Saturday: “It’s a wonderful day in the neighborhood.” Constellations can be considered neighborhoods in the nighttime sky. But, the stars in those constellations are not necessarily neighbors in real life. For example, the bright stars in the constellation Cassiopeia range from 19 light years to over 10,000 light years away from Earth. One constellation that consists of real neighbors is Ursa Major. Or, more specifically, the Big Dipper. Five stars in the Big Dipper are all moving in the same direction in space, are about the same age, and are all about 80 light years from Earth. “Please won’t you be my neighbor?” Skat, the third brightest star in the constellation Aquarius is a neighbor to these five Big Dipper stars, all of which are about 30 light years from each other. They are thought to have originated in the same nebula about 500 million years ago. Just like human children do, these child stars are slowly moving away from home. Skat is about three fists held upright and at arm’s length above due south at 7:00 p.m. The much brighter Fomalhaut is a fist and a half below Skat. And, it’s not fun being below Skat.
Sunday: Get ready for a launch party in two weeks. On
December 4, the CWU Physics Department will host a virtual event celebrating
the upcoming launch of the James Webb Space Telescope. The event will include a
virtual department tour, activities, a planetarium show and a presentation by
NASA scientist Dr. Susan Mullally. All this and you don’t even have to leave
your home. Register at https://bit.ly/cwujameswebb
for your personal invitation. Please register by November 26 to receive
free NASA materials and educational activities. The actual launch is later in
the month. Go to https://jwst.nasa.gov/
for up to date information about the telescope.
Monday: The dwarf planet Ceres will be in opposition later
this week. That doesn’t mean that refuses to listen. Opposition means that
Ceres is on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun. When an object is in
opposition, it is at its highest point in the sky during the darkest time of
the day. Thus, opposition is typically the best time to observe an object.
Ceres is about five fists above the southeast horizon at 10:00 p.m. The bad
news is you’ll need binoculars to see it. The good news is it will be easy to
find because it is next to a very prominent asterism. First aim your binoculars
at the V-shaped snout of Taurus the bull, about five fists above the southeast
horizon. There will be two medium bright stars of similar brightness in the
upper right portion of your field of view. Ceres is about halfway between
those. Revisit this spot for the next few nights. Ceres will move to the upper
right compared to the two medium bright stars.
Tuesday: Are you thankful that you live in a solar system
with multiple planets? You should be. A giant planet like Jupiter cleans up
planetary debris that could have collided with Earth and hindered the formation
of complex life. Any inhabitants of the planets orbiting Upsilon Andromedae are
thankful for this, as well. Upsilon Andromedae, a star in the constellation
Andromeda, was the first Sun-like star discovered to have multiple planets
orbiting it. So far, all of its planets are giant planets like Jupiter. But,
the system is likely to also contain smaller planets. The dim star, but
certainly not its planets, is barely visible straight overhead at 9:00 p.m.
Jupiter has set by then. You can see it three fists above the southern horizon
at 6:00 p.m. Saturn is a little more than a fist to the lower right of Jupiter.
The bright planet Venus is a half a fist above the southwestern horizon.
Wednesday: Deneb Kaitos, Arabic for whale’s tail, is two and
a half fists above due south at 8:30 p.m. This is the brightest star in the
constellation Cetus the sea monster. Or, if you are less prone to hyperbole,
Cetus the whale.
Thursday: Some of us have a lot to be thankful for on
Thanksgiving. But, probably not as much as Andromeda had to be thankful for.
According to Greek mythology, the beautiful princess Andromeda was chained to a
rock next to the ocean. Cetus the sea monster was about to devour her in order
to punish her family. Her mother Queen Cassiopeia and her father King Cepheus
didn’t know what to do. It seemed that all was lost. But, along came
Andromeda’s boyfriend, the great warrior Perseus. Even though Perseus’ standing
as the son of King Zeus and the slayer of Medusa was probably enough to win
Andromeda under normal circumstances, Andromeda’s impending
death-by-sea-monster was not a normal circumstance. So, Perseus drove his sword
into the sea monster’s neck and killed it. This was the first time in recorded
history that a set of parents actually welcomed an uninvited Thanksgiving visit
from the boyfriend. Perseus is about five fists above the east-northeastern
horizon and Andromeda is about seven fists above the eastern horizon at 7:00
p.m.
Friday: Mars is a half a fist above the east-southeastern
horizon at 6:30 a.m.
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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