Saturday: Under
ideal sky conditions, the planet Uranus is just on the edge of being a naked
eye planet. For the next few nights, its proximity to Mars in the night sky
makes it an inviting binocular target. At 7 p.m., Mars is two and a half fists held
upright and at arm’s length above the west horizon. Get Mars in the center of
your binocular field of view. Uranus is the brightest object to the upper left
of Mars. Over the next few nights, look for Mars to pass by Uranus in the sky.
This is evidence that Mars is much closer to Earth than Uranus is. Venus is the
bright point of light to the lower right of Mars.
Sunday:
Tonight is a great night to look for the Big Dipper. Tomorrow will be a great
night to look for the Big Dipper. In fact, every night for many centuries will
be great nights to look for the Big Dipper. But the Big Dipper’s shape slowly
changes over many, many, many, many centuries. (Have I reached my word count
yet?) Tens of thousands of years ago, it didn’t look like a dipper and tens of
thousands of years from now, it will no longer look like a dipper. For a short
video simulation of the changing Big Dipper, go to http://goo.gl/df1yV.
For a look at the current Dipper, face northeast at 8 p.m. The lowest star,
Alkaid, is two and a half fists above the horizon.
Monday: Avast ye matey. Swab the poop deck. Pirates love astronomy. In fact,
the term “poop” in poop deck comes from the French word for stern (poupe) which
comes for the Latin word Puppis. Puppis is a constellation that represents the
raised stern deck of Argo Navis, the ship used by Jason and the Argonauts in
Greek mythology. Argo Nevis was an ancient constellation that is now divided
between the constellations Puppis, Vela and Carina. The top of Puppis is about
a fist and a half to the left of the bright star Sirius low in the southern sky
at 9 p.m. Zeta Puppis, the hottest, and thus the bluest, naked eye star in the
sky at 40,000 degrees Celsius is near the uppermost point in Puppis.
Tuesday: On
Saturday you found Mars in the sky. Tonight go learn about Mars. The CWU
Astronomy Club will be giving a presentation about Mars at 8:00 p.m. in the new planetarium.
The planetarium is in Science Phase II, room 101, found at H-10 on the campus
map: http://www.cwu.edu/facility/campus-map.
Wednesday:
In this busy world, it is important to know what time it is. We have many
devises that give us the time. A phone. A computer. A watch. But who has time
to build a phone, computer or even a watch. Not you. But everyone has enough
time to build a simple Sun Clock. All you need is a pencil, a compass and a
print out of the clock template. Go to https://www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer/sunclock.html
for more information.
Thursday: Jupiter is one and a half fists above the southeast horizon at 11
p.m.
Friday: Saturn
is two fists above the south-southeast horizon at 6 a.m. If you are not a night
owl and missed Jupiter in the late night sky, you can now find it at two fists
above the southwest horizon.
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 https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.
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