Friday, April 26, 2019

The Ellensburg WA sky for the week of 4/27/19

Saturday: As the rock group Journey once thought of singing, “Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’. Know where the Dipper’ll be tomorrow.” Every night, the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia make a wheel in the sky that turns around the North Star in a counter clockwise direction. Every year on April 27 at 10 p.m., the Big Dipper is straight overhead and W-shaped Cassiopeia is low on the northern horizon. Every year on April 28 at 10 p.m., the Big Dipper is straight overhead and W-shaped Cassiopeia is low on the northern horizon. Every year on April 29 at 10 p.m., the Big Dipper is straight overhead and W-shaped Cassiopeia is low on the northern horizon. Every year on April 30 at 10 p.m., well, you get the idea. Of course, there are subtle charges in the position from night to night. Each northern constellation moves about one degree counterclockwise from one night to the next. But this is not going to change their position in the sky drastically over a few days. So, if you know where the Big Dipper is tonight, you DO know where it’ll be tomorrow. If you are really struggling to understand this concept, Don’t Stop Believin’ in yourself. Just keep studying Faithfully.

Sunday: Do you wish you could archive your own lunar images but you don’t have a camera for your telescope? Why not go old school and actually sketch your observations? Visual artist Bettina Forget will be giving a workshop on Facebook Live called Sketching the Moon during which she’ll give you some tips for drawing lunar features. So, gather up some paper, sharpen your pencils, and go to  https://astronomerswithoutborders.org/gam2019-programs/astroarts/4682-sketching-the-moon.html for more information. The workshop starts at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time.

Monday: Saturn is two fists above the south-southeast horizon at 5 a.m. Neptune is a much bigger binocular observational challenge at this time. It is a half a fist above the Moon. First find the Moon with your binoculars and put the Moon at the bottom of your field of view. There should be a triangle-shaped clump of stars to the upper right of the moon, a solitary star of similar brightness near the center of your field of view, and a solitary star of similar brightness near the top of your field of view. Neptune is to the left of the star at the top of your field of view.

Tuesday: Mars is two and a half fists above the west horizon at 9 p.m.

Wednesday: Winter must be over because the winter constellations are becoming less visible. Orion is setting in the west starting at about 9 p.m. At this time, Orion’s belt is one fist above the west-southwest horizon and Betelgeuse is nearly two fists above the west horizon. By mid-May, Orion will be lost in the glare of the Sun.

Thursday: Jupiter rises at 11:30 p.m. By 4 a.m., it is two fists above due south. It looks so peaceful up there. But life is not peaceful for Jupiter. According to a recent study by astronomers, Jupiter gets hit by a 5-20 meter in diameter asteroid 10 to 65 times a year. For comparison, the object that exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in 2013 was 20 meters in diameter. Earth gets hit by a 20-meter asteroid about once every 50 years. For more information, go to https://goo.gl/RxPc5G.

Friday:  The CWU Physics Department is hosting its monthly First Saturday planetarium show tomorrow from noon to 1 p.m. STEM Teaching major McKenzie Bailey will give a show called Solar System Travels. You will learn about a few key missions to explore the Solar System. The show is free and open to all ages. There will be a show on the first Saturday of every month of the school year 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.

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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