Saturday: 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 held upright and at arm's length above the horizon.
Sunday: The
universe contains everything from gigantic galaxy clusters to tiny parts of
atoms so it is difficult to visualize all of it on the same scale. Cary and
Michael Huang have created an interactive scale model of the universe which
allows you to “slide” from a vantage point outside the known universe down to
the smallest things ever theorized. To take this trip, go to http://htwins.net/scale2/.
Monday: There are
three bright planets in the early morning sky. At 6 a.m., Jupiter is two fists
above the south-southeast horizon, the very bright Venus is one fist above the
southeast horizon and the dimmer Saturn is one fist to the upper right of Venus.
Tuesday: 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.
Wednesday: This
evening is Mercury’s greatest eastern elongation. This means Mercury is as far
from the Sun in the sky as it will get this orbital cycle. It is one fist above
the west horizon at 6:30 p.m. At this same time, Mars is four and a half fists
above the southwest horizon.
Thursday: Are you
lonesome tonight? Alphard is. Also spelled Al Fard, Arabic for “the solitary
one”, Alphard is in a region of the sky without any bright stars. Alphard
should have a lot of friends. It is an orange giant star like better known
stars such as Arcturus and Aldebaran. It pulsates, making it interesting to
astro-seismologists. And it is on the flag of Brazil. There’s no reason for it
to be lonely. Go gaze at your doorstep and picture it there, three and a half
fists above due south at 11 p.m.
Friday: The CWU
Physics Department and the College of the Sciences is hosting its monthly First
Saturday planetarium show tomorrow from 10 to 11 am. Note the different time
for this month. Dr. Darci Snowden will give a tour of the solar system. Shows
are free and open to all ages. There will be a show at noon on the first
Saturday of every month hosted by different CWU astronomers and astronomy
educators. The CWU Lydig planetarium is room 101 in Science Phase II, just off
the corner of 11th and Wildcat Way, H-11 on the campus map found at https://www.cwu.edu/facility/campus-map.
As part of the CWU
and Ellensburg Big Read events about the novel “To Live”, there will be a
presentation about Chinese astronomy, myths, science, and stories about the
stars on Monday March 4 from 6:30 to 7:30 in the CWU Lydig planetarium. For
more Big Read events, go to https://libguides.lib.cwu.edu/ToLive.
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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