Saturday:
Don't forget to set you clocks ahead one hour tonight for the annual ritual
called daylight savings. Daylight savings originated in the United States
during World War I to save energy for the war effort. But a recent study by two
economists shows that switching to daylight savings time may actually lead to
higher utility bills. When the economists compared the previous few years of
energy bills in the section of Indiana that just started observing daylight
savings, they discovered that switching to daylight savings cost Indiana
utility customers $8.6 million in electricity. In an even more important
consequence of daylight savings, Stanley Coren of the University of British Columbia
discovered a 7% jump in traffic accidents on the Monday after we "spring
ahead". Blame it on the lost hour of sleep. And, sky watchers will lose
even more sleep because the sky stays light for an additional hour.
Sunday: It’s
getting dark. The last remnant of twilight has disappeared. Suddenly, you
notice a large softly radiant pyramid of light in the western sky. The base of
this ghostly triangle is along the west horizon and the peak stretches two or
three fists above the horizon. It is not really a ghost. It is an effect called
the zodiacal light. This light comes from sunlight reflecting off dust grains
in our solar system. The effect is the most visible when the band of
constellations called the zodiac makes a steep angle with the horizon. You need
a clear dark sky with no haze or light pollution to see the zodiacal light. At
its brightest, the zodiacal light rivals the light of the central Milky Way.
Look for the ghostly patch after twilight for the next few weeks.
Monday: Jupiter
is five fists held upright and at arm’s length above the southeast horizon at 9
p.m.
Tuesday: It
is often said that Earth is a water world because about 70% of the Earth’s
surface is covered by water. What would it look like if all that water on the
surface were gathered up into a ball? That “ball” would be about 700 km in
diameter, less than half the diameter of the Moon. The Astronomy Picture of the
day shows us right here http://goo.gl/4wXLM
Wednesday:
The group AC/DC sings that “Rock ‘n’ roll ain’t noise pollution, rock ‘n’ roll
ain’t gonna die.” Unfortunately, because of excess and improper outdoor
lighting in cities, even those as small as Ellensburg, our view of the night
sky is gonna die. Lights that are aimed upward illuminate the atmosphere and
obscure dim objects. To watch an informative and entertaining video about the
effects of light pollution, go to http://goo.gl/R1AoCz. To watch
ACV/DC sing “Rock ‘n’ Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution, go to http://goo.gl/dZJ8my. To watch
a night sky object that is not affected by light pollution, look at Venus, two
fists above the west horizon at 8 p.m. Mars is a slightly more challenging
find, one fist above the west horizon. If you have binoculars, you can easily
spot Uranus. First find Mars. Uranus is just below Mars.
Thursday: Saturn
is a half a fist to the lower right of the moon at 6 a.m.
Friday: Did
you know that a statistical analysis can tell us that Friday the 13th is not a
lucky day? “Beating the odds” is one definition of luck. Because of the pattern
of the Gregorian calendar, Friday is the most common day of the week to be the
13th day of the month. Thus, when you encounter a Friday the 13th, you are not
beating the odds because Friday is the most likely 13th day of the month. The
least likely day? A tie between Thursday and Saturday.
The
positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically
accurate for the entire week. For up to date information about the night sky,
go to http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.
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