Regulus are both Zeus' sons, but Sirius is born from the Greek side and Regulus from the Roman side. When they were very young, their mother had to give Regulus to the wolves to calm down Hera, and she told Sirius that his little brother died.

So Regulus grows in Camp Jupiter and Sirius, after some years, goes in Camp Halfblood, where he meets James (son of Apollo), Remus (son of Athena and you can't change my mind) and Peter (son of Hermes) and they have a lot of adventures together.

After years and years of Percabething (it's a verb that exist cause I said so), finally, after a big adventure against Chronos, Remus and Sirius got together (the best flying kiss ever...).

For a couple of months everything is fine, until a day James goes to wake up Sirius and finds a guy he doesn't know in his bed, a tiny guy with black hair, shorter than Sirius', grey eyes and a really beautiful face. The guy wakes up and starts screaming and after they calm down they talk and the guy says that he doesn't remember who he is or anything about his life, except for his name, Regulus.

James brings him to Minerva McGonagall, the boss (kind of Chiron in PJO), and when she sees Regulus she looks terrified and all she says is "you're supposed to be dead". Then they talk and blablabla.

(she says so because Sirius told her, and only her, about his brother and she understand that that Regulus is Sirius' brother)

Remus is obviously incredibly scared and worried for his boyfriend ("we were supposed to pass the holiday together...") and starts

During the dinner a profecy is told and James, Regulus and Remus have to leave to free Hera from her jail (yes, the lost hero's plot). During the journey, Regulus and James start being close (and Remus one night, while Regulus is sleeping, looks at James, smiles softly and tells him "now I understand how you felt all the times you told me how annoying it was to look at Sirius and me being in love and never telling each other", and James is like "noo, what are you talking about? He'S Not Into Me" sure Prongs keep telling yourself that). Yet, Regulus Absolutely-Not-Into-Him kisses him after he thought he died at a certain point and yeah, his brain stops working for a couple of hours.

At the end of the adventure, Hera promises Regulus to give him his memories back, and he starts remembering about another camp, a completely different one, his home.

He starts to remember about his childhood, the period with the wolves, about how he grew up in that camp since he was a child, after his mother and his brother left him...

He finds some photos of Sirius with his friends in Zeus' cabin and he has no doubt: that guy, his almost-boyfriend's best friend, is his brother. So he tells James, who immediatly panics, and Remus, who starts wondering where that camp is and if Sirius is there.

Sirius, obviously, is there (after some months with Lupa), with no memories like Regulus, but he remembers his name and Remus' face and some details about him. He arrives at camp Jupiter and everyone is worried for a guy named Regulus, a name that is familiar to him, but he can't really remember why.

He meets two guys named Barty and Evan and two girl names Dorcas and Pandora, who were that Regulus guy's best friends. They're more intimidating than his friends (he doesn't remember their names but he just knows that his friends and Remus are different) and less friendly as true Slytherins. He has to go on a mission with Barty and Evan (who he sees becoming more and more close, until they end up together) and he ends up remembering everything.

AND THEN AND THEN the seven halfblood (Sirius, James, Regulus, Remus, Dorcas, Marlene and Pandora maybe?) reunite and Remus judo flips Sirius and DRAMA because Sirius notices that James is strange, and James is embarassed because he almost fucked his best friend's brother (bc after the end of their mission, after they came back to the camp and before Regulus found Sirius' pictures, they almost did it in Zeus' cabin, but they were interrupted by Peter) and Regulus is uncomfortable with Sirius bc for years Regulus though his brother left him and Sirius still thinks he's a child and is overprotective etc etc.

And no one but Remus knows what's happening but everyone can see how tense that trio is and AAA.

Oh and obviously Remus and Sirius do that Percabeth scene in witch they sleep together (but they don't sleep at all ;))

And then. And then. Remus has to go looking for the Mark of Athena BUT, since Wolfstar is not Percabeth (and Sirius can fly), they're not the couple that goes in to the Tartarus.

...

JEGULUS IS. Because James is fucking In Love and his fatal flaw is loyalty.

And Remus has to phisically stop Sirius from jumping next to them, while crying because he has just seen one of his bff falling in Hell with a guy he got on well, but he cannot see his love going after them, expecially because it's not what James and Regulus would want and before falling James made him promise to bring the others at the other side, in the House of Hades, and to take care of Sirius.

Obviously, this happens right after Regulus and Sirius just started bonding for real. Of course.

James and Regulus end up in the river Cocytus (the river of sadness? Was it called Cocytus? Btw, if you read PJO you know what I mean) and Regulus kisses James to get out (after almost drowning because he still is Regulus Arcturus Black) so they just Act As A Couple to survive and don't give up and don't get crazy, and also because really, what do they have to lose?

But this time, when they go back on earth, James doesn't pretend that nothing happened for Sirius' sake. He just can't do it, because he fell with Regulus in every way possible, also fell in love with him, and he's not mentally good enough to stop loving him. So yeah. He just kisses Regulus in front of fucking everyone, casually, while they are eating, 'cause the can't help it. And Sirius is like. What. And everyone is like. Ooooh. And Remus starts laughing so fucking hard he almost chokes.

Yeah but the profecy? Well. At the end fire or storm must fall. Storm is or Regulus or Sirius. Fire? There's a daughter of Efestus/Vulcano (Dorcas?), but she doesn't have the power of fire like Leo. Yeah, but James is son of the fucking Sun. He can glow in the dark. And if he glows enough, he gets hotter and hotter, until he can be set on fire.

So yeah. Storm is Sirius, and fire is James, who sacrifes himself and comes back to life.

Of fucking course, when Regulus sees him alive again he runs to kiss him and then he hits him so hard he leave a bruise, but then he kisses again and again and again until they can't breath, 'cause drowning is not that bad if it's in James' light.

Oh and in the mean time maybe enemies to lovers Dorlene? Enemies for all the "Greeks vs Romans" stuff? ;)

Idk if it makes sense but in my head does so...

What do you think?

[astrogeoguy]

Clocks Spring Forward, Catch a Comet, and Steeply Slanting Sunlight on the First Quarter Moon!

(Above: Last night, the moon slid past the bright star Aldebaran, with observers in the western GTA and Vancouver seeing the star blink on and off as it passed behind lunar mountain peaks. Rick Foster captured this image a short while before the moon, moving to the upper left, grazed the star. Observers to the south saw the moon completely cover the star. Aldebaran, located near the ecliptic, often gets occulted.)

Astronomy “Skylights” for the week (from March 5th) by Chris Vaughan. All the times mentioned are Eastern Standard Time. If you are a camp, or a teacher interested in a guided field trip to the David Dunlap Observatory, visit www.astrogeo.ca.

Clocks Spring Forward!

Unless otherwise noted, the times I quote every week are for GTA observers. We’re on Eastern Standard Time (EST) until 2 am on Sunday, March 12, when the clocks advance one hour to commence Daylight Savings Time (EDT or DST) in North America. Astronomers worldwide avoid time zone confusion by using Universal Time, abbreviated UT. Also known as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), it’s the time on the central meridian (zero degrees longitude) which runs through Greenwch, England. UT uses a 24-hour clock that zeroes out at midnight. As long as you know your time zone’s difference from UT, you can determine when events will occur for you.

Until Sunday at 2 am, Eastern Standard Time runs five hours earlier than UT, so 23:30 UT equals 6:30 pm (23:30 minus 5 is 18:30). From next week until the fall, it’ll be UT minus 4 hours. BTW - it’s not good enough to simply subtract five (or four) hours from London, UK time because they also change their clocks for daylight savings time!

Public Talks

Taking advantage of the Moon and some favorite objects in the sky this week, the RASC Toronto Centre astronomers will hold their free monthly public City Sky Star Party in Bayview Village Park (steps from the Bayview subway station), around 7:30 pm on the first clear weeknight this week (Mon to Thu). You don’t need to be an RASC member, or own any equipment, to join in. Check here for details, and check the banner on their website home page or Facebook page for the GO or NO-GO decision around 5 pm each day.

At 7:30 pm on Wednesday evening, March 8th the public are invited to attend a free RASC Toronto Centre Speaker’s Night Meeting at the Ontario Science Centre (Room TBD, just follow the signs). The speaker is Keavin Moore, York University, presenting Tatooine's Future: Fates of Planets Circling Two Suns. Details are on the RASC website here.

Quench your thirst for astronomy – with Astronomy on Tap! From 8 to 11 pm on Friday, March 10th, at The Great Hall, located at 1087 Queen St. West, Toronto, The Dunlap Institute presents another (19 and over) fun evening of pints, astronomy news, mind-expanding talks, games, prizes, and Dunlap mechandise for sale! Plus, following all the talks, there will be plenty of time for you to have all your cosmic questions answered by astronomers from the University of Toronto. No advance registration and no cover charge. Check the Facebook page for details.

(Above: Tracking image of comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak taken on February 25, 2017 by the Virtual Telescope Project)

(Above: This image of periodic comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak was taken by John Drummond of New Zealand in July, 2006. The telescope was following the comet as it moved across the sky, and not the surrounding stars, producing the streaks.)

A Binocular Comet

Right now, a comet called Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak is crossing the eastern evening sky, and it can be spotted in binoculars or a small telescope if you know where to look. As darkness falls around 7:30 pm local time, it is halfway up the eastern sky. By midnight, it is nearly straight overhead, and it remains above the horizon all night. Tonight (Sunday), the comet is in the constellation of Leo Minor (the Little Lion), about a quarter of the way from the modest star Algenubi, which marks the nose of the bigger lion, Leo, and Merak, the bottom star of the Big Dipper. It’s moving towards Merak at a rate of about 1.25° (a thumb’s width) per day.

(Above: Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak’s track (in yellow) over the next several weeks. This week, it is near Leo, moving north.)

The “P” in the name indicates that it is a periodic comet that returns at regular and predictable intervals. At its farthest point, it almost reaches Jupiter’s orbit, then it swings around the Sun at a distance that is just inside the Earth’s orbit before heading out again - repeating this every 5.41 years. At the moment, it is approaching the Sun and slowly brightening as it warms and moves closer to us. So it should be visible in a dark sky through medium sized binoculars. It will pass 21 million km from the Earth around April 1, and then swing around the Sun on April 12. Sometime between those two dates, it’s expected to reach a peak brightness of about magnitude 7, visible in small binoculars. Then it will slowly fade again in the following weeks.

Expect the comet to appear as a faint greenish blob (quite different from a star). If it develops a tail, it will point roughly away from the Big Dipper. On Sunday, March 12, it will have moved to sit about halfway between the Big Dipper and Leo. Keep an eye on it - this comet has a reputation for sudden outbursts that dramatically brighten it.

The Moon and Planets

This is the best week of the moon’s cycle to observe it up close, especially with binoculars or a small telescope. As the moon waxes near today’s (Sunday) First Quarter, its lit sunward side grows nightly as the terminator boundary, the line that separates the lit and unlit sides, migrates across the moon’s disk. Viewed from the moon, you’d see the Sun rise VERY slowly. Look from pole to pole along the terminator for the bright peaks and extremely dark shadows cast by the steeply slanting sunlight. Every night reveals a new set of delights! And First Quarter moons are always conveniently positioned for viewing in the southeastern evening sky. They rise around noon and set after midnight.

As the week wears on, the moon will shift east and wax brighter towards next Sunday’s Full Worm Moon, Crow Moon, Sap Moon or Lenten Moon - all traditional nick-names after the early stirrings of spring and religious lunar observances. Two nights before full, on Friday evening, March 10, the nearly full moon will sit only two finger widths below Regulus, Leo’s (the Lion) brightest star.

After gracing our western evening sky since last August, extremely bright white Venus is starting to drop into the sunset, setting about 8:30 pm local time this week. A telescope will reveal that it is showing a thin crescent phase, and its disk is slowly growing larger as it moves towards Earth on its way towards inferior conjunction with the Sun on March 25. Much dimmer, reddish Mars is still sitting about 15° (or 1.5 fist diameters) to the upper left of Venus, and is setting about 9:45 pm this week.  Distant dim, blue-green Uranus is situated below Mars, by an amount that grows from a palm’s width to a fist diameter through this week.

(Above: The bright evening planets Venus and Mars flank dim Uranus this week, shown for March 5 at 7:30 pm local time.)

Bright, white Jupiter is just a few finger widths to the upper left of Virgo’s (the Maiden) brightest star Spica. They both rise in the east about 9 pm local time this week. Jupiter reaches its highest point, over the southern horizon, at 2:30 am. And by dawn, it is above the southwestern horizon. Jupiter’s moon Ganymede casts its black round shadow on the planet on Mar 9 from 9:45 to midnight EST. Its moon Io’s shadow crosses the planet on Mar 10 from 10:30 pm to 12:30 am EST. The Great Red Spot is visible on Jupiter for about three hours centred on Mar 7 at both 1:30 am and 9:30 pm EST (as it rises), as well as Mar 9 at 10:55 pm EST.

Yellowish Saturn rises in the southeast about 2:30 am local time, and can be spotted until about 6 am, when it’s two fist diameters above the southern horizon. The bright reddish star Antares in Scorpius (the Scorpion) is less than two fist diameters to the right (southwest) of the planet for the next few months.

(Above: The bright morning planets Jupiter and Saturn this week, shown for March 6 at 5 am local time.)

Spot an Asteroid

At visual magnitude 7.1, asteroid (4) Vesta is observable in binoculars or a small telescope throughout March. It is moving within the constellation of Gemini (the Twins), ranging between 2.5 and 4 degrees (three or four finger widths) to the right of the bright star Pollux.

(Above: Asteroid Vesta’s path near the bright star Pollux in Gemini during March.)

(Above: Asteroid Ceres’ path in the western early evening sky during March.)

Keep looking up to enjoy the sky! I love getting questions so, if you have any, send me a note.

[astrogeoguy]

Howl at the Full Wolf Moon, Venus and Mars are Alright Tonight, and Orion’s Delights!

(Above: A long exposure widefield image of Orion reveals the rich red hydrogen gas clouds around him - the curve, called Barnard’s Loop, is a bubble blown by the young stars already created from the gas.  Image Credit to Stéphane Guisard, Los Cielos de Chile and Robert Gendler.)

Astronomy “Skylights” for the week (from January 8th) by Chris Vaughan. All the times mentioned are Eastern Standard Time. If you are a camp, or a teacher interested in a guided field trip to the David Dunlap Observatory, visit www.astrogeo.ca.

Public Events

Taking advantage of the Moon and some favorite objects in the sky this week, the RASC Toronto Centre astronomers will hold their free monthly public City Sky Star Party in Bayview Village Park (steps from the Bayview subway station), around 8:30 pm on the first clear weeknight this week (Mon to Thu except Wed). You don’t need to be an RASC member, or own any equipment, to join in. Check here for details, and check the banner on their website home page or Facebook page for the GO or NO-GO decision around 5 pm each day.

At 7:30 pm on Wednesday evening, January 11th the public are invited to attend a free RASC Toronto Centre Speaker’s Night Meeting at the Ontario Science Centre (Room TBD, just follow the signs). The speaker is York University Assistant Professor Dr. Adam Muzzin, presenting The Most Distant Galaxies in the Universe: What we know, and what the James Webb Space Telescope will tell us. Details are on the RASC website here.

The Moon and Planets

The January Full Moon, known by First Nations people as the Full Wolf Moon and Full Old Moon, or the Full Moon after Yule in Europe, occurs at 6:34 am EST on Thursday morning, January 12, so it will appear a hair less than full on Wednesday and Thursday evening. The January full moon always shines in or near the stars of Gemini the Twins, and rides very high in the night sky because the night-time Ecliptic is tilted so high while balancing the low daytime Ecliptic. The Moon becomes full whenever it sits opposite the Sun in the sky. We see Full Moons illuminated from behind us, much like a film in a cinema. Full Moons always rise as the Sun sets, and set as the Sun rises.

Just before the Moon sets on Monday morning, January 9, it will cross in front of, or occult, a bright star named Hyadum I (or Gamma Tauri) that marks the chin of Taurus the Bull. For the Great Lakes region, the dark leading edge of the Moon will cover the star about 3:51 am Eastern Standard Time, but the Moon and star will set before they separate again at 4:41 am EST. Observers in Western North America and beyond will get to see the entire event. To know when to look, just adjust for the difference between Eastern Time and your time zone. Actually, observers in Northeastern Africa, Arabia, India, China, and Japan will also get to see the Moon occult Taurus’ brightest star Aldebaran about six hours later! 

(Above: The Moon’s passage through Taurus in the wee hours of January 9, 2017, shown every two hours from midnight to 10 am EST, except for 4 am, when it will be occulting the bright star Hyadum I)

(Above: In the wee hours of January 9, 2017, observers in western North America, the waxing Gibbous Moon will occult the star Hyadum I marking Taurus the Bull’s chin. Observers in the Great Lakes region will see the event start at 3:51 am EST, then set before the Moon moves off the star.)

A similar event occurs on the evening of Saturday, January 14 when the waning gibbous (nearly full) Moon passes close to the bright star Regulus in Leo the Lion. Because Earth is so much larger than the Moon, the geometry lets observers in the Southern half of South America will see the Moon occult the star commencing around 02: 53 Universal Time.

Venus is the splendidly bright object visible every evening in the western sky, until it sets around 9 pm local time. It’s been in the evening sky for months and months, but on Thursday, January 12 it finally reaches the outer tip of its orbit, leaving it the widest angle from the Sun for this year. Venus is showing a “half-moon” shape (phase) this week, too. Grab your telescope and take a look! Because the Ecliptic continues to tilt higher as we slide towards spring, Venus will continue to be carried a bit higher in the evening sky before starting to sink into the sunset next month.

Venus is also veering towards Neptune this week. On Wednesday night, it will sit only 1 degree to the lower right of the tiny blue planet. On Thursday night, Venus will be 0.3 degrees to the upper right of Neptune. Use your telescope to hunt for Neptune by starting at Venus, but remember that Neptune is very faint and Venus is overwhelmingly bright, and that directions are flipped left-right in your telescope.

(Above:  In the western evening sky on January 12, 2017, shown here at 8:45 pm local time, Venus will reach greatest eastern elongation, when it swings widest of the Sun in evening. At the same time, bright Venus will pass near to dim Neptune. Sweeping the sky south of Neptune with a telescope may help you spot the blue planet.)

All this week, modestly bright reddish Mars sits less than 10° (about a fist diameter) to the upper left of Venus, and sets about 9:50 pm local time. Rounding out the evening planets, blue-green Uranus is halfway up the southwestern sky - just inside the western (right) arm of the “V” of Pisces the Fishes, and sets about 12:30 am local time.

(Above: In the eastern pre-dawn sky, shown here at 6:30 am, bright Jupiter at top right leads yellow Saturn and Mercury. The latter planets are visible for a short while before dawn.)

This week, bright, white Jupiter is rising in the east after 12:30 am local time. This winter, it’s been sitting just a few finger widths above the bright white star Spica in Virgo the Maiden. By 7 am, it’s moved above the southern horizon. Saturn is rising this week before 6 am local time. You should be able to see its yellowish dot low in the east for half an hour before sunrise while the sky is still dark. Saturn rises a bit earlier every morning, so it’ll get higher and easier to see every week from here on out. Mercury is now sitting about 7° to the lower left of Saturn. If you can find a low eastern horizon, look for it between about 6:20 and 6:40 am local time, especially towards the end of the week.

Orion!

Annually at this time of year, the southeastern evening sky is dominated by the eye-catching constellation of Orion the Hunter and his famous three-starred belt. It contains some of the sky’s most spectacular sights – whether using your unaided eyes, binoculars, or telescopes of all sizes! Orion’s spectacular stars and the bright nebulas in his sword and belt make winter nights much more tolerable for skywatchers. So let’s bundle up against the winter chill and take a tour.

(Above: Orion appears every winter, shown here at 10 pm in January. The Milky Way rises on his eastern (left) side. Stellarium simulated image.) 

Orion has traditionally been depicted as kneeling, or standing. His eastern arm is raised and bears a club. His western arm is outstretched and holds a lion’s pelt, or a shield. Orion is a medium-sized constellation measuring about 30° (three outstretched fist widths) from his upraised club to his toes/knees, and 20° from his eastern elbow to the pelt. In early evening, after 7 pm local time, he is low in the southeast, tilted with his head to the left. As the evening wears on, he rises and higher and rotates upright, culminating in the south around 10:30 pm, and then leans the other way as he sinks into the west to set about 4 am local time.

(Above: An engraving of Orion from Johann Bayer's Uranometria, published in 1603. The dark band at top is the Milky Way.)

Not surprisingly, many cultures have assigned meanings to the distinctive row of three equally spaced stars that mark Orion’s Belt. Scandinavian countries have seen a distaff, a scythe, and a sword. Predominantly Catholic countries referred to it as The Three Mary’s (as featured in the New Testament). In the Middle East, it has been identified as The Three Kings or Magi. In China, it is known as The Weighing Beam and the Three Stars. In fact, the top portion of the Chinese character, 參 (shēn) has three identical symbols representing the three stars. The Lakota people called it the Bison’s spine – with surrounding stars and nearby constellations forming the rest of a great bison in their winter sky.

From left to right (or east to west in the northern hemisphere), the three belt stars are named Alnitak, Mintaka, and Alnilam. In a telescope, Alnitak (“the Girdle”) is revealed to be a double star. The larger star is a blue supergiant star about 820 light-years away and shining strongly in ultraviolet light. Its surface temperature is a scorching 31,000 degrees Kelvin! Our gentle yellow Sun is a mere 6,200 degrees K! Astrophotographers love the area around Alnitak. Because it sits just to the right of the Milky Way, it’s loaded with gorgeous gas clouds and nebulae. 

(Above: A beautiful image here showing the three stars in Orion’s belt, with the famous Horsehead Nebula at lower left, and another called The Flame Nebula above it - both located just east of Alnitak at left. Image by Rogelio Bernal Andreo, NASA APOD 2013-11-30)

The belt’s middle star is called Alnilam (“string of pearls”). It’s another large, and very hot, blue-white star, about 1.5 times farther away than the two flanking belt stars. Aging rapidly and nearing the end of its hydrogen supply, this star is expected to become a red supergiant – the pre-cursor to a supernova, at any time. At more than 1,300 light years distance – it may already have happened!

The third and westernmost star, called Mintaka (“belt”), is also a double star in a telescope. In fact, there are at least four stars making up what we see as Mintaka. The brightest one has a partner that orbits it every 5.73 days in an eclipsing binary configuration that makes the star vary in brightness. The dominant stars are once again hot, blue giants, about 900 light years away. If you look carefully, Mintaka is actually somewhat dimmer than Alnitak and Alnilam.

The bright, orange coloured star Betelgeuse marks Orion’s eastern shoulder, found to our upper left (northeast) of his belt. The ninth brightest star in all the night sky, Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star located about 500 light-years away. Placed in our Solar System, all the inner planets out to Mars would be inside the star! Despite an age much less than our Sun (it is of a type that matures dramatically faster), astronomers think it is approaching the end of its life and is massive enough to explode as a Type II Supernova. Since its light left the star 500 years ago, it could already have exploded! In Chinese, Betelgeuse is called 参宿四 Sānsù Sì, “The Fourth Star of the constellation of Three Stars”.

To the lower right of Orion’s belt sits the hot blue star Rigel. It is approximately the same visual brightness as Betelgeuse, but it’s much farther away – meaning that it emits considerably more light. Rigel, too, is a supergiant star burning with a surface temperature of 11,000°K! In a good telescope, a small companion star can be spotted very close to Rigel. In Arabic, Rigel means “the foot of the great one”. In China, Rigel is known as 参宿七 (Sānsù Qī, "The Seventh of the Three Stars").

Orion’s western shoulder is marked by the bright star Bellatrix, which translates as “Amazon Star”, after the warrior women of legend. Bellatrix is about 240 light years away, but burns at a blistering hot 21,500°K – among the hottest stars known. It, too, is well along in its life cycle and is expected to soon enter its next phase of evolution – and turn an orange colour.

Above and between Orion’s shoulders is an open cluster of stars, 1305 light-years distant, that mark his head. The brightest star is named Meissa (“the Shining One”). Use binoculars or a telescope to enjoy them better, and see how many you can count.

Completing our circuit of his main body, the western foot or knee of Orion is the mis-named star Saiph or “sword of the giant”. Another hot blue white star at 26,500°K, it’s also nearing the transition to creaky old red supergiant.

The lion’s pelt, or shield, is composed of a crooked line of about nine stars that run up-down off to Orion’s western side. The brightest star, in the middle of the string, is named Tabit (“the Endurer”). On the opposite side of the constellation, the upraised club falls squarely into the Milky Way. Pairs of stars widen the club as you look higher. Binoculars will nicely reveal the rich star fields there.

At the top of the post, I’ve included an image of Orion with the stars labelled. Next time, we’ll focus on the real treasure of Orion – his magical sword.

By the way - we can use Orion’s stars as pointers to other ones. Extending the belt stars to the west leads to the bright orange-ish star Aldebaran in Taurus the Bull. Heading two fist diameters in the opposite direction leads you to the Dog-star Sirius, the brightest star in the entire night sky. A line drawn from Bellatrix to Betelgeuse points to Sirius’ bright puppy, Procyon. And the line from Rigel up through Betelgeuse leads to the two matched stars Castor and Pollux, the heads of Gemini the Twins.

Keep looking up to enjoy the sky! I love getting questions so, if you have any, send me a note.