Stargazing: Near λ, ζ Cassiopeia

published 2026-03-25

by Christopher Howard

We've had a stretch of clear days and nights for around a week, under somewhat warmer weather conditions, with temps usually dropping to around -20 ℉ at night and a few degrees above zero during the day. But I hadn't been able to make it out stargazing, and I felt a great deal of regret about that. Last night, I tried to make it to bed as early as possible, and then get up around 3:30am. I was able to get in about 45 minutes of stargazing, starting at about 4:15am AKST. Here in Fairbanks, we are transitioning from night to astronomical twilight at 4:30am. My weather Web sites were telling me that a quarter moon is up all day today, but I couldn't see it, so it must have been under the tree line.

The temperature conditions were fairly nice this morning, a balmy 0 ℉, such that my hands and body stayed warm enough the entire session, including my face. My thumbs started getting cold toward the end, from holding the binoculars. I think both my heated gloves are not working now, but I haven't got around to trying to repair them.

It took me ten or fifteen minutes to decide what I wanted to sketch. At first I looked toward Cygnus, but the city sky was very bright in that direction. Cassiopeia was at a comfortable neck angle, just above some spruce trees. I couldn't really look at the left side of Cassiopeia because the glare from the front porch light was getting into the binoculars. But I found some interesting stars a few degrees SW of α Cas. Incidentally, α Cas is an interesting yellow color and I enjoyed looking at that.

Here is the sketch, after the ink work:

sketch of stars near λ, ζ Cassiopeia

Comparing my sketch with Stellarium data, I think the lowest magnitude I could see was 8.

Stargazing season is nearly over for me, as soon I won't be able to get up early enough for it. In the evening, the stars are not even visible yet when I am ready to head to bed. My stargazing activity was, sadly, very limited over this last year. But with four young children, an early-shift day job, and some of the coldest weather in the world, it is not very easy to get out for stargazing during this phase of my life.

However, sunrise chasing season is just around the corner! I'm looking forward to that!

Copyright

CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed