Saturday: These
next few weeks will be a great time to try see all five naked eye planets in
the evening sky. Venus and Mercury are very low in the west-northwest sky right
after sunset so they are the most challenging. But both are moving away from
the Sun in the sky. By the end of the week, they will be right next to each
other in the sky. Let’s start with an easy one tonight because it is a laid
back Saturday. Jupiter is a fist held out at arm’s length to the lower right of
the Moon at 10 p.m.
Sunday:
Being in a coma is a bad thing. Looking at the Coma Star Cluster is a good
thing. The Coma Star Cluster is an open cluster of about 50 stars that takes up
more space in the sky than 10 full Moons. It looks like a fuzzy patch with the
naked eye. Binoculars reveal dozens of sparkling stars. A telescope actually
diminishes from the spectacle because the cluster is so big and the telescope’s
field of view is so small. The Coma Star Cluster is in the faint constellation
Coma Berenices (ba-ron-ice’-ez) or Queen Berenice’s hair. Queen Berenice of
Egypt cut off her beautiful hair as a sacrifice to the gods for the safe return
of her husband Ptolemy III from battle. The Coma Star Cluster is about three
fists above the west horizon at 11:00 p.m.
Monday: Tonight’s
first quarter Moon is in the constellation Virgo. The bright star Spica is
about a half a fist to the lower left of the Moon.
Tuesday: What you see with the naked eye isn’t all that can be seen.
While astronomers can learn a lot from observing the sky in the visible
wavelengths, many celestial objects radiate more light, and more information,
in wavelengths such as radio, microwave, infrared, ultraviolet, x-ray, and
gamma ray. In 2012, NASA launched the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer
(WISE) to study objects that radiate in the infrared range such as asteroids,
cool dim stars, and luminous galaxies. For an interesting comparison of how
different wavelengths show different aspects of celestial objects, go to
http://goo.gl/nvuax. For example, if it weren’t for infrared telescopes such as
WISE, astronomers would not know about the significant amount of dust in
galaxies.
Wednesday: The
long summer days remind us to take some time to safely observe the Sun. The
best way to do that is to go to
http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/ and
watch the great images and videos that come from the Solar Dynamics Observer,
or SDO for short. We are moving toward a sunspot minimum so the Sun has not
been very active lately. So what, you say? Sunspots and associated phenomena
greatly influence the strength of solar flares. The strongest flares can affect
satellites orbiting the Earth and even electronics on the Earth’s surface. So, an inactive Sun means our
satellites are safer. That means you will be able to call your friends on your
cell phone when you see the elusive Mercury and the much brighter Venus low in
the west-northwest sky a few minutes after sunset.
Thursday: The
Moon joins a crowded part of the sky tonight. At 10 p.m., Saturn is a little
over two fists and the bright star Antares is one and a half fists above due
south. Mars, the brightest point of light in the region, is one fist below the
Moon.
Friday: Say
"Cheese". 166 years ago Vega, in the constellation Lyra the lyre,
became the first star ever photographed. The photograph was done at the Harvard
Observatory using the daguerreotype process. Vega is the third brightest
nighttime star we can see in Ellensburg, behind Sirius and Arcturus. Vega is
nearly straight overhead at 11:00 tonight.
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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