tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30842009104586800432024-03-17T20:01:33.465-07:00What's up in the Ellensburg, Washington SkyThis blog features my weekly column called "What's up in the sky". It is published every Saturday in the Ellensburg newspaper, Daily Record (http://www.kvnews.com/). While my postings will be most accurate for Central Washington, readers throughout the northern USA may find something of use.dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.comBlogger782125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-50938229182873192242024-03-14T21:54:00.000-07:002024-03-14T21:54:00.137-07:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of March 16, 2024<p> Saturday: Ask someone which day in March has the same duration
day and night. Go ahead, ask someone. Why are you still reading this? I can
wait. If that person said the first day of spring, they are wrong. Today, a few
days before the first day of spring, is the date in which day and night are
closest in duration in central Washington. There are two main reasons for this.
First, the atmosphere acts like a lens, bending light from the Sun above the
horizon when the Sun is already below the horizon. This makes the Sun appear to
rise before it actually rises and appear to set after it actually sets. Second,
spring starts when the center of the Sun passes through the point called the
vernal equinox. But the Sun is not a point. The upper edge of the Sun rises
about a minute before the center of the Sun and the lower edge sets a minute
after the center of the Sun. Thus, even if we didn’t have an atmosphere that
bends the sunlight, daytime on the first day of spring would still be longer
than 12 hours.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: Mercury is about a half a fist held upright and at arm’s
length above the western horizon at 8:00 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: Pollux is about a thumb width above the moon and
Castor is about a first to the upper right of the moon at 10:00 pm. They are
more than six fists above the southwestern horizon at this time.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: Look up in the sky. It’s a plane. It’s a bird. No,
it’s the vernal equinox. The vernal equinox!? Spring starts at 8:00 p.m.
Pacific Daylight Time. The first day of spring is often called the vernal
equinox. This label for the day is misleading. The vernal equinox is the point
in the sky where the Sun’s apparent path with respect to the background stars
(called the ecliptic) crosses the line that divides the stars into northern and
southern celestial hemispheres (called the celestial equator). This point is in
the constellation Pisces the fishes. At the vernal equinox, the Sun is moving
from the southern region of background stars to the northern region.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Because the Earth slowly wobbles like a spinning top, the
vernal equinox is slowly moving into the constellation Aquarius. By the year
2597, the vernal equinox will reach the constellation Aquarius and the “Age of
Aquarius” will begin. Until then, we’ll be in “the age of Pisces”.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: Many artists have sung the song “Blue Moon”. But
few have sung the song “Blue Planet”. It goes, in part “Blue Planet, you saw me
standing with 28 others. Rolling around like a barrel. Without close sisters or
brothers.” It’s about the planet Uranus, which orbits the Sun in a rolling
motion and has 28 moons. 25 of Uranus’ moons are named after characters in
works by William Shakespeare and three are from the poem “The Rape of the Lock”
by Alexander Pope.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Typically, Uranus is difficult to find. For the next few weeks,
Uranus will be moving towards the much brighter Jupiter. Tonight, Uranus is a
half a fist above Jupiter. View these two bodies for the next few nights. Jupiter
is easy to identify. If the dimmer point of light you are looking at moves
compared to the neighboring dim points of light, you are looking at Uranus.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: If you want to put somebody off, tell her or him
to wait until Deneb sets. At Ellensburg’s latitude of 47 degrees, Deneb is a
circumpolar star meaning it never goes below the horizon. At 9:45 p.m., it will
be as close as it gets to the horizon, about two degrees above due north. Watch
it reach this due north position about 4 minutes earlier each night.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: If you know exactly where to look in the sky, you
can see a few bright planets when the Sun is out. The Solar and Heliospheric
Observatory, or SOHO, is always watching the sky when the Sun is out… because
it is always watching the Sun! Most of the SOHO images are filtered images of
the Sun’s photosphere, the top of the visible layer. But two images, the LASCO
C2 and C3, place a mask over the Sun in order to observe the Sun’s corona as
well as solar system objects that pass near the Sun. For the next few days, For
more about using SOHO to observe Solar System objects, go to <a href="https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/planets-and-comets-cant-hide-from-sohos-eye/">https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/planets-and-comets-cant-hide-from-sohos-eye/</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-76102207443852973002024-03-06T20:59:00.000-08:002024-03-06T20:59:49.683-08:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of March 9, 2024<p>Saturday: Don't forget to set your clocks ahead one hour
tonight for the annual ritual called daylight savings. Daylight savings
originated in the United States during World War I to save energy for the war
effort. But a recent study by two economists shows that switching to daylight
savings time may actually lead to higher utility bills. When the economists
compared the previous few years of energy bills in the section of Indiana that
just started observing daylight savings, they discovered that switching to daylight
savings cost Indiana utility customers $8.6 million in electricity. In an even
more important consequence of daylight savings, Stanley Coren of the University
of British Columbia discovered a 7% jump in traffic accidents on the Monday
after we "spring ahead". Blame it on the lost hour of sleep. And sky
watchers will lose even more sleep because the sky stays light for an
additional hour.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: A super moon occurs when the full moon is
relatively close to the Earth. The ‘super” aspect refers to its apparent size
in the sky. But super can also refer to its gravitational pull because the
closer the moon to the earth, the greater the gravitational pull and the
treater the tides. In that case, tonight’s new moon is a super moon because it
is relatively close to the Earth. Of course, since it is a new moon, the lit
side is facing away from us, and we can’t see it. But the Earth, and the ocean
tides, can feel its pull.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 from 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 split into the constellations Puppis, Vela, and Carina. The top of
Puppis is two fists held upright and at arm’s length above due south and about
a fist and a half to the left of the bright star Sirius at 9:45 p.m. Zeta
Puppis, the hottest, and thus the bluest, naked eye star in the sky at 40,000
degrees Celsius, is about a half a fist above due south at this time.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: “Oooo, they’re little runaways. Orion’s stars moved
fast. Tried to make a getaway. Ooo-oo, they’re little runaways,” sang Bon Jovi
in his astronomical hit “Runaway”. At least that’s what I hear when I listen to
the song. After all, it fits the recently calculated trajectory of AE Aurigae,
Mu Columbae, and 53 Arietis. Extrapolating the actual motion of these three
stars back in time, they were all in the location of the star-forming region
called the Orion Nebula a few million years ago. What kicked these stars out?
Not paying rent? Excessive partying? No, it was simply gravitational
interactions with near-by stars. Find out more about the eviction at <a href="http://goo.gl/UeLwKQ">http://goo.gl/UeLwKQ</a>. The Orion Nebula is
visible with the naked eye from a very dark site, about two and a half fists
above the southwestern horizon at 10:00 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: Jupiter is right below the crescent moon at 8:00
p.m. They are nearly four fists above the western horizon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: Mercury is coming out of hiding from the Sun’s
glare. It is visible less than a half a fist above the western horizon at 8:00
p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: “The crow rises in the southeast,” said spy number
one. “I’m sorry. I don’t recognize that code,” replied spy number two. Spy one
exclaimed, “That’s because it’s not a code, you idiot. I’m talking about the
constellation Corvus the crow.” This very bad spy movie dialogue is to remind
you that Corvus had a very bad life. According to one myth, Corvus brought the
god Apollo the news that his girlfriend was seeing someone else. In a classic
case of punishing the messenger, Apollo turned the formerly beautifully colored
crow black. The box shaped Corvus is one fist above the southeastern horizon at
9:30 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-41770169798640810412024-03-01T09:54:00.000-08:002024-03-01T09:54:44.741-08:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of March 2, 2024<p>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 <a href="https://youtu.be/txJH8RlIoXQ">https://youtu.be/txJH8RlIoXQ</a>. For a
look at the current Dipper, face northeast at 8:00 p.m. The lowest star,
Alkaid, is two and a half fists held upright and at arm's length above the
horizon. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: March to-do list: 1) Move clocks ahead an hour for
daylight saving time, 2) Start spring cleaning, 3) Discover exoplanets. Hmm.
One of these is not like the other. NASA has set up a program through which you
can learn about exoplanets, observe exoplanets, analyze their data, and submit
it to a repository for astronomers to use for their research. Exoplanets are
any planets outside our solar system. For more information about this project,
go to <a href="https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exoplanet-watch/">https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exoplanet-watch/</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: On these late winter mornings, it is still difficult
to get going. You just want to plop into a chair and sit still. But are you
really sitting still? You’re moving at about 700 miles per hour due to the
rotation of the Earth on its axis and 66,000 miles per hour due to the
revolution of the Earth around the Sun. If that’s not enough, the entire solar
system is orbiting the center of the galaxy at a whopping 480,000 miles per
hour! So, while you may be sitting still with respect to your living room (and all
the overachievers in your house), you are NOT sitting still with respect to the
center of the galaxy. For more information about this concept, go to <a href="https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/docs/HowFast.pdf">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/docs/HowFast.pdf</a>. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: Deneb is two and a half degrees above the due north
horizon. You can barely fit your thumb between them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: If you ask an astrobiologist for the three most
likely places to find evidence of life in the Solar System, other than Earth,
they’d probably say Mars, Europa (“Didn’t they sing “The Final Countdown”?”),
and Enceladus. Mars makes sense because you know scientists have sent a lot of
probes there. Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons, is an up-and-coming interest
that first piqued astrobiologists’ interest a few years ago when NASA’s Cassini
probe discovered jets of water containing organic materials shooting out.
Between the pop culture alien hot spot of Mars and the new favorite is
Jupiter’s moon Europa. Astronomers first discovered strong evidence of a large
water ocean on Europa in 1989 during a Galileo flyby. In the next five years,
NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) will be sending spacecraft to Europa.
For a preview of the ESA JUICE mission and the NASA Europa Clipper mission, go
to <a href="https://youtu.be/dAW2uPPS2A4">https://youtu.be/dAW2uPPS2A4</a>.
Only Jupiter is visible in the evening sky for the next few months. It is three
and a half fists above the west-southwestern horizon at 7:00 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: From left to right, Venus, Mars, and the moon are
low on the east-southeastern horizon at 6:00 am<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: The bright star Arcturus is nearly three fists above
due east at 10:30 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-11119591223717273902024-02-21T20:57:00.000-08:002024-02-21T20:57:40.835-08:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of February 24, 2024<p>Saturday: February’s full moon is known as the Snow Moon. That
name may have been appropriate when I was younger and living in Minnesota. But
with human influenced climate change, many northern locations are getting less
snow than in the past and it is melting earlier.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: At 6:10 a.m., Venus and Mars are less than a half
fist held upright and at arm's length above the horizon. Dimmer Mars is a
little to the right of much brighter Venus.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: The weather has been chilly. It will feel good to
think ahead about spring. The spring triangle, the nearly equilateral triangle
of Spica, Arcturus, and Denebola, is called the spring triangle because the
three stars are rising as the Sun is setting near the start of spring. Since
spring is currently a month away, the three stars rise a few hours after
sunset. By 11:00 p.m., the bright star Arcturus is two and a half fists above
due east. Spica is one fist above the southeastern horizon. Denebola, the
dimmest of the three but still the 60th brightest star in the night sky, is
four and a half fists above the southeastern horizon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: Last week we learned that Clyde Tombaugh discovered
the first planet 9. Will you discover the new Planet 9? You and thousands of
others will have the opportunity to comb through images of the sky from NASA’s
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). You’ll view short “flipbook” movies
of the same patch of sky on different nights. Any point of light that moves
could be Planet 9 or another undiscovered Solar System object. Read about how
you can join the search for Planet 9 at <a href="https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/marckuchner/backyard-worlds-planet-9">https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/marckuchner/backyard-worlds-planet-9</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: Jupiter is four fists above the west-southwestern
horizon at 7:00 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: Today is Leap Day – the day when everyone leaps
for joy because we have an extra day to rest. Well, not everyone leaps for joy
on Leap Day. Frederic, one of the main characters in the play (and movie) The
Pirates of Penzance, wished Leap Day did not exist. As an infant, Frederic was
apprenticed to a group of pirates until his 21st birthday. He started to
celebrate his freedom when he reached the end of his 21st year. However, the
pirates read the rules differently. Frederic was born on Leap Day – February
29. The pirates want him until the 21st celebration of February 29 – when he is
84. Perhaps the pirates would have let Frederic go early if he explained the
need for a Leap Day.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Earth takes 365.24 days to orbit the Sun. Thus, each
year, our calendar falls about a quarter of a day behind the Earth’s actual
motion. Almost every four years, we add a day to the calendar to make up for
that day. You may have noticed that this correction overcompensates because 4 X
0.24 = 0.96, a little less than a full day. In order to correct for this over
compensation, the years that mark the turn of the century are not leap years
unless they are divisible by 400. 2000 was a leap year. 2100, 2200, and 2300
will not be leap years.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: More celestial evidence that spring is around the
corner. The wintertime constellation Orion is moving towards the western
horizon. Orion’s belt is two and a half fists above the southwestern horizon at
10:00 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-670455055984030912024-02-15T21:17:00.000-08:002024-02-15T21:17:17.785-08:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of February 17, 2024<p>Saturday: On February 18, 1930, Clyde Tombaugh discovered
Pluto, at that time classified as the ninth planet. However, as astronomers
started discovering a lot of similar objects in that part of the Solar System,
they realized that they had a classification crisis on their hands. Should
everything in this region of the Solar System be named a planet? Eventually the
International Astronomical Union (IAU) reclassified Pluto and all future
Pluto-like objects as dwarf planets. This week you can celebrate the discovery
with the people at Lowell Observatory, the “home” of Pluto’s discovery. Go to <a href="https://iheartpluto.org/">https://iheartpluto.org/</a> for more
information about online events this weekend.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: Venus and Mars do a dance together low in the
southeastern sky right before sunrise. They are a little less than a half a
fist held upright and at arm’s length above the southeastern horizon at 6:30
a.m. Keep an eye on them all week as they slowly move past each other. Venus is
the brighter of the two and easier to keep track of.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: This President’s Day, let’s remember Abraham
Lincoln: 16th president, country lawyer, man on the penny, wrestler, and
astronomer. Astronomer? Well, maybe not an astronomer, but someone who used
observational evidence from the sky to solve a problem. In 1858, Lincoln
defended Duff Armstrong, a family friend who was accused of murder. The
prosecution thought they had a strong case because their primary witnesses
claimed to have observed the killing by the light of the nearly full moon,
which they called “Moon bright”. Let’s listen in on the trial courtesy of the
1939 film, Young Mr. Lincoln.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lincoln: How’d you see so well?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Witness: I told you it was Moon bright, Mr. Lincoln.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lincoln: Moon bright.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Witness: Yes.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">(Dramatic pause as Lincoln reaches for something)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lincoln: Look at this. Go on, look at it. It’s the Farmer’s
Almanack (sic). You see what it says about the Moon. That the Moon… set at 10:
21, 40 minutes before the killing took place. So you see it couldn’t have been
Moon bright, could it?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lincoln used the known information about Moon rising and
setting times for August 29, 1858 as evidence in a trial. This is one of the
earliest uses of forensic astronomy. For more information about Lincoln’s
“almanac trial”, go to <a href="http://goo.gl/r83q4X">http://goo.gl/r83q4X</a>. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: The bright stars of Gemini, Pollux and Castor,
point straight up above the moon at 8:30 p.m. They are high in the southeastern
sky. Polux, the star right above the moon, is the brightest star known to have
a planet orbiting it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: Jupiter is four fists above the west-southwestern
horizon at 7:30 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: 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.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: Two bright stars, Vega and Deneb, are hugging the
northern horizon together at 11:00 p.m. Vega, the brighter of the two, is about
a half a fist above the northeastern horizon. Supergiant Deneb to two and a
half fists to the left of Vega, closer to due north.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-87971222211988245602024-02-08T22:46:00.000-08:002024-02-08T22:46:56.151-08:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of February 10, 2024Saturday: Saturn is about one finger width to the upper right
of the moon at 6:00 p.m. They are about a half a fist held upright and at arm’s
length above the west-southwestern horizon.
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: Are you going to watch the super bowl tonight? Is
the bowl really that super? After all, half the night the bowl is tipped upside
down, spilling out all its contents. But don’t just focus on the functionality
of the bowl. Think about how it inspires people across the world to look at the
night sky. In Mongolia, participants in the super bowl are known as gods. An
Arabian story says the super bowl is a coffin. I encourage you to go outside
tonight at about 8:00 p.m., after whatever unimportant thing you have been
doing since 3:30 p.m. Look low in the north-northwestern sky and watch the
super bowl, also known as the Big Dipper, balancing on the end of its handle,
proudly displaying its large bowl.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: The Galileo spacecraft, launched in 1989 to explore
the solar system, found evidence of life on a planet. Astronomers studied a
highly pixelated image of the overall light emitted from the planet to detect
the presence of oxygen. By analyzing the changes in pixel brightness as the
planet rotated, astronomers got a rough idea of its surface characteristics.
They ascertained that the planet has a mixture of both water and land, making
it well suited for life. If you’d like to observe this planet tonight, just
look down. The planet Galileo studied in this superficial way is called Earth.
You might wonder why astronomers would gather such sparse data to study the
Earth. The data Galileo gathered about Earth is the same as what Earth-based
and Earth-orbiting telescopes can gather from objects in the outer solar system
now and will be able to gather about planets orbiting other stars over the
coming years. By gathering the data and comparing it to what we know about
Earth, astronomers can catalog what data about other planets may indicate about
those planets. For more information about this study, go to <a href="https://www.universetoday.com/165652/did-the-galileo-mission-find-life-on-earth/">https://www.universetoday.com/165652/did-the-galileo-mission-find-life-on-earth/</a>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: 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 to punish her family. It seemed that all was
lost. But along came the great warrior Perseus, fresh off his defeat of the
evil Gorgon, Medusa. The only similarity between Andromeda and Medusa was that
Andromeda caused people to stand still and stare at her beauty while Medusa
turned people to stone because of her ugliness. (And you thought you looked bad
in the morning.) 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. In a little-known addendum to the story, Perseus carved “Percy
(heart symbol) Andi” in the rock, thus originating the use of the heart symbol
as a substitute for the word “love”.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You can find these lovers in the sky this Valentine’s Day.
Just remember it is rude to stare – because you never know who might turn to
stone. First, find the Great Square of Pegasus at 7:00 p.m. between one and a
half and three and a half fists above the west horizon. The lowest star in
Andromeda is the top star in the square. This represents Andromeda’s head.
Perseus is at her feet, nearly straight overhead. Mirphak, the brightest star
in Perseus, is about eight fists above the west horizon. Perseus’ body is
represented by the line of stars to the left and right of Mirphak.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: Jupiter is less than a half a fist to the left of
the moon, midway up in the southwestern sky at 7:00 p.m.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: The sky is so wondrous. It makes me want to sing.
Who can forget that memorable song by Three Dog Constellations Night, “The sky
is black. The stars are white. Together we learn to find the light.” Well,
maybe it didn’t go like that. Which is good. Because not all stars are white.
Most stars are too dim to notice a color. But two of the stars in the
constellation Orion provide a noticeable contrast with each other. Betelgeuse,
five fists above due south at 8:30 p.m. is a red giant. Rigel, the bright star
about two fists to the lower right of Betelgeuse, is a blue giant.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">By the way, the three dog constellations are Canis Major,
the greater dog, found one and a half fists to the lower left of Orion; Canis
Minor, the lesser dog, found two and a half fists to the left of Betelgeuse;
and Canes Venatici, the hunting dogs, found low in the northeast sky, halfway
between the Big Dipper and the horizon. Canis Major contains Sirius, the
brightest star in the nighttime sky.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: The good news is the days are getting longer and the
nights are getting shorter. The better news for most readers of this column is
the farther north you go in the United States, the longer the days get. Here in
Ellensburg, there are almost two more hours of daylight than on the first day
of winter. In the southern part of the US, there is only 50 more minutes of
sunlight. If you’d like to have your own fun with day lengths and other time
questions, go to <a href="https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/">https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/</a>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.</p>
dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-54161266788070858962024-02-01T22:51:00.000-08:002024-02-01T22:51:31.458-08:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of February 3, 2024<p>Saturday: Let’s review three important sets of three cats.
There’s Josie, Valerie, and Melody of Josie and the Pussycats. Felix, Tom, and
Sylvester from old time cartoons. And, if you want to get away from the
mind-numbing effects of television, there’s Leo the lion, Leo Minor, and Lynx
in the night sky. Leo is by far the most prominent of these three
constellations. Its brightest star called Regulus is four fists above the
east-southeastern horizon at 10:00 p.m. The backwards question mark-shaped head
of Leo is above Regulus and the trapezoid-shaped body is to the left of it. Leo
Minor consists of a few dim stars right above Leo. Pretty wimpy. The long dim
constellation called Lynx spans from just above Leo Minor to nearly straight
overhead. You and fellow stargazers won’t need to wear a long tail or ears on a
headband to enjoy these stellar cats.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: Antares is about a half a fist to the lower left of
the moon at 6:30 a.m., about one and a half fists above the south-southeastern
horizon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: Venus is about a fist to the left of the moon at
6:30 a.m., about a half a fist above the southeastern horizon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: It will be a challenge to see because of the soon
to be rising Sun. At 6:45 a.m. low on the southeastern horizon, the moon, Mars,
and Venus make a small triangle in the sky. The moon is on the lower right,
Venus is at the top, and hard to spot Mars is at the lower left.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: While the moon takes a break from the night sky
by being nearly in line with the Sun, we’ll need to get our observational
thrills in another part of the sky and at another time. Saturn is moving
towards the Sun in the evening sky so it won’t be visible much longer this
season. At 6:00 p.m., Saturn is about a half a fist above the west-southwestern
horizon. Jupiter will be visible in the evening sky until April. Tonight, it is
five and a half fists above the southern horizon at 6:00 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: You can set your watch tonight by carefully
observing Caph, the bottom star in the E-shaped Cassiopeia. It will be due
northwest at exactly 8:00 p.m. However, another star in Cassiopeia is causing
astronomers to doubt whether or not they can use neutron stars as the most
precise known clocks in the universe. Neutron stars have such a precise spin
rate that they are used to set super accurate clocks on Earth. In 2013,
astronomers using NASA’s Swift x-ray telescope noticed that the neutron star called
1E 2259+586 exhibited a spin glitch that had never been seen before. The spin
rate of about eight times a minute decreased by 2.2 millionths of a second.
Read more about this at <a href="http://goo.gl/C4V8R1">http://goo.gl/C4V8R1</a>.
In 2016, astronomers using NASA’s Swift x-ray telescope observed the slowest
rotating neutron star, once every 6.5 hours. What is it with using a telescope
named Swift to make discoveries about something slowing? Maybe that slow
developing question will be answered at <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y6ag6g7c">https://tinyurl.com/y6ag6g7c</a>. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: At 9:45 p.m., the blue giant star called Adhara is
one and a half fists above due south. It is the 22nd brightest star in the sky.
Currently over 430 light years away, Adhara was only 34 light years away five
million years ago. That proximity made it the brightest star in the nighttime
sky at the time.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-54300752472990763162024-01-25T23:17:00.000-08:002024-02-01T22:51:46.074-08:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of January 27, 2024<p>Saturday: Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo
the lion, is one fist to the upper right of the moon at 9:00 p.m.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: Are you interested in participating in astronomy
research? You don’t need to go back to school. You don’t need to spend
thousands of dollars getting a fake degree from an online university. The
scientists working on the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or
HiRISE, camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter would like your input on
which objects they should target for close-up pictures. While you may think the
scientists are just trying to build interest in their project by having people look
at pretty pictures, there is a real scientific benefit to having many eyes
searching for interesting targets. There aren’t enough scientists to carefully
inspect all of the low power images. And surprisingly, computers are not nearly
as effective as people in making nuanced judgments of images. So, go to <a href="https://www.uahirise.org/">https://www.uahirise.org/</a> and click on the
HiWish button. You’ll be on your way to suggesting close-up targets for NASA's
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. If that is too much work for you, just go outside
this morning. At 7:00 a.m., Mars and Mercury are just above the horizon and to
the left of due southeast. They are so close together in the sky that you
couldn’t even fit a full moon between them. Mercury is the brighter of the two.
They would both fit into the girls of view of a small telescope.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: At 6:30 p.m., Saturn is a little over a half a fist
above the west-southwestern horizon. Jupiter is five and a half fists above the
southern horizon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: Sure, you can look at the planets with your naked
eyes. Or even a small telescope. But do you ever wonder what the planets look
like up close? This video takes you on a short tour of the surface of each
planet, using images and landers: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF1E_u5EvZg">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF1E_u5EvZg</a>. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: Winter is a good time to see the thick band of
the Milky Way galaxy. It arches high in the early evening sky at 8:00 p.m.
starting in the southeast by Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky.
Climbing from Sirius through the "horns" of Taurus to the bright star
Capella nearly straight overhead, it drops down toward M-shaped Cassiopeia in
the north and the tail of Cygnus the swan and its bright star Deneb, in the
northwest.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: The brightest star in the head of Draco the dragon
is called Eltanin, based on the Arabic At-Tinnin or “great serpent”. It is
currently about 150 light years away. Eltanin is moving towards our Solar
System. In 1.5 million years, it will be only 28 light years away and the
brightest star in the night sky, nearly as bright as Sirius is currently.
Eltanin is one fist above due north at 9:00 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: Today is Groundhog Day, an important day for pop
culture astronomers and Bill Murray movie fans. If Punxsutawney Phil doesn’t
see his shadow tomorrow morning, he is telling us that he follows the Chinese
calendar and that spring starts early. On the Chinese calendar, equinoxes and
solstices occur in the middle of their respective seasons. In order for the
vernal equinox to occur in the middle of spring, spring must start on February
3 or 4, depending on the year. Thus, if Phil doesn’t see his shadow, legend is
that spring will start on February 3 or 4 as on the Chinese calendar. If Phil
sees his shadow, he is telling us he agrees with the western calendar and that
there will be six more weeks of winter meaning spring will start near March 20.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-46000090725888951002024-01-17T21:14:00.000-08:002024-01-17T21:14:16.575-08:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of January 20, 2024<p>Saturday: Winter is the best season for finding bright stars.
And if you only want to set aside a few minutes, 10:00 p.m. tonight just might
be the best time because the winter hexagon is due south. Starting at the
bottom, find Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, two and a half fists
held upright and at arms length above the southern horizon. Going clockwise,
Procyon (8th brightest star in the night sky) is about two and a half fists to
the upper left of Sirius. Pollux (17th brightest) is about two and a half fists
above Procyon. Capella (6th brightest) is about two and a half fists to the
upper right of Procyon and close to straight overhead. Going back to Sirius at
the bottom, Rigel (7th brightest) is about two and a half fists to the upper
right of Sirius. Aldebaran (14th brightest) is about three fists above Rigel.
Adhara (22nd brightest) is a little more than a fist below Sirius and Castor
(24th brightest) is right above Pollux. Betelgeuse (10th brightest) is in the
center of the hexagon, five fists above due south. That’s nine of the 24
brightest stars visible in the night sky congregated in one small section of
the sky. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: Saturn is one and a half fists above the
west-southwestern horizon and Jupiter is five and a half fists above the
southern horizon at 6:00 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: You think wintertime weather is bad in Ellensburg.
Astronomers have discovered storms and earth-sized clouds on a brown dwarf.
These are cool, small stars that are not massive enough to fuse hydrogen atoms
into helium. In fact, they are more similar to gas giant planets such as
Jupiter than to the Sun. Luckily, astronomers are getting better at predicting
brown dwarf weather. That means you can plan your brown dwarf picnic with
confidence. For more information, go to <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/scientists-improve-brown-dwarf-weather-forecasts">https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/scientists-improve-brown-dwarf-weather-forecasts</a> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: Do you ever take photos to spy on your neighbors?
The Hubble Space Telescope does. In 2019, Hubble scientists released the best
ever image of the Triangulum Galaxy, the second closest spiral galaxy to Earth.
Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys weaved together 54 separate images to
provide enough detail to see 10 million individual stars out of the estimated
40 billion stars in the galaxy. See the pictures at <a href="https://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1901/">https://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1901/</a>.
At 7:00 p.m., the Triangulum Galaxy is five and a half fists above the western
horizon. It is typically visible with binoculars. First find the Great Square
of Pegasus, centered three fists above the western horizon. It is tripped so it
appears to be balanced on a corner. Go to the top star in the tilted square.
Move your binoculars about one binocular field of view, about a half a fist
above the corner star. You’ll see a pair of stars of similar brightness in that
field of view. Then move your binoculars up another field of view to two stars
that are a little brighter and a little farther apart than the previous pair.
The brighter of the two is named Mirach. About one binocular field of view, or
about a half a fist, to the right of Mirach is the largest galaxy in our
neighborhood and the brightest in the sky: the Andromeda Galaxy. About one
binocular field of view, or about a half a fist to the left of Mirach is the
Triangulum Galaxy, also known as Messier 33 (M 33). The Triangulum is much more
challenging to see.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: Draco Malfoy makes an appearance in all seven
books of the Harry Potter series. Perhaps you’ve heard of these. But, the
constellation Draco the dragon makes an appearance in the sky every night. It
is a circumpolar constellation as viewed from Ellensburg meaning it never goes
below the horizon. The head of the dragon is one fist above due north at 9:30
p.m. Eltanin, the brightest star in the constellation, is at the lower
left-hand corner of the trapezoid-shaped head of Draco.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: The Beehive Cluster is to the right of the full
moon throughout the night. The January full moon is called the wolf moon
because wolves are active and howl throughout the cold winter nights.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: At 7:00 am tomorrow morning, the very bright planet
Venus is one fist above the southeastern horizon. But the real treat is much
closer to the horizon. Just above the horizon and to the left of due southeast
are the planets Mercury and Mars. They are so close together in the sky that
you couldn’t even fit a full moon between them. Mercury is the brighter of the
two. They would both fit into the girls of view of a small telescope.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-60932712940750715592024-01-11T21:57:00.000-08:002024-01-11T21:57:22.128-08:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of January 13, 2024<p>Saturday: Saturn is about a half a fist above the Moon, low in
the southwestern sky at 6:00 p.m.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: Most constellations don’t look like the object their
name refers to. That’s because most constellations don’t have such a simple
object to emulate as Triangulum does. Triangulum is shaped like a… wait for
it…. wait for it…. A thin isosceles triangle. Metallah is the only mononymous
star in the constellation. In Latin this star is called Caput Trianguli, the
head of the triangle. Triangulum is four and a half fists held upright and at
arm’s length above due west at 9:30 p.m. The triangle is pointing
straight down with Metallah. The Triangulum Galaxy can be seen with binoculars
about half a fist to the lower right of Metallah. This is the galaxy that the
USS Enterprise travels to after the warp drive engine malfunctions in The
Next Generation episode called “Where No One Has Gone Before”.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: At 6:45 a.m., Mercury is a half a fist and Venus is
one fist above the southeastern horizon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: Have you ever looked down on the ground and spotted
a penny? In Yakima? While you were standing in Ellensburg? If you have, then
you may be able to see the star Hamal as more than just a point of light. It
has an angular diameter that can be directly measured from Earth. Hamal, the
brightest star in the constellation Aries the ram, has the same angular
diameter as a penny 37 miles away. (For comparison, the moon is about half the
diameter of a penny held at arm’s length.) Hamal is about four and a half fists
above the western horizon at 9:30 p.m. Hamal is just to the left of Triangulum
and is the brightest star in that region of the sky.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: Jupiter is about a half a fist to the upper left
of the moon, four and a half fists above due southwest at 8:00 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: You never see a giraffe on the ground in
Ellensburg. But you can look for one every night in the sky. The constellation
Camelopardalis the giraffe is circumpolar from Ellensburg’s latitude of 47
degrees north meaning it is always above the horizon. Don’t expect to be
overwhelmed by the appearance of the stars in Camelopardalis. The brightest
star in the constellation appears only about half as bright as the dimmest star
in the Big Dipper. However, the actual luminosities of the three brightest stars
in Camelopardalis are very high, each at least 3,000 times more luminous than
the Sun. Alpha Camelopardalis, a mind boggling 600,000 times more luminous than
the Sun, is seven fists above due north at 9:00 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: This next week is, on average, the coldest of the
year so it is time to turn up the furnace. Fornax the furnace is one fist above
due south at 7:00 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-17426046926819562422024-01-04T21:52:00.000-08:002024-01-04T21:52:43.165-08:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of January 6, 2024<p>Saturday: Today: How do you study the life cycle of a dog?
Easy. Get a dog from the animal shelter, care for it for 15 years and study it.
How do you study the life cycle of a star? Easy. Pick a star, watch it for a
few billion years, and…. Wait a minute. Astronomers can’t observe something for
a few billion years. Instead, they study stars that are at different points in
their long-life cycle and piece together the information from those different
stars. What they do is like studying a one-year-old dog for a few minutes, then
studying a different two-year-old dog for a few minutes, and so on. The sky in
and near the constellation Orion provides an example of four objects at
different points of star life.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">First, find Rigel, the bright star in the lower right corner
of the constellation Orion. This star, rapidly burning its fuel for a high
energy but short-lived existence, is three and a half fists held upright and at
arm’s length above due south at 10:00 p.m. It was not, is not, and never will
be like our Sun. However, about one fist up and to the left are the three
objects of Orion’s sword holder. The middle “star” is really a star-forming
region called the Orion nebula. There you’ll find baby Suns. Now, look about
two fists to the right and one fist down from Rigel. You should be looking at a
star that is about one tenth as bright as Rigel but still the brightest in its
local region. The third star to the right of that star is Epsilon Eridani, the
most Sun-like close and bright star. Betelgeuse, in the upper left corner of
Orion, is a star at the end of its life that started out life larger than the
Sun.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: At 7:00 p.m., Saturn is two fists above the
southwestern horizon and Jupiter is more than five fists above the
south-southeastern horizon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: Viewers in the Western United States may be able to
see the waning crescent moon occult the bright star Antares. This doesn’t mean
the moon and Antares will be joining a non-mainstream religion with an overly
charismatic leader. It means the moon will block, or occult, Antares for about
an hour. From Ellensburg, Washington, find the moon near the southeastern
horizon at 5:30 a.m. Antares will be to the lower left of the moon. By about
5:36 a.m., the moon will have moved between the Earth and Antares. By about
6:40 a.m., Antares will reappear from behind the upper right portion of the
moon. It will look as if the star just popped into existence because it will be
coming from behind the unlit portion of the moon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: Let’s review three important sets of three cats.
There’s Josie, Valerie, and Melody of Josie and the Pussycats. Felix, Tom, and
Sylvester from old time cartoons. And, if you want to get away from the
mind-numbing effects of television, there’s Leo the lion, Leo Minor, and Lynx
in the night sky. Leo is by far the most prominent of these three
constellations. Its brightest star called Regulus is two and a half fists above
the east-southeastern horizon at 10:00 p.m. The backwards question mark-shaped
head of Leo is above Regulus and the trapezoid-shaped body is to the left of
it. Leo Minor consists of a few dim stars right above Leo. Pretty wimpy. The
long dim constellation called Lynx spans from just above Leo Minor to nearly
straight overhead. You and fellow stargazers won’t need to wear a long tail or
ears for hats to enjoy these stellar cats.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: In 1984, American singer Rockwell released the
song “Somebody’s Watching Me”, backed up by Michael Jackson. In 2020, NASA’s
Spitzer Space Telescope released a picture of two bubbles of gas and dust that
look like eyes watching you. Stare back at them by going to <a href="http://tiny.cc/w99nuz">http://tiny.cc/w99nuz</a>. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: Draco Malfoy makes an appearance in all seven
books of the Harry Potter series. Perhaps you’ve heard of these. But the
constellation Draco the dragon makes an appearance in the sky every night. It
is a circumpolar constellation as viewed from Ellensburg meaning it never goes
below the horizon. The head of the dragon is one fist above due north at 9:30
p.m. Eltanin, the brightest star in the constellation, is at the lower
left-hand corner of the trapezoid-shaped head of Draco.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: Mercury will be as far away from the Sun in the sky
as it will get this orbital cycle. This "farthest away" point is
known as the planet's greatest elongation. Since Mercury is in the morning sky,
it is west of the Sun and this occurrence is called the greatest western
elongation. This morning, Mercury is a half a fist above the southeastern
horizon at 6:45 a.m. Over the next few weeks, Mercury will move toward the Sun
in the sky. By mid-March, it will be visible in the evening sky.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-73742927297481398102023-12-29T12:50:00.000-08:002023-12-29T12:50:09.112-08:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of December 30, 2023<p>Saturday: At 6:00 p.m., Saturn is about two and a half fists
held upright and at arm’s length above the southwestern horizon and Jupiter is
five fists above the southeastern horizon.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: At 6:45 a.m., Mercury is less than a half a fist
above the east-southeastern horizon. Venus, the brightest point of light in the
sky, is one and a half fists above their southeastern horizon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: Today is the day we celebrate the anniversary of
something new – a new classification of celestial objects. Giuseppe Piazzi
discovered Ceres [pronounced sear’-ease], the first of what are now called
“asteroids”, on January 1, 1801. Ceres is the largest asteroid in the belt
between Mars and Jupiter. At first, Piazzi thought it was a star that didn’t
show up on his charts. But, he noted its position changed with respect to the
background stars from night to night. This indicated to him that it had to be
orbiting the Sun. The International Astronomical Union promoted Ceres to the
status of “dwarf planet” in August of 2006.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: If the Sun looks big today and tomorrow, your eyes
are not playing tricks on you. The Earth is at perihelion this evening. If you
dig out your Greek language textbook, you’ll see that peri- means “in close
proximity” and helios means “Sun”. So, perihelion is when an object is closest
to the Sun in its orbit, about 1.5 million miles closer than its average
distance of 93 million miles. Since it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere
now, the seasonal temperature changes must not be caused by the Earth getting
farther from and closer to the Sun. Otherwise, we’d have summer when the Earth
is closest to the Sun. The seasons are caused by the angle of the sunlight
hitting the Earth. In the winter, sunlight hits the Earth at a very low angle,
an angle far from perpendicular or straight up and down. This means that a
given “bundle” of sunlight is spread out over a large area and does not warm
the surface as much as the same bundle in the summer. For the Northern
Hemisphere, that very low angle occurs in December, January and February.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: Late tonight and early morning’s weather
forecast: showers. Meteor showers, that is. The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks
late tonight and early tomorrow morning between midnight and dawn. Meteor
showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to
originate. That makes this shower mysterious because there isn’t any
constellation with this name now. The shower was named after Quadrans Muralis,
an obsolete constellation found in some early 19th century star atlases. These
meteors appear to come from a point in the modern constellation Draco the
dragon. This point is about three fists above the northeastern horizon at 1:00
a.m. This year, the Moon will be rising around midnight so the dimmer meteors
will be lost in the lunar light pollution. However, this is still one of the
four major meteor showers with a sharp peak, meaning that you’re still
guaranteed to see many more meteors than on a typical night if you are patient.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Meteors are tiny rocks that hit the Earth and burn up in the
atmosphere. Most meteors are associated with the path of a comet. This shower
consists of the debris from an asteroid discovered in 2003. Keeping with the
comet-origin paradigm, astronomers think the asteroid is actually an “extinct”
comet, a comet that lost all of its ice as it passed by the Sun during its many
orbits. For more information about the Quadrantid meteor shower, go to <a href="http://earthsky.org/?p=155137">http://earthsky.org/?p=155137</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: Now that you know meteors are rocks that burn up
in the atmosphere, you will soon start to wonder what would happen if those
rocks hit the surface of the Earth. Well, wonder no more. The browser-based app
called Asteroid Launcher will simulate the collisions. You select the asteroid
type, size, speed, and angle of impact. The most common impactor material is
stone and the typical speed is 40,000 miles per hour, in case you want to
introduce some realism into your simulation. Go to <a href="https://neal.fun/asteroid-launcher/">https://neal.fun/asteroid-launcher/</a>,
click on the map where you want the asteroid to land and then launch your
virtual asteroid.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: Has it been tough to wake up this past week? It
should have been because the sunrise has been getting a little later since
summer started. I know. I know. December 21 was the shortest day of the year.
But, because the Earth’s orbit around the Sun is elliptical and not circular,
the Earth does not travel at a constant speed. It moves faster when it is
closer to the Sun and slower when it is farther away. This leads to the latest
sunrise occurring in late December/early January and the earliest sunset
occurring in early December. Neither of these happen on the first day of
winter. On the first day of winter, however, the interval between sunrise and
sunset is the shortest, making it the shortest day of the year. For more
information, go to <a href="http://goo.gl/SJC5r">http://goo.gl/SJC5r</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-90975627541939878792023-12-21T00:11:00.000-08:002023-12-21T00:11:23.240-08:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of December 23, 2023<p>Saturday: Red is a popular Christmas color. It is also a
popular star color. And R Leporis, also known as Hind’s Crimson Star, is one of
the reddest stars in the sky. It is a star near the end of its life that has
burned its helium nuclei into carbon. Convective currents, like those in a pot
of boiling water, bring this carbon to the surface. There it forms a layer of
soot that scatters away the light from the blue end of the visible spectrum
leaving the light from the red end of the spectrum to reach our eyes. For more
information about Hind’s Crimson Star and a list of other deep red stars, go to
<a href="http://goo.gl/EnhRe4">http://goo.gl/EnhRe4</a>. Hind’s Crimson star is
one fist to the lower right of Rigel, the brightest star in Orion. You’ll need
binoculars or a small telescope to see Hind's Crimson star. But you can easily
spot Rigel two and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the
south-southeastern horizon at 10:00 p.m.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: Saturn is two and a half fists above the
south-southwestern horizon at 6:00 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews?
We saw Jupiter being eclipsed by the Moon in the east and have come to worship
him” (Matthew 2:2, Bruce Palmquist version, informed by Michael Molnar). There
are many theories as to the physical explanation of the Star of Bethlehem, the
celestial object that guided the wise men to the location of Jesus. Some people
think it was a recurring nova, a star that explodes. Some think it was a close
alignment of bright planets. Some think it was a miracle that requires no
physical explanation. In 1991, astronomer Michael Molnar bought an ancient
Roman Empire coin that depicted a ram looking back at a star. Aries the ram was
a symbol for Judea, the birthplace of Jesus. The Magi, or “wise men”, who
visited the baby Jesus practiced astrology and would have been looking in that
region of the sky for the king prophesied in the Old Testament. Molnar, a
modern day wise person, used sky simulation software to model the positions of
planets and the Moon in the region of Aries. According to his model, Jupiter
was eclipsed, or blocked, by the Moon on the morning of April 17, 6 BC. A book
written by the astrologer of Constantine the Great in 334 AD supports Molnar’s
theory. The book describes an eclipse of Jupiter in Aries and notes a man of
divine nature born during this time. See <a href="https://goo.gl/o89A4o">https://goo.gl/o89A4o</a>
for more information.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These three celestial objects are visible in the early
evening sky tonight. At 6:00 p.m., Jupiter is nearly five fists above due
southeast. Aries is right above Jupiter. The moon is two and a half fists above
the north-northeastern horizon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: Did you get a new telescope for Christmas? The next
item on your list should be a sky watching app for your phone. These apps will
help you to get familiar with the constellations and bright stars. Then you can
zoom into an area of interest and learn about objects that are visible through
your telescope. I like SkySafari, a free app or low cost iPhones app (depending
on their promotions at the time). But there are many other good ones to choose
from for little or no money. Go to <a href="https://www.lifewire.com/best-stargazing-apps-5086553">https://www.lifewire.com/best-stargazing-apps-5086553</a>
for seven short reviews. One of your first targets should be the Pleiades open
star cluster. It is bright, easy to see with the naked eye and even more
interesting in binoculars. It is six fists above due southeast at 8:00 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: Tonight’s December full moon is called the Cold
Moon… for obvious reasons. On the evening of a full moon, the moon rises as the
Sun sets, reaches its highest point in the sky in the south at midnight, and
sets as the Sun rises.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: Venus is the bright point of light less than two
fists above the southeastern horizon at 7:00 am. Challenge yourself to find
Mercury less than a half a fist above the east-southeastern horizon at this
time.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: Aside from the Big Dipper, the northern sky doesn’t
get enough love. Vega, the bright star in the constellation Lyra, is one fist
above due northwest at 8:00 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-13554629040621999422023-12-14T22:53:00.000-08:002023-12-14T22:53:16.724-08:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of December 16, 2023<p>Saturday: With the Sun as low as it gets in the Northern
Hemisphere winter sky this week, you may wish it was a little more prominent.
On September 27, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe had its closest encounter with the
Sun, passing within 4.5 million miles. It passed through the boundary between
outer space and the region where the Sun’s magnetic field has a tight hold on
the plasma that makes up the outer layer of the Sun. Since the Sun does not
have a solid surface, this is as close to touching the Sun as an object can
get. It is analogous to “touching” a cloud. The cloud does not have a defined
surface but there is a definite boundary between “cloud” and “not cloud”. For
more about the mission plus short videos, go to <a href="http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/">http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/</a>.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: Today is the start of the Saturnalia celebration, an
ancient Roman festival in honor of their god Saturn, the god of agriculture and
time. The holiday featured a break from work and school, a public banquet, and
private gift giving. Some of these customs influenced the secular aspects of
Christmas celebrations. After Sheldon hugged Penny on The Big Bang Theory,
Leonard proclaimed, “It’s a Saturnalia miracle” <a href="https://youtu.be/yarNJnZw2yk">https://youtu.be/yarNJnZw2yk</a>. It would
not be a miracle if you saw the planet Saturn today. It is less than a half a
fist to the right of the moon at 8:00 p.m. They are one and a half fists held
upright and at arm’s length above the southwestern horizon. Jupiter is five
fists above the southern horizon at this time.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: Are you disappointed because you are not going
anywhere for the holidays? Why not take a (virtual) trip to outer space using
Google’s new visualization tool called 100,000 Stars. It shows the stars in our
neighborhood in a very good 3-D simulation. The Sun is initially at the center.
If you zoom in, you can click on neighboring stars and learn more about them.
Go to <a href="http://stars.chromeexperiments.com/">http://stars.chromeexperiments.com/</a>
for the simulation. It works best on a Chrome browser.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: Venus is two fists above the southeastern horizon
at 7:00 a.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: Vesta, the brightest asteroid, is in opposition
tonight. That means tonight is the best night of the year to observe Vesta.
You’ll need binoculars. First find Betelgeuse, four fists above due southeast
at 10:00 p.m. Move the binoculars to the upper left about two binocular fields
of view to a thin triangle. Vesta is in the middle of that triangle. Revisit
that triangle for the next few nights. Vesta is the point of light than changes
position from night to night.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: At 7:28 p.m., Pacific Standard Time, this evening,
the Sun reaches its lowest point in the sky with respect to the background
stars. This point is called the Winter Solstice. During the day that the Sun
reaches this point, your noontime shadow is longer than any other day of the
year. Also, the Sun spends less time in the sky on the day of the Winter
Solstice than any other making this the shortest day of the year. Even though
it is the shortest day of the year, it is not the day with the latest sunrise
or the earliest sunset. The latest sunrise is during the first week in January
and the earliest sunset is during the second week in December. The Sun is at
its southernmost point with respect to the background stars on the day of the
winter solstice. This means the Sun spends the least amount of time above the
horizon on that day. But, the Sun rise and set times depend on more than its
apparent vertical motion. It also depends on where the Sun is on the analemma,
that skinny figure-8 you see on globes and world maps. During the second week
in December, the Sun is not quite to the bottom of the analemma. But, it
is on the first part of the analemma to go below the horizon. During the first
week in January, it is on the last part of the analemma to rise above the
horizon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At 8:00 p.m., Jupiter is a little to the left of the moon,
midway up in the southern sky.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: Just before Christmas, you look for junk to clean
out of your closets so you can re-gift it. I mean, so you can throw it out or
recycle it. NASA’s Meter Class Autonomous Telescope on Ascension Island is a
key tool in a program tracking about 22,000 pieces of space junk. Some of this
junk is dangerous. The International Space Station occasionally performs debris
avoidance maneuvers to keep its panels and sensitive instruments safe. For more
information about the project, go to <a href="http://goo.gl/Kxgihd">http://goo.gl/Kxgihd</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-28732903681219939112023-12-06T21:07:00.000-08:002023-12-06T21:07:55.277-08:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of December 9, 2023<p>Saturday: Imagine Opie and Andy Taylor walking down the dirt
path at night to that fishing hole in the sky. They’d probably be looking to
catch Pisces, the two fish already conveniently tied together with two ropes.
The ropes are connected at the star Alrescha, Arabic for “the cord”. Alrescha
is four and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above due south at
8:30 p.m. The fish are attached to lines of stars that branch out at one
o’clock and three o’clock from Alrescha. By the way, “The Fishing Hole”, The
Andy Griffith Show’s theme song, was rated the 20th best TV theme song of all
time by ign.com. That’s too low of a ranking in my opinion.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: The earliest sunset of the year in Ellensburg occurs
today: 4:12 p.m. This seems odd because the shortest day of the year, the
winter solstice, isn’t for about two more weeks. The Sun is at its southernmost
point with respect to the background stars on the day of the winter solstice.
This means the Sun spends the least amount of time above the horizon on that
day. But, the sunrise and sunset times depend on more than the Sun’s apparent
southward motion in the sky. It also depends on where the Sun is on the
analemma, that skinny figure-8 you see on globes and world maps. During the
second week in December, the Sun is not quite to the bottom of the analemma.
But, it is on the leading edge of the analemma, the first section to go below
the horizon. For a slightly better explanation of this, including a diagram, go
to <a href="https://go.shr.lc/2NOMOQC">https://go.shr.lc/2NOMOQC</a>. Or just
go watch the sunset. But don’t stare at the Sun.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: The bright star Capella is nearly straight overhead
at midnight.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: Mercury is just above the southwestern horizon at
5:00 p.m. Saturn is three fists above due south and Jupiter is three fists
above the east-southeastern horizon at this time<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: The Geminid meteor shower peaks tonight and
tomorrow morning. Meteor showers are named after the constellation from which
the meteors appear to originate. These meteors appear to come from a point in
Gemini the twins. This point is about four fists above due east at midnight
tonight. You can follow this point throughout the night, as it will remain near
the bright star Castor, the right hand star of the “twin” stars Pollux and
Castor. By 4:00 a.m., it is four fists above the southwest horizon. This shower
is typically one of the best ones of the year producing bright, medium speed
meteors with up to 80 meteors per hour under ideal conditions near the peak.
This year, the moon will be below the horizon, leaving the sky dark enough for
you to see the dimmer meteors.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Most meteor showers occur when the Earth passes through the
orbital trail of a comet. The broken off comet fragments collide with the Earth
and burn up in the atmosphere. Astronomers had searched for a comet source for
this shower since 1862 when the shower was first observed. Finally, in 1983,
astronomers discovered the object that created the fragments that cause the
meteor shower each year. To their surprise, it was a dark rock that looked like
an asteroid, not a shiny icy comet. Astronomers named this object Asteroid 3200
Phaethon. For more information about the Geminid shower, go to <a href="https://goo.gl/f4qMqg">https://goo.gl/f4qMqg</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: While the sky is getting darker earlier, the
nighttime sky is actually getting brighter due to the greater use of low energy
LED bulbs. While these bulbs use much less energy than incandescent or compact
fluorescent bulbs, researchers think that people and communities are using more
of the bulbs and leaving them on longer. This is increasing light pollution
near cities. You can get more illumination on the subject at <a href="https://www.latimes.com/environment/light-pollution-latt-123">https://www.latimes.com/environment/light-pollution-latt-123</a>. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: Venus is two fists above due southeast at 6:30 a.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-30212255292870317532023-11-30T21:24:00.000-08:002023-11-30T21:24:07.761-08:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of December 2, 2023<p>Saturday: Is your favorite astronomy-loving relative asking for
a telescope this Christmas? Before reaching for your credit card, read this
guide to choosing your first telescope, available at <a href="http://goo.gl/5oXmGj">http://goo.gl/5oXmGj</a>. If cost is an issue, look
no further than this article about low cost telescopes <a href="https://goo.gl/8yyddy">https://goo.gl/8yyddy</a>. These are not cheap
telescopes. They are simple, low-cost, easy to use telescopes that your future
astronomer will still use for quick observing sessions long after she has
purchased a much larger instrument for richer viewing. If you want to give a gag
astronomy gift to someone who really bugs you, give them a copy of this column.
After such a dud “gift”, you’ll never hear from them again. And that may be the
best gift of all.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: Lieutenant Worf, the Klingon Starfleet officer on
Star Trek: The Next Generation, might say “Today is a good day to die.” But
Deneb, the bright supergiant star in Cygnus the Swan would say “two million
years from now is a good day to die.” This may seem like a long time. But,
compared to the lifespan of most stars, two million years from now is as close
as tomorrow. For example, the Sun will last about five billion years. Small
stars known as red dwarfs may last trillions of years. Prepare your astronomically
short goodbyes to Deneb tonight at 11:00 o’clock when it is two fists above due
northwest.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: Lacerta, the faint lizard constellation, is straight
overhead at 6:00 p.m. It was named by the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius
in 1687 to fill the space between the much brighter and well-defined
constellations Pegasus, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, and Cygnus going
clockwise from the constellation just south of Lacerta.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: At 6:00 p.m., Saturn is three fists above the
southern horizon and Jupiter is three and a half fists above the
east-southeastern horizon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: It’s getting too cold to see frogs in the wild.
But this is a great time to see frogs in the sky. Ancient Arabs referred to the
stars that we now call Fomalhaut and Diphda as Ad-difdi al-awwal and Ad-difda
at-tani. This means the first frog and the second frog, respectively. Both
frogs are low in the southern sky at 5:30 p.m. Fomalhaut is nearly one and a
half fists above due south. The slightly dimmer Diphda is two fists above the
south-southeast horizon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: While you were looking through your underwear
drawer for clean socks, some citizen scientists were looking through sky maps
obtained by robotic telescopes to find brown dwarfs. The project, called
Backyard Worlds: Cool Neighbors, allows anyone with a computer and internet
connection to search through thousands of images to find these strange objects
that are midway between being classified as large planets and small stars. Some
brown dwarfs can have surface temperatures of thousands of degrees Celsius, the
recently discovered ones are cooler than the boiling point of water and may
even have clouds of water vapor! Read more about the discovery and how you can
participate in this project at <a href="https://noirlab.edu/public/blog/newly-launched-backyard-worlds/">https://noirlab.edu/public/blog/newly-launched-backyard-worlds/</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: Venus and the waning crescent moon are about one and
a half fists above the southeastern horizon at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-12106604433177057362023-11-16T23:17:00.000-08:002023-11-16T23:17:48.241-08:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of November 25, 2023<p>Saturday: We are just a few days away from the earliest sunsets
of the year in Ellensburg. (No, the earliest sunsets are not on the first day
of winter.) So this is a good time to learn how to quantify the darkness of the
sky. First find the Great Square, the main part of the constellation Pegasus.
It is six fists above due south at 7:30 p.m. Find the dimmest star that you can
see inside or near the square. Then compare that star to the chart at <a href="https://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/how-dark-is-your-night-sky/">https://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/how-dark-is-your-night-sky/</a>.
The larger the magnitude number, the dimmer the star. When the sky is
exceptionally dark, you can see more stars and more interesting deep-sky
objects such as star clusters and nebulae.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: Tonight’s full moon is often called the Beaver Moon
because November is the month when beavers build dams and shock up on food for
the winter.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: “Hey baby! What’s your sign?”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Ophiuchus, of course”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Sun is in the same part of the sky as the stars of
Ophiuchus from about today to December 17. This is what astrologers mean when
they say the Sun is “in” a constellation. Thus, if you were born between these
dates, you should be an Ophiuchus. The fact that the horoscopes never list
Ophiuchus is a major flaw of astrology. Astrology says that some of our
characteristics are based on the location of the Sun at our birth. How can
astrologers leave out three weeks from their system? That is like a scientist saying
she can explain the results of her experiment every month of the year except
early December. Ophiuchus was a mythical healer who was a forerunner to
Hippocrates. According to myth, he could raise people from the dead. Maybe that
is why he is ignored by astrology. Raising people from the dead is much less
impressive than giving spot-on advice such as “Today is a good day to watch
your finances.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The bright stars of Ophiuchus rise just before the Sun.
Rasalhague (pronounced Ras’-al-hay’-gwee), the brightest star, is just above
the east-northeastern horizon at 6:30 a.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: Have you been online shopping all weekend? Do you
need an evening sky break? You deserve a big reward so make it a double. A
Double Cluster, that is. The Double Cluster, also known as h and Chi Persei,
consists of two young open star clusters in the constellation Perseus. Of
course, young is a relative term as these clusters are about 13 million years
old. Each cluster is spread out over an area about the same size as the full
moon. To the naked eye, the Double Cluster shines with a steady, fuzzy glow.
Binoculars resolve dozens of individual stars in the clusters. The Double
Cluster is five and a half fists above the northeastern horizon at 6:00 p.m.,
about a fist below the sideways “W” of Cassiopeia and three fists above the
bright star Capella.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: Venus is three fists above the southeastern
horizon at 6:30 a.m. The bright star Spica is to its lower right.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: There are three bright planets in the 5:00 p.m.
twilight sky. Mercury is just above the southwestern horizon, Saturn is three
fists above the southern horizon, and Jupiter is two fists above the eastern
horizon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: What do Justin Bieber and Betelgeuse have in common?
Both are superstars. One might shine brightly for about a few thousand more
years. The other is a giant ball of plasma. Beliebers, “If you Love Yourself”,
you and your “Boyfriend” need to learn more about Betelgeuse, the real
supergiant star that is big enough to hold about one million Suns. “What Do You
Mean” you don’t know where to look? For more information about when Betelgeuse
will die as we know it in a supernova explosion, go to <a href="https://www.space.com/is-betelgeuse-going-supernova">https://www.space.com/is-betelgeuse-going-supernova</a>.
You’ll find it four fists above due east at 11:00 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.</span>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-3557345982410007832023-11-16T23:10:00.000-08:002023-11-16T23:10:28.007-08:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of November 18, 2023<p>Saturday: The Leonid meteor shower peaks this morning. But
there will be increased activity for the next few days. These meteors appear to
come from a point in the constellation Leo the lion. This point is about five
and a half fists above the southeastern horizon at 5:00 a.m. The Moon is in the
first quarter so its light will not interfere with viewing. The Leonid meteors
are particles from the tail of Comet Tempel-Tuttle, a comet discovered by Ernst
Tempel and Horace Parnell Tuttle in 1866. These are exceptionally fast moving
meteors – over 150,000 miles per hour! Go to <a href="https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-leonid-meteor-shower/">https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-leonid-meteor-shower/</a>
to read everything you need to know about the Leonid meteor shower. As your
Mother might say, dress warm and sit in a comfortable chair for maximum
enjoyment.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: “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 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. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: Have you ever sat around waiting for a long distance
call from another state? Another country? How about another star system? In
2019, astronomers thought they heard a radio signal from a planet orbiting
Proxima Centauri, our Sun’s nearest neighbor at about 4.2 light years away.
This signal showed many signs of being extraterrestrial in origin, including
coming from a specific location in the sky, having a pure tone, and changing in
frequency similar to something moving exactly towards or exactly away from the
Earth. However, a more recent analysis showed that the signal was more like a
crank call. Read more about the discovery and undiscovery at <a href="https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/the-true-nature-of-the-candidate-et-signal-from-proxima-centauri/">https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/the-true-nature-of-the-candidate-et-signal-from-proxima-centauri/</a>.
Proxima Centauri is part of the three star Alpha Centauri system, the third
brightest star in the sky. You need to go down to the southern tip of Texas or
Florida to see Alpha Centauri.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 discovered 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. Our Jupiter is five fists above the southwestern horizon at this
time. Saturn is two fists above the southwest horizon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: Venus is three fists above the southeastern horizon
at 6:30 a.m. The bright star Spica is to its lower right.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-50175529612515014362023-10-31T20:38:00.003-07:002023-10-31T20:38:47.278-07:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of November 4, 2023<p>Saturday: Before you fall back on your bed tonight, set your
clock back one hour to the real time. Daylight savings ends early Sunday
morning at 2:00 a.m. This means one more hour of sky watching in the evening
because the Sun will set one hour earlier. Ben Franklin proposed the idea of
“saving daylight” by adjusting our clocks way back in 1784. Daylight savings
time was first utilized during World War I as a way to save electricity. After
the war, it was abandoned. It was reintroduced during World War II on a
year-round basis. From 1945 to 1966, some areas implemented daylight savings
and some did not. Also, it was not implemented with any uniformity as to when
it should start and stop. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 codified the daylight
savings rules. Some states would like to adopt daylight savings year around.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: The Southern Taurid meteor shower peaks this week.
The peak of the peak is the night of November 12/13. These are slow moving
meteors that result in the occasional fireball. The Taurid meteor showers
produce a few bright meteors every hour. The Last Quarter Moon after midnight
will obscure the dim meteors this year. These meteors appear to come from a
point in Taurus the bull, near the open star cluster called the Hyades. This
point is about four fists held upright and at arm’s length above the southeast
horizon at 8:00 p.m. You can follow this point throughout the night, as it will
remain one and a half fists to the right of the V-shaped Hyades Cluster with
its bright star Aldebaran (pronounced Al-deb’-a-ran). Meteors are tiny rocks
that burn up in the atmosphere when the Earth runs into them. These rocks are
broken off parts of Comet 2P/Encke. Go to <a href="https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/taurid-meteors-all-you-need-to-know/">https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/taurid-meteors-all-you-need-to-know/</a>
for more information.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: At 7:00 p.m., Saturn is three fists above the
southern horizon. Jupiter is two and a half fists above the eastern horizon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: The bright star Arcturus is about a half a fist
above the west-northwestern horizon at 6:00 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: Sirius, the brightest star in the nighttime sky,
is a half a fist above the southeastern horizon at 11:30 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: Venus is just to the upper right of the moon at
6:00 a.m. They are three fists above the southeastern horizon. A couple hours
later, you can convince yourself it is possible to see some bright planets
during the day. Find the moon at 8:00 am, midway up in the south-southeastern
sky. Find it with a pair of binoculars. Venus will be visible to the upper
right of the moon. Then move the binoculars away and look in the same location
with your naked eyes.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: While Stonehenge is an ancient burial ground visited
by religious people for thousands of years, MIThenge is an 825-foot long
hallway on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology visited by
the Sun’s rays twice a year. Every year in November and January, the
setting Sun lines up with a narrow window at the end of the long hall and the
light shines down to the opposite end. This season’s alignment is from November
10-12 at about 4:20 pm. For more information, visit <a href="http://goo.gl/0hwFQf">http://goo.gl/0hwFQf</a> or visit MIT. While you
are at it, challenge yourself to find a similar alignment in your neighborhood.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-16524688072298225202023-10-25T23:49:00.004-07:002023-10-25T23:49:33.960-07:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of October 28, 2023<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">Satur</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">day: Jupiter is less than a half a fist held upright and at arm’s length below the Moon at 9:00 p.m. At this same time, Saturn is three fists above due south. </span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sunday: Venus is three fists above the east-southeast horizon at 6:45 a.m. </span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Monday: According to the “One world, group hug, love everyone” philosophy, political borders are human-made and can’t be seen from space so why can’t we all just get along. According to real world pragmatic discoveries, some human-made political borders CAN be seen from space. Since 2003, India has illuminated its border with Pakistan to prevent illegal crossings. In 2011, astronaut Ron Garan took a picture of that border from the International Space Station. For more information, including the photo, go to <a class="OWAAutoLink" href="http://goo.gl/mY8xG" id="OWA1aad29b4-b886-7d56-1ce3-1427df24d6a0" style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">http://goo.gl/mY8xG</a>. </span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Tuesday: Today is Halloween. If you need costume ideas, look low in the sky at 7:00 p.m.. Arcturus is one fist above the western horizon. In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Arcturus is home to giant ships called Arcturan Megafreighters and oversized megafauna like the Arcturan Megaleech and Arcturan Megacamel. Capella is one fist above the northeastern horizon. In the second season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series called Friday’s Child, the Enterprise goes to Capella IV to negotiate a mining contract for an important mineral. While there, they get tangled up with warring factions and a Klingon. These two stars might help you win the costume contest if you go dressed as Captain Kirk, a Klingon, or an Arcturan Megaleech. For more about stars featured in popular fiction, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars_and_planetary_systems_in_fiction. </span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wednesday: Happy Celtic New Year! Many historians think that November 1, known for the festival of Samhain, was the ancient Celtic New Year’s Day. Samhain, Old Irish for “summer’s end”, was a harvest festival that may have contributed to some of the customs of our current “holiday” of Halloween. </span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thursday: Jupiter is in opposition tonight. That doesn’t mean Jupiter disagrees with everything. Opposition means that Jupiter 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 a planet. Jupiter is five and a half fists above due south at 1:00 a.m., midnight non-daylight savings time. If you don’t want to stay up so late, you can see it two fists above the eastern horizon at 8:00 p.m. </span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Friday: Did you know that moons and dwarf planets can share similar features? The five largest moons of Uranus have the same heat signatures as the largest dwarf planets such as Pluto and Eris. That means they are relatively dense and don’t immediately radiate away all of their daytime-absorbed heat at night. Read more about Uranian moons at <a class="OWAAutoLink" href="https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/uranian-moons-are-like-dwarf-planets/" id="OWA3c84e078-1606-b8e1-60e1-110374a0d401" style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/uranian-moons-are-like-dwarf-planets/</a>. Uranus can easily be seen with typical binoculars. It is about one fist to the lower left of Jupiter, midway between the open star cluster called the Pleiades and Jupiter. In your binoculars, you’ll see it right below a “dome” of four stars of similar brightness. If you are not sure which object is Uranus, observe it for a few nights. It will have moved over the course of a few nights. </span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 11pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">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 <a class="OWAAutoLink" href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm" id="OWA35abb686-7863-9a2f-7baf-b375f37ae140" style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>. </span></span></p><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></div>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-22289312292856171392023-10-19T21:28:00.001-07:002023-10-19T21:28:06.322-07:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of October 21, 2023<p>Saturday: The Orionid meteor shower consists of the Earth
colliding with pieces of the remains of Halley's Comet's tail. This shower
peaks after midnight tonight and tomorrow night. This is not a meteor shower
that typically results in a meteor storm. There will be about 15-20 meteors per
hour, many more meteors than are visible on a typical night but not the storm
that some showers bring. The Moon is near the first quarter phase, meaning it
will set around midnight. The best time to observe will be near dawn. Meteor
showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to
originate. These meteors appear to come from a point in Orion, the hunter. This
point is about one fist held upright and at arm’s length above due east at
midnight. You can follow this point throughout the night as it will remain one
fist above the prominent reddish star Betelgeuse (pronounced Bet'-el-jews). The
Orionid meteors are fast - up to 40 miles per second. If you fall asleep
tonight, you can catch the tail end of the shower every night until early
November. For more information, go to <a href="https://earthsky.org/?p=27937">https://earthsky.org/?p=27937</a>.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: At 9:00 p.m., Saturn is three fists above due south
and Jupiter is two and a half fists above the eastern horizon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: Venus will be as far away from the Sun in the sky as
it will get this orbital cycle. This "farthest away" point is known
as the planet's greatest elongation. Since Venus is in the morning sky, it is
west of the Sun and this occurrence is called the greatest western elongation.
This morning, Venus is three fists above the east-southeastern horizon at 6:30
a.m. Over the next few months, Venus will move toward the Sun in the sky. By
next summer, it will be visible in the evening sky.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: Halloween is a week from today so make sure you
load up on peanut clusters, almond clusters, and open star clusters this week.
That last one will be easy (and cheap… actually free) because two of the most
prominent open star clusters in the sky are easily visible in the autumn sky.
The sideways V-shaped Hyades Cluster is two fists above due east at 10:00 p.m.
Containing over 300 stars; the Hyades cluster is about 150 light years away and
625 million years old. The Pleiades Cluster is a little more than three fists
above due east. It has three times as many stars as the Hyades Cluster and is
younger. Compared to our 5 billion year old Sun, the 100 million year age of
the Pleiades is infant-like.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: What time is tea time? Certainly not during an
autumn evening. The constellation Sagittarius the archer, with its signature
teapot shape, is sinking into the southwestern horizon by 8:00 p.m. The handle
is on top and the spout is touching the horizon ready to pour that last cup of
tea.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: Fomalhaut is one and a half fists above the
southern horizon at 9:30 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: Halloween weekend is a great time to celebrate the
dead. Dead stars, that is. Black holes are and neutron stars are the end result
of super massive stars. But intermediate mass stars such as our Sun end up as
white dwarfs. After fusing hydrogen into helium for most of its life and fusing
helium into heavier elements for a relatively short period at the end of its
life, the Sun will end up with a core of carbon and oxygen that no longer
produces energy through nuclear fusion. Without the outward radiation pressure
from fusion resisting the inward pull of gravity, the Sun will end up as a
super-dense sphere of atoms in which the electrons are squished onto the
nuclei. It will be an object with nearly all of its mid-life mass but in a
volume about the size of the Earth. The easiest white dwarf to see is in the
triple star system called Keid, from the Arabic word “qayd” meaning egg shells.
Learn more about Keid, also called 40 Eridani, including map of how to find it
at<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/trick-or-treat-with-white-dwarfs/">https://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/trick-or-treat-with-white-dwarfs/</a>.
At midnight (scary), Keid is a little more than two fists above due southeast.
You’ll need a small telescope to see it. First find Rigel, the brightest star
in the constellation Orion. It is one and a half fists above the east-southeastern
horizon. Then use binoculars to find the right area. With Rigel at the bottom
of your field of view. There should be a star near the top of your girls of
view that is about one sixth as bright. This star is called Cursa. Next, move
your binoculars up and to the right about one and a half field of view
diameters. Look for two stars close together, each about one third as bright as
Cursa. Finally, move your binoculars straight over to the right about one and a
half field of view diameters. The lower of these two stars is Keid or 40
Eridani A. You’ll need a telescope to see the white dwarf, called 40 Eridani B.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-72995546736263674782023-10-12T22:57:00.003-07:002023-10-12T22:57:19.867-07:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of October 14, 2023<p>Saturday: This morning, the moon will pass directly between the
Earth and the Sun, causing an annular solar eclipse as viewed from part of the
United States. In this case, “annual” doesn’t mean it is a yearly occurrence.
Annular refers to the ring shape of the Sun. The Moon will be directly between
the Earth and the Sun. But it will be relatively far from the Earth meaning it
will not appear large enough to fully block the Sun, causing a ring of sunlight
to shine around the Sun. This is what you’ll see if you are lucky enough to be
along a line from the Oregon coast to the Gulf of Mexico. From the point of
view of the rest of the United States, the Moon and Sun won’t be perfectly
lined up and observers will see a partial solar eclipse. The Moon will appear
about 85% blocked at the peak of the eclipse in Ellensburg.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You should NOT look at an annular or partial solar eclipse
without proper eye protection. In Ellensburg, the eclipse starts at about 8:08
a.m. low in the southeastern sky, peaks at 9:17 a.m., and ends at 10:40 a.m.
Weather permitting, I will bring a solar telescope to the Ellensburg Farmers
Market as a guest of The Friends of the Ellensburg Public Library for the
duration of the eclipse. Visit their table and pick up a pair of free safe
solar eclipse glasses. These glasses block about 99.9999% of the Sun’s light.
For more information about the eclipse, go to <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2023/">https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2023/</a>. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: Jupiter is exactly two fists held upright and at
arm’s length above due east at 9:00 p.m. That means that Jupiter’s moons can be
seen here, as well. Last year, NASA’s Juno spacecraft sent back some of the
most detailed images of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. For more about the images
and the rest of Juno’s mission, go to <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-juno-gets-highest-resolution-close-up-of-jupiters-moon-europa">https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-juno-gets-highest-resolution-close-up-of-jupiters-moon-europa</a>.
With a small telescope, you will be able to see three of Jupiter’s largest
moons at this time. Jupiter’s largest moon Ganymede and Callisto are from one
side of Jupiter, with Callisto being the farthest of all the moons. Europa and
Io are on the other side, with Io being the closest of all the moons.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: Saturn is three fists above due south at 9:30 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: Rho Cassiopeiae is the most distant star that can
be seen with the naked eye by most people. It is about 8,200 light years away.
That means that the light that reaches your eyes from that star left over 8,000
years ago, before the beginning of time according to the Byzantine calendar.
Rho Cassiopeiae is six fists above the northeastern horizon at 8:00 p.m., just
above the zigzag line that marks the constellation Cassiopeia.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: The constellation Vulpecula, the fox, stands six
fists held upright and at arm’s length above due southwest at 9 p.m. It is in
the middle of the Summer Triangle, which is defined by the bright stars Vega,
Deneb, and Altair. The fox is so faint that you need dark skies to see it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: Venus is two and a half fists above the eastern
horizon at 6:00 a.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: Along with the not-so-subtle drug reference in
their name, The Doobie Brothers could have made an astronomy reference in their
song lyrics if they would have written: “Old Earth water, keep on rollin’,
Mississippi moon won’t you keep on shining on me.” Astronomers now think that
some of the water on Earth may be older than the Solar System. The chemical
signature of the water indicates it came from a very cold source, just a few
degrees above absolute zero. The early Solar System was much warmer than this
meaning the water came from a source outside the Solar System. For more
information about the old Earth water, go to <a href="http://goo.gl/QsEu5P">http://goo.gl/QsEu5P</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: The bright star Altair is five fists above due south
at 7:00 p.m.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-47036527728038501882023-10-05T23:08:00.003-07:002023-10-05T23:08:27.484-07:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of October 7, 2023<p>Saturday: At 10:00 p.m., Saturn is three fists held upright and
at arm’s length above the southern horizon. Jupiter is two and a half fists
above the eastern horizon.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: The Draconid meteor shower peaks for the next three
nights with tomorrow night being the best. The meteors appear to come from a
point in the head of Draco, the dragon constellation. This point is nearly
straight overhead at 7:00 p.m. tonight. This point remains near the
trapezoid-shaped head of Draco throughout the night. Unlike most meteor
showers, this one is best observed in the early evening rather than after
midnight. Call this the “early to bed” meteor shower. Draconid meteors are slow
moving which means you will have an easy time differentiating true Draconid
meteors, from Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, from the stray grains of dust that
happen to enter the Earth’s atmosphere every day and night. Unfortunately, the
moon is nearly full, meaning most of the dimmer meteors will be obscured. For
everything you need to know about the Draconid meteor shower, go to <a href="https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-draconid-meteor-shower/">https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-draconid-meteor-shower/</a>. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: It is good to plan ahead while you have meteors on
your mind so start thinking about the Orionid meteor shower. This shower, which
consists of the earth colliding with pieces of the remains of Halley's Comet's
tail, peaks on October 20 and 21 but produces meteors from early October until
early November. These meteors appear to come from a point in Orion, the hunter.
This point is about two fists held upright and at arm’s length above the
southeastern horizon at 1:00 a.m.. You can follow this point throughout the
night as it will remain near the prominent reddish star Betelgeuse (pronounced
Bet'-el-jews). The Orionid meteors are fast - up to 40 miles per second. For
more information about the Orionids, go to <a href="https://earthsky.org/?p=27937">https://earthsky.org/?p=27937</a>. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: From left to right, the waning crescent moon, the
bright star Regulus, and the even brighter planet Venus are in a line in the
eastern sky at 6:00 a.m. They are close enough together that you can easily
cover them with a fist held at arm’s length.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: Look up in the sky. It’s a bird. It’s a plane.
It’s a dolphin. A dolphin? The constellation Delphinus the dolphin is nearly
six fists above due south at 8:00 p.m. The constellation’s two brightest stars
are called Sualocin and Rotanev, which is Nicolaus Venator spelled backwards.
Venator worked at the Palermo Observatory in Italy in the mid nineteenth
century. He slipped these names into Giuseppe Piazzi’s star catalog without him
noticing. Sort of like when you would sneak cookies into your parent’s shopping
cart, hoping they would not notice.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: The Milky Way makes a faint white trail from due
northeast through straight overhead to due southwest at 9:00 p.m. Starting in
the northeast, the Milky Way “passes through” the prominent constellations
Auriga the charioteer, Cassiopeia the queen, and Cygnus the swan with its
brightest star, Deneb, nearly straight overhead. After Cygnus, you’ll see
Aquila the eagle with its brightest star Altair about four and a half fists
above the southwest horizon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: In the 1980s, McGruff the Crime Dog told you to take
a bite out of crime. Tomorrow morning, the moon will take a big bite out of the
Sun, as viewed from Ellensburg. People viewing from the Oregon coast to the
Gulf of Mexico will see the moon take an even bigger bite out of the middle of
the Sun, like eating all of the pizza except a thin ring of the crust. Wait….<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now that I’m back from getting a snack, I can use my science
words. Tomorrow morning, the moon will pass directly between the Earth and the
Sun, causing an annular solar eclipse as viewed from part of the United States.
In this case, “annual” doesn’t mean it is a yearly occurrence. Annular refers
to the ring shape of the Sun. The Moon will be directly between the Earth and
the Sun. But it will be relatively far from the Earth meaning it will not
appear large enough to fully block the Sun, causing a ring of sunlight to shine
around the Sun. This is what you’ll see if you are lucky enough to be along a
line from the Oregon coast to the Gulf of Mexico. From the point of view of the
rest of the United States, the Moon and Sun won’t be perfectly lined up and
observers will see a partial solar eclipse. The Moon will appear about 85%
blocked at the peak of the eclipse in Ellensburg.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You should NOT look at an annular or partial solar eclipse
without proper eye protection. The Ellensburg Public Library on 3rd Avenue and
Ruby Street is giving away free safe solar eclipse glasses. These glasses block
about 99.9999% of the Sun’s light. When properly wearing these eclipse glasses,
you may look directly at the Sun. In Ellensburg, the eclipse starts at about
8:08 a.m., peaks at 9:17 a.m., and ends at 10:40 a.m. Weather permitting, I
will bring a solar telescope to the Ellensburg Farmers Market as a guest of The
Friends of the Ellensburg Public Library for the duration of the eclipse on
October 14. Visit their table. A public library should be one of your best
friends. For more information about the eclipse, go to <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2023/">https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2023/</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-35110229433390862132023-09-27T22:06:00.005-07:002023-09-27T22:06:50.761-07:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of September 30, 2023<p>Saturday: Since Halloween is a month away, the stores are
filled with bags of candy clusters. Use this reminder to take time to look at a
star cluster. The Hyades cluster is an open star cluster that represents the
V-shaped face of Taurus the bull. It is one of the biggest and nearest star
clusters with about 200 stars 150 light years away. The Hyades cluster was the
first cluster to be the subject of detailed motion studies. These studies
allowed astronomers to pinpoint the distance to the Hyades and provide important
information about the scale of the universe. Aldebaran, about one fist held
upright and at arm’s length above the east-northeastern horizon at 11:00 p.m.,
is a foreground star and not a part of the Hyades cluster.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: Jupiter is less than a half a fist to the lower
right of the Moon at 10:00 p.m. They are in the east-northeastern sky. At this
time, Saturn is three fists above the south-southeastern horizon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: Tonight, the Moon is partying with Seven Sisters.
The open star cluster called Pleiades, Subaru, or the Seven Sisters is about a
finger’s width above the Moon at 9:00 p.m. They are in the east-northeastern
sky. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: Coffee. First scientists say it’s good for you.
Then they say it is bad for you. Recently, the same argument was applied to an
exomoon, a moon orbiting a planet outside our Solar System. No, astronomers are
not debating whether exomoons are good for you. Of course they are. But there
are conflicting reports over whether the initial exomoon observation shared a year
ago was real or just a blip in the data. Astronomers studied the light of a
star as a Jupiter-sized planet and then its Neptune-sized moon blocked it. This
transit method is one of the most popular ways to observe exoplanets… and maybe
exomoons. Read more about the debate at <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/the-first-known-exomoon-is-called-into-question-in-follow-up-studies">https://www.sciencealert.com/the-first-known-exomoon-is-called-into-question-in-follow-up-studies</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: Venus, the brightest point of light in the night
sky, is about two and a half fists above the east-southeastern horizon at 6:00
a.m. Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo, is less than a half
a fist to the lower left of Venus.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: Tonight at 6:00 p.m., I’ll give a presentation
about solar eclipses at the Hal Holmes Community Center in downtown Ellensburg.
There will be educational diagrams, engaging activities, and specific
information about the October 14, 2023 annular solar eclipse and the April 8,
2024 total solar eclipse. Both of these eclipses will be partial solar eclipses
as seen in Ellensburg. Everyone who attends will get a free pair of solar
eclipse glasses for safe eclipse viewing. For more information about the
presentation, go to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/6736370389775583/">https://www.facebook.com/events/6736370389775583/</a>.
For more information about the eclipses, go to <a href="https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/">https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: In 1987, the rock group Def Leppard sang “Pour some
sugar on me, in the name of love. Pour some sugar on me, come on, fire me up”.
In 2012, some European astronomers “found some sugar near stars, they were very
young. Found some sugar near stars, out where planets formed.” Astronomers
observed molecules of glycolaldehyde, a simple form of sugar, in the disk of
gas and dust orbiting young binary stars. This is the first time astronomers
have found this simple sugar so close to a star indicating that organic
molecules can be found in planet-forming regions of stars. For more
information, go to <a href="http://goo.gl/tfwy1">http://goo.gl/tfwy1</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3084200910458680043.post-29163595383625438032023-09-21T22:21:00.000-07:002023-09-21T22:21:12.100-07:00The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of September 23, 2023<p>Saturday: “There’s water in them thar craters”, frozen water,
that is. There has been speculation since the 1960s and indirect evidence since
the 2000s of water on the Moon. Three years ago, astronomers studied data from
four earlier missions. They noticed that the light reflecting off the bottom
of craters near the lunar South Pole showed characteristics of light reflecting
off pure ice. The water likely came from comet impacts or other solar system
objects with trace amounts of water ice. This past summer, the Indian Space
Research Organization became the fourth country to successfully land on the
moon when Chandrayaan-3 landed near the lunar South Pole to study the water
there. Read more about it at <a href="https://www.space.com/chandrayaan-3-moon-south-pole-why-nasa-wants-to-go-too">https://www.space.com/chandrayaan-3-moon-south-pole-why-nasa-wants-to-go-too</a>.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday: Saturn is nearly three fists held upright and at
arm’s length above the south-southeastern horizon at 10:00 pm. Jupiter is about
one and a half fists above the eastern horizon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday: Ask someone which day in September has the same
duration day and night. Go ahead, ask someone. Why are you still reading this?
I can wait. If that person says the first day of autumn, they are wrong. Today,
three days after the first day of autumn, is the date in which day and night
are closest in duration. There are two main reasons for this. First, the
atmosphere acts like a lens, bending light from the Sun above the horizon when
the Sun is actually below the horizon. This makes the Sun appear to rise before
it actually rises and appear to set after it actually sets. Second, fall starts
when the center of the Sun passes through the point called the autumnal
equinox. But, the Sun is not a point. The upper edge of the Sun rises about a
minute before the center of the Sun and the lower edge sets a minute after the
center of the Sun. Thus, even if we didn’t have an atmosphere that bends the
sunlight, daytime on the first day of autumn would still be longer than 12 hours.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tuesday: To the people of Ancient Greece, the stars that are
about five and a half fists above the northeastern and eastern horizons,
respectively, at 10:00 p.m. were known as Cassiopeia and Andromeda, a
mythological queen and her daughter. But not all cultures imagined the same
pictures in the sky. To the people of Polynesia, the stars of Cassiopeia and
Andromeda represented a dolphin, called Kwu. Cassiopeia formed its tail, the
brightest stars of Andromeda formed its fins, and its fainter stars outlined
the dolphin’s body.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wednesday: You discovered Cassiopeia last night. The
astronomer Caroline Herschel discovered an open star cluster that looks like a
rose over 200 years ago. This cluster, called Caroline’s Rose, is about 6,500
light years away and consists of about 1,000 stars that are one third the age
of the Sun. Through binoculars, it looks like a fuzzy patch. At 10:00 p.m.,
find the star at the top of the sideways “W” known as Cassiopeia. When that
star is in the lower left portion of your field of view, Caroline’s Rose is in
the center to upper right. For more information about Caroline’s Rose, go to <a href="https://stardate.org/radio/program/2020-09-09">https://stardate.org/radio/program/2020-09-09</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday: Mnemonics are helpful for remembering astronomy
facts. (Similarly, “Johnny Mnemonic”, the 1995 cyberpunk film, was helpful in
getting Keanu Reeves’ career going.) After all, school children around the
world are learning the order of the planets by remembering, “My very excellent
mother just served us nine….” Oops, I guess that one needs updating. Well,
here’s one that will not need updating for tens of thousands of years: the
order of the stars in the Big Dipper. Because the nighttime stars are so far
away from us, their actual motion through the sky, called their “proper motion”
is not noticeable over even thousands of years. That is why the constellations
have remained the same since ancient times. But two stars in the Big Dipper
have a proper motion large enough such that in 100,000 years; the stars will no
longer make a dipper shape. You can see this simulation at the American Museum
of Natural History video found at <a href="https://youtu.be/sBfUBtdo8yo">https://youtu.be/sBfUBtdo8yo</a>.
Until then, you can remember the names of the seven dipper stars in order from
handle to cup by remembering this helpful advice for teens: “AM, ask mom. PM,
dad”. The stars are Alkaid, Mizar, Alioth, Megrez, Phad, Merek, and Duhbe. The
Big Dipper is one fist held upright and at arm’s length above the northern
horizon at 11:00 p.m. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday: At 6:00 a.m., Venus is nearly three fists and
Mercury is about a half a fist above the eastern horizon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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 <a href="http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm">https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>dbp1920http://www.blogger.com/profile/11652399030018409151noreply@blogger.com0