The Ellensburg sky for the week of 4/20/13

Saturday: Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo the lion is less than a fist held upright and at arm’s length above the moon at 9 p.m. They are midway up in the southern sky.

Sunday: Remember the old saying: April showers bring… meteors. The Lyrid meteor shower peaks tonight. The meteors appear to come from a point to the right of the bright bluish star Vega in the constellation Lyra the lyre. This point is about three fists held upright and at arm’s length above the east-northeast horizon at midnight tonight and close to straight overhead near dawn. The best time to look is just before dawn since that is when the radiant, or point from which the meteors appear to come, is high in the sky. This year, the Moon is in the waxing gibbous phase meaning it will be bright and be out for most of the night. Typically, this is one of the least interesting major meteor showers of the year. However, it is also one of the most unpredictable. As recently as 1982, there were 90 meteors visible during a single hour. In addition, the Lyrid meteor shower has historical interest because it was one of the first ones observed. Chinese records say “stars fell like rain” in the shower of 687 B.C. As your Mother might say, dress warm and sit in a comfortable chair for maximum enjoyment. Meteors are tiny rocks that hit the Earth and burn up in the atmosphere.

Monday: You know Metis and Thebe and Adrastea and Amalthea. Io and Ganymede and Callisto and Europa. But do you recall? There are 67 Jovian moons in all. (As of July 2012.) Less than 50 years ago, Jupiter was thought to have only 12 moons. But, astronomers are red-nosed with delight that the advent of supersensitive electronic cameras has caused the number of discovered moons to rapidly increase. Jupiter’s 67 moons range in size from Ganymede, with a diameter of 5,262 kilometers, to S/2002 J12 and S/2003 J9, with a diameter of only one kilometer. Our moon has a diameter of 3,475 kilometers. (One kilometer is 0.62 miles.) Saturn is second place in the moon race with 62. Uranus is next with 27. Then comes Neptune with 13, Mars with 2, and Earth with 1. Even dwarf planets have moons. Pluto has 5, Eris has 1, and Haumea has 2. Eris is an outer solar system object that was discovered in 2005 and named in September of 2006. Because astronomers thought it was larger than Pluto, people called it the tenth planet for a while. (More recent measurements show Eris to be a little smaller than Pluto.) Haumea, the newest dwarf planet with a moon, was discovered in 2004 and officially named a dwarf planet on September 17, 2008. Jupiter, the “mooning” champ, is a half a fist above the west horizon at 9 p.m. Go to http://goo.gl/Xkoeq for more information about Solar System moons.

Tuesday: Avast ye matey. Swab the poop deck. Pirates love astronomy. In fact, the term “poop” in poop deck comes from the French word for stern (poupe) which comes for the Latin word Puppis. Puppis is a constellation that represents the raised stern deck of Argo Navis, the ship used by Jason and the Argonauts in Greek mythology. Argo Nevis was an ancient constellation that is now divided between the constellations Puppis, Vela and Carina. The top of Puppis is about a fist and a half to the left of the bright star Sirius in the south-southwest sky at 9 p.m. Rho Puppis, one of the brightest stars in the constellation, is about one and a half fists above the south-southwest horizon at this time.

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

Thursday: Tonight’s full moon is called the Full Pink Moon because it marks the appearance of moss pink, one of the first spring flowers.

Friday: Saturn is one and a half fists above the southeast horizon at 10 p.m.

The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.

The Ellensburg sky for the week of 4/13/13

Saturday: Do you like clusters? Candy clusters? Data clusters? The German band Cluster? Tonight, the moon shows that it likes star clusters because it is between two of them at 9 p.m. The V-shaped Hyades cluster is less than a half a fist held out at arms length to the left of the moon and the more compact Pleiades is a little more than a half a fist to the right of the moon. Containing over 300 stars, the Hyades cluster is about 150 light years away and 625 million years old. The Pleiades Cluster has over 1000 stars and much younger. Compared to our 5 billion year old Sun, the 100 million year age of the Pleiades is infant-like.

Sunday: Sure Jupiter is the brightest point of light in the night sky this evening. But did you know you can also see it during the day? Today is a good day to try. You’ll need binoculars and the moon. First, find the waxing crescent moon five fists above the southeast horizon at 2 p.m. Aim your binoculars so the moon is near the bottom of your field of view. Jupiter will be in about the middle of your field of view. If the sky is completely cloud-free and steady, you may be able to see Jupiter with the naked eye. Hold two fingers out at arm’s length. Rotate them sideways and place them right above the moon. Jupiter will be right above your fingers. For more information about other celestial objects visible during the day, go to http://goo.gl/yMW12.

Monday: The nighttime stars take little more than an instant to rise. The Moon takers about two minutes to rise. That’s absolutely speedy compared to the constellation Virgo which takes four hours to rise. The first star in Virgo rises at 4:30 in the afternoon today. Spica, the brightest star in the constellation, rises at 7:30. By 9 p.m., Spica is a fist and a half above the southeast horizon.

Tuesday: The Boys of Summer have started their season. The stars of winter are ending theirs. At 10 p.m., four of the brightest wintertime stars have either set or will soon be setting. Sirius is about a half a fist above the west-southwest horizon. Rigel has set. The red giant Betelgeuse is a fist and a half above the west horizon. And Aldebaran is a fist above the west-northwest horizon.

Wednesday: The Lyrid meteor shower peaks next week. But there will be increased meteor activity for the next two weeks in the vicinity of the constellation Lyre. The meteors appear to come from a point to the right of the bright bluish star Vega in the constellation Lyra the lyre. This point is about three fists above the east-northeast horizon at midnight and close to straight overhead near dawn.

Thursday: Tonight’s first quarter moon is in the constellation Cancer the crab. At 10 p.m., the Beehive cluster is less than a fist above the moon. (See, I told you the moon liked star clusters.) The Beehive cluster, also called Praesepe, is an open star cluster of about 600 stars, all about 600 light years from Earth.

Friday: Saturn is less than one fist above the west-southwest horizon at 6 a.m.

The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.

The Ellensburg sky for the week of 4/6/13

Saturday: Some people in town today for the Yakima River Canyon Marathon may be looking for a little running inspiration. While nothing can take the place of a 20+ mile long run for marathon preparation (I know), certain objects in the night sky are inspiring. In the Bible, Job specifically mentions the star Arcturus, or the bear keeper, to his friend as a sign of God's majesty. He describes God as that "Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers (constellations) of the south" (Job 9:9, King James Version). Whatever your religious beliefs, it is clear that Job was impressed with this very bright star. See the star that inspired Job about one and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the east horizon at 9 p.m.

Sunday: If you ran far yesterday, you don’t want to stay up late looking at the stars. So do something during the day that will help you and other night sky enthusiasts: make sure your outdoor light fixtures are shielded or at least facing down. This will cut down on light pollution, stray light that obscures the stars, and it will help you celebrate the start of International Dark Sky week. Go to http://goo.gl/w6Hi7 for more information on how to do an outdoor lighting audit and get more information about International Dark Sky week.

Monday: Jupiter is three fists above the west horizon at 9 p.m.

Tuesday: The Virtual Messier Marathon I described in last week’s column has been moved to today at 11 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time. See astronomers find, show, and talk about interesting celestial objects. For more information, go to http://goo.gl/rDpyl. I noticed that none of my readers went to this link last week so now is your chance. (See, I’m checking up on you.)

Wednesday: Tonight’s moon is new. Don’t bother looking for it. The new moon is the phase where the moon is directly between the Earth and the Sun. Hence the side of the moon facing Earth is not receiving any sunlight and cannot be seen. The new moon is not a big deal this month. But, May 10, the new moon will be covering most of the Sun leading to an annular solar eclipse in some parts of the world such as Australia and the Solomon Islands. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon, as seen from Earth, is relatively far from Earth in its orbit and not large enough to cover the Sun even though they are nearly perfectly lined up. Instead, there is bright ring or annulus around the Moon. The resulting eclipse is called an annular solar eclipse because of this ring.

Thursday: You probably didn’t know this but several British New Wave bands were really into astronomy. Take the band “Dead or Alive” (please). The original lyrics to their song “You Spin my Round (Like a Record) were thought to be: “ You spin me right round, baby, right round, like the Whirlpool Galaxy, right round, round, round.” (Well, that’s what I thought them to be.) The Whirlpool Galaxy was the first galaxy observed to have a spiral shape. Since then, astronomers have discovered many galaxies, including our own Milky Way Galaxy, have a spiral shape. Go to http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0506a/ for more information about the Whirlpool Galaxy. Go to your small telescope to find the Whirlpool Galaxy in the night sky. It is in the constellation Canes Venatici, the hunting dogs. At 10 p.m., find Alkaid, the end star of the Big Dipper handle, five fists held upright and at arm’s length above the northeast horizon. The Whirlpool Galaxy is two fingers to the upper right of Alkaid.

Friday: Saturn is a little more than a fist above the southeast horizon at 11 p.m.

The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.

The Ellensburg sky for the week of 3/30/13

Saturday: Jupiter is three and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the west horizon at 9 p.m.

Sunday: Next Saturday, about 500 people will be in town to run a marathon. If you have not trained, you’re not ready. Instead, satisfy that marathon craving by attending a virtual Messier Marathon. Charles Messier (pronounced messy a) was an 18th century French astronomer best known for his catalog of 110 nebulae and star clusters. Amateur astronomers love to find as many of these as they can in one night. During the online Messier Marathon, you’ll see the images broadcast on the Internet. The fun starts at 11 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time when astronomers on the nighttime side of Earth point their telescopes towards interesting celestial objects. For more information, go to http://goo.gl/rDpyl.

Monday: After a long journey through space, there is nothing will quench your thirst better than a few drops of refreshing Mars water. Wait! Is this an April Fool’s Day joke? No. In 2010, after analyzing photos taken by the Mars Phoenix Lander, a group of astronomers discovered what they interpreted as drops of very salty liquid water on one of the Lander’s legs. But we are not going to travel 18 months to Mars just to lick a few drops of water off a metal leg.  We want waterfront property if we are going all that way.  The high-resolution camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken images of dark rivulets form, grow, and fade in the Martian southern hemisphere.  Even though Mars is very cold, this liquid could contain enough salt to lower its freezing point by more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Mars is too close to the Sun in the evening sky to be visible. So you’ll have to be content reading about it at http://goo.gl/HEGxe.

Tuesday: Orion is getting lower and lower in the nighttime sky. Its second brightest star Betelgeuse is only one and a half fists above the west-southwest horizon at 11 p.m.

Wednesday: Typically there are no cheers when spacecraft crash. Except for the Death Star. But when the twin lunar satellites from the Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) ended their mission on December 17, 2012, astronomers hailed it as a job well done. The twin spacecraft spent a year orbiting the moon and mapping subtle differences in its gravitational pull to help astronomers better determine the structure and history of the moon. The best summary of the GRAIL data is this Astronomy Picture of the day, which would fit right in on a t-shirt at a Grateful Dead concert (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130319.html). If you didn’t stay up late “Driving that train, high on… life”, look for the moon in the southern sky this morning.

Thursday: The bright star Arcturus is three fists above the east horizon at 10 p.m.

Friday: Saturn is about one fist above the east-southeast horizon at 10:30 p.m. You shouldn’t stay up too late watching it. You need to get up early to cheer on your favorite runners at the Yakima River Canyon Marathon tomorrow at 8 a.m. on Canyon Road just south of Berry Road.

The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.

The Ellensburg sky for the week of 3/23/13

The night sky above.

Shows our past and our future.

We’re made of star stuff.

Saturday: There are two comets visible in the night sky of you are blessed with clear skies, an open west-northwest horizon and lots of frequent flier miles to use. The easiest one to find is Comet PANSTARRS, names for the acronym of the project that found it. While it reached peak brightness two weeks ago, you can find it 30 minutes after sunset about a fist held upright and at arm’s length above the west-northwest horizon. For more information on finding Comet PANSTARRS, go to http://goo.gl/XmlGt. Comet Lemmon is currently visible only in the southern Hemisphere. Over the next few weeks, it will move into the northern hemisphere sky but get dimmer, remaining an object to view through binoculars. But just because you can’t see Comet Lemmon doesn’t mean you can’t learn about it. See http://goo.gl/5uZSE for information and a finder chart for Comet Lemmon.

Sunday: Jupiter is five fists above the west-southwest horizon at 8 p.m.

Monday: Saturn is about a half a fist above the east-southeast horizon at 11 p.m. By 6 a.m. tomorrow, it has moved all the way across the sky to be two fists above the southwest horizon.

Tuesday: Tonight’s full moon is in the constellation Leo the lion. While we may refer to the moon tonight by the boring title, “a full moon in March”, Native Americans in the eastern United States called this moon the Full Worm Moon. By March, the temperature has increased enough so the ground starts to thaw and earthworms make their first appearance. Earthworms attract birds. Northern tribes thought of the bird connection when they referred to the March full moon as the Full Crow Moon. Tribes in parts of the country with maple trees call this full moon the Full Sap Moon. For more full moon names, go to http://www.farmersalmanac.com/full-moon-names.

Wednesday: Watch the bright star Spica as it chases the moon across the sky tonight. The overall motion of the two objects is due to the rotation of the Earth. But since the moon orbits the earth and is close to the earth, its actual motion can be detected. It is one of the few objects that we can see move in the sky over a matter of hours. It goes from being a half a fist ahead of Spica at 10 pm tonight to about a thumb width ahead at 6 a.m. tomorrow.

Thursday: Two weeks ago, I asked you to watch the bright star Deneb to observe how its time at due north changes from night to night. It reached due north at 10:13 p.m. two Thursdays ago, blah explain this

Friday: April is Global Astronomy Month (GAM). While many astronomy experiences come from looking up, you can also experience astronomy looking down… at pen and paper. GAM has launched an Astropoetry blog and is looking for contributors, hopefully ones that are better than mine above. Even if you’ve never written a poem before, this is your opportunity to express your love for astronomy in a unique way and possibly share it with others. Go to http://www.astronomerswithoutborders.org/blog/astropoetry-blog.html for more poetry.

The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.

The Ellensburg sky for the week of 3/16/13

Saturday: Has there ever been life on Mars? Astronomers don’t know. But the Mars Curiosity Rover just drilled up some strong evidence that Mars was hospitable to life in the past. The first drilling assignment for Curiosity found clay-like minerals that form in the presence of water. Moreover, the water probably had a nearly neutral pH. According to project scientist John Grotzinger, “if this water was around and you had been on the planet, you would have been able to drink it.” For more information, go to http://goo.gl/S2hRn.

Sunday: 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, three days before the first day of spring, 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 is 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.

While you are thinking about this, go outside at 8 p.m. and find the moon in the southwest sky. Jupiter is about two finger widths to the upper right of the moon and the bright star Aldebaran is about a half a fist to the lower left of the moon. Watch over the next four hours as the moon slowly moves above the line between Jupiter and Aldebaran. The overall motion of the three objects toward the western horizon is due to the rotation of the Earth. But since the moon orbits the earth, its actual motion can be detected. It is one of the few objects that we can see move in the sky over a matter of hours.

Monday: Saturn is one fist above the southeast horizon at midnight. By 6 a.m., it is all the way over into the southwestern sky, nearly two and a half fists above the horizon.

Tuesday: Arcturus is three fists above the east horizon at 11 p.m.

Wednesday: 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 3:02 a.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 actually 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 north and south (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. Since the Sun crosses the vernal equinox at night, tomorrow will actually be the first full day of spring.

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”.

Thursday: So far this week, I have written about Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter. Do you even care about these planets or does another planet really catch your fancy? If you’d like to know what most people’s favorite planet is, go to http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pluto/favorite.html and click on “Launch Interactive”. The public TV special called “The Pluto Files” has set up a website in which astronomers give a 30-second pitch for why a certain planet is their favorite. After listening to the pitch, you may vote for your favorite planet. Of course, you may also do what most people do for political elections: vote for the candidate with the best name or the one with the most interesting campaign slogan. So whether you carefully consider each planet or simply “Swoon for Neptune”, “Jump for Jupiter”, or “Pick Uranus”, go to “The Pluto Files” and vote. Saturn will be holding a campaign rally tonight at 11 p.m., nearly two fists above the southeast horizon.

Friday: The bright star Vega is about one fist above due northeast at midnight.

The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.

The Ellensburg sky for the week of 3/9/13

Saturday: Don't forget to set you 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 last three 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 does not get dark for an additional hour.

Sunday: Comet watchers haven’t had much to cheer about recently. But this year is looking up (pun intended) because astronomers think there will be two comets visible to the naked eye. The first one is called Comet C/2011 L4 after the year and date of its discovery or Comet PanSTARRS, after the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System that discovered it. It reaches maximum brightness today but it will be too low in the sky for most observers in the northern United States. It will be just above the west horizon, a little north of due west, right after sunset. You’ll need binoculars to pick it out. For more information, go to http://goo.gl/e875P.

Monday: Mars is a half fist above the west horizon at 7:15 p.m., just after sunset. Its two small moons, Phobos and Deimos, are not visible in typical backyard telescopes. But they are an interesting study. The prevailing view among most astronomers is that they are captured asteroids. That makes sense given Mars’ proximity to the asteroid belt. But resent findings by European astronomers indicate that Phobos is very porous and made of material similar to the surface of Mars. This implies that Phobos may consist of chunks of Martian debris that was blasted off by numerous impacts and gravitationally bound together. Unfortunately, the Russian Phobos-Grunt probe launched late 2011 to collect material from Phobos crashed to Earth after malfunctioning. For more information about this new model of Phobos’ formation, go to http://goo.gl/g4cdp.

Tuesday: If you had trouble finding Comet PanSTARRS earlier in the week, you’ll have a great marker tonight. The comet will be less than half a fist to the left of the crescent moon just after sunset. Probably the best time to look will be about 7:30 p.m. The Sun will have set 30 minutes earlier but the moon and comet will still be a fist above the west horizon. The comet’s tail will still be pointing away from the sun, which is right under due west. Throughout the rest of the month, the comet will be getting higher in the sky but dimmer. Currently, the comet is about magnitude 2, similar to the brightness of the Big Dipper stars.

Wednesday: Jupiter is four and a half fists above the southwest horizon at 9 p.m.

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 10:13 tonight, 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.

Friday: Saturn is about a fist above the east-southeast horizon at midnight. If you are more of a morning person, you’ll see Saturn two and a half fists above the southwest horizon at 6 a.m.

The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.