Baton Rouge Astronomical Society Forum

This lonely magnitude 1.1 class A star is the brightest in Piscis Austrinus, and it was twinkling forelornly low in the southeast about an hour ago. I used it to hop to Neptune. Although much dimmer than Vega it's only about a tenth of a light-year farther away. If weather permits, take a look between tonight and Thursday night to catch the twinkle.

Just out of curiosity I check out Fomalhaut at 10x Wednesday night right at its culmination (~10:30pm) to investigate its environs. Its nearest companion (at 10x anyway) is A-class magnitude 5.5 HIP113532.

Tonight or tomorrow night, look at Fomalhaut either unaided-eye or in a binoc. It definitely rules its area. The nearest first-magnitude star, Achernar, is dozens of degrees away (and besides, rises all of two-and-a-half degrees in Baton Rouge).

On November 19 at about 8:10pm CST a looked at Fomalhaut along with Beta Ceti and Ankaa. They form a nice, almost equilateral triangle (24.5, 22 and 26.75 degrees for the sides). I looked at Ankaa--a magnitude 2.4 star in the constellation Phoenix) with a Bushnell 10x; it twinkled but I saw its gold tint.

I took one last good look on 3 December at ~7:35pm (after its culmination) with a Bushnell 10x. Three-quarters of a degree NNE of HIP113532 is mag 5.5, K-class HIP 113669. Almost one-and-a-half degrees west of Fomalhaut is mag 6.0, G-class 21 Piscis Austrini. Curiously it is dimmer than the two HIPs yet has a Flamsteed number!

Fomalhaut will culminate at about 6:57pm CST tonight. About ninety minutes after this you should start to see (just) B-class, magnitude 1.6 Bellatrix peeking over the eastern horizon, signaling an oncoming of Orion and the rest of the winter sky.

More information:
http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/fomalhaut.html

Some say the only constants are death and taxes. The stars seem constant, though; most of them, at least during a human lifetime anyway. Expect Fomalhaut to make an appearance below the waxing gibbous Moon tomorrow night. The star should hit fifteen degrees at 9:57pm--and thirty degrees at 12:59am Tuesday morning!