Saturday: If the Sun looks big today, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. The Earth is at perihelion at about 4 p.m. 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. 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.
Sunday: Today’s weather forecast: showers. Meteor showers, that is. The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks this afternoon at making this morning and tonight into tomorrow morning the best times to see meteors. 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 Draco the dragon. This point is about three fists above the northeast horizon at 1 a.m. In good years, careful observers can spot about 100 meteors per hour. Unfortunately, this will not be a good year to view the Quadrantids because the waning gibbous moonlight will obscure the dimmer meteors. 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.
Monday: 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 10 p.m.
Tuesday: Jupiter is one and a half fists above the southwest horizon at 6 p.m.
Wednesday: What you see with the naked eye isn’t all that can be seen. While astronomers can learn a lot from observing the sky in the visible wavelengths, many celestial objects radiate more light, and more information, in wavelengths such as radio, microwave, infrared, ultraviolet, x-ray, and gamma ray. Last month, NASA launched the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) to study objects that radiate in the infrared range such as asteroids, cool dim stars, and luminous galaxies. For an interesting comparison of how different wavelengths show different aspects of a galaxy, go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/docs/different_universe.pdf. If it wasn’t for infrared telescopes such as WISE, astronomers would not know about the significant amount of dust in galaxies.
Thursday: This morning’s final quarter Moon is right on the border of the constellations Corvus the crow and Virgo the goddess of the harvest. At 7 a.m., the bright star Spica is about a half a fist to the upper left of the Moon.
Friday: Mars is three fists above the east horizon at 10 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 12/26/09
Saturday: Mars is two fists held upright and at arm’s length above due east at 10 p.m. What does it mean to be “two fists held upright and at arm’s length above due east?” Make a fist with your right hand. Hold it out in front of you at arm’s length. Do you feel like you can “fight the power”? Good. Now, hold your fist vertical so your thumb is on top. The angular distance from the top of your fist to the bottom is 10 degrees. Place the top part of your fist at eye level. This represents zero degrees. Now, stack the left fist on top. The top of this fist is 10 degrees above the horizon. Any celestial object even with the top of your left fist is about 10 degrees above the horizon. If you were to hold your left fist steady and move your right fist on top of the left, the top of the right fist would be about 20 degrees above the horizon.
Sunday: Columbia the dove, representing the bird Noah sent out to look for dry land as the flood waters receded, is perched just above the ridge south of Ellensburg. Its brightest star Phact is about one fist above due south at 11 p.m.
Monday: We end the year with a traditional children’s story, Moon White and the Seven Sisters. Once upon a time, there was a nearly full moon. Even though this moon was actually quite dark, reflecting only about 10% of the light that shined on it, this moon looked as white as snow. Lovers of bright, white objects, there were Seven Sisters who longed to get close to the Moon in the sky. The Seven Sisters were a strange group of girls. In fact, they were not girls at all but an open star cluster consisting of nearly 100 stars. These Seven Sisters or 100 stars or whatever they were went by the name the Pleiades. At 6 p.m., the Pleiades is right above the Moon in the eastern sky. You’ll need binoculars to see the Seven Sisters as they are obscured by the moonlight. (I never said it was an interesting or well-written children’s story.)
Tuesday: Jupiter is about two fists above the southwest horizon at 6 p.m.
Wednesday: Saturn is four fists above the south-southwest horizon at 7 a.m.
Thursday: Forget about that big bright ball in Times Square. You can mark the start of the new year with one of the sky’s own big bright balls: the Moon. Tonight is the second full moon in December. It starts to “fall” from its highest point in the southern sky a little after midnight. Sky watchers in parts of Africa, Asia, and Europe will be able to observe a partial lunar eclipse.
That perennial favorite marker if the new year, Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, always rises to its highest point in the sky a little after midnight on January 1. Thus, when Sirius starts to “fall”, the new year has begun. Look for Sirius about two and a half fists above due south at midnight.
Friday: 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. In August of 2006, Ceres got promoted to the status of “dwarf planet” by the International Astronomical Union.
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 today. I know. I know. December 22 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 early January and the earliest sunset occurring in early December, not on the first day of winter, the shortest day of the year. On the first day of winter, however, the interval between sunrise and sunset is the shortest.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Columbia the dove, representing the bird Noah sent out to look for dry land as the flood waters receded, is perched just above the ridge south of Ellensburg. Its brightest star Phact is about one fist above due south at 11 p.m.
Monday: We end the year with a traditional children’s story, Moon White and the Seven Sisters. Once upon a time, there was a nearly full moon. Even though this moon was actually quite dark, reflecting only about 10% of the light that shined on it, this moon looked as white as snow. Lovers of bright, white objects, there were Seven Sisters who longed to get close to the Moon in the sky. The Seven Sisters were a strange group of girls. In fact, they were not girls at all but an open star cluster consisting of nearly 100 stars. These Seven Sisters or 100 stars or whatever they were went by the name the Pleiades. At 6 p.m., the Pleiades is right above the Moon in the eastern sky. You’ll need binoculars to see the Seven Sisters as they are obscured by the moonlight. (I never said it was an interesting or well-written children’s story.)
Tuesday: Jupiter is about two fists above the southwest horizon at 6 p.m.
Wednesday: Saturn is four fists above the south-southwest horizon at 7 a.m.
Thursday: Forget about that big bright ball in Times Square. You can mark the start of the new year with one of the sky’s own big bright balls: the Moon. Tonight is the second full moon in December. It starts to “fall” from its highest point in the southern sky a little after midnight. Sky watchers in parts of Africa, Asia, and Europe will be able to observe a partial lunar eclipse.
That perennial favorite marker if the new year, Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, always rises to its highest point in the sky a little after midnight on January 1. Thus, when Sirius starts to “fall”, the new year has begun. Look for Sirius about two and a half fists above due south at midnight.
Friday: 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. In August of 2006, Ceres got promoted to the status of “dwarf planet” by the International Astronomical Union.
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 today. I know. I know. December 22 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 early January and the earliest sunset occurring in early December, not on the first day of winter, the shortest day of the year. On the first day of winter, however, the interval between sunrise and sunset is the shortest.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 12/19/09
Saturday: 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 detected 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 six and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above due south at 8 p.m.
Sunday: For the next two nights, Neptune and Jupiter will be as close together in the night sky as they have been in many years. Neptune will be about a half a degree to the upper right of Jupiter. This is the diameter of the full Moon. You can prove that to yourself tonight because the Moon, a crescent moon is less than a fist to the right of the two planets. At 6 p.m., the two planets are two fists above the southwest horizon. You’ll need binoculars to see Neptune. If you are having a difficult time finding Neptune because of the stray moonlight, wait a few nights. Jupiter and Neptune will be neighbors for a few more weeks so there is no hurry to see them together.
Monday: At 11:47 a.m., 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 noon time 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 day 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 time depends 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. For more information on this, go to http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astronomical-applications/astronomical-information-center/dark-days.
Tuesday: Mars is two fists above the east horizon at 10 p.m.
Wednesday: Tonight’s first quarter moon is in the constellation Pisces the fish.
Thursday: What would that special someone want to see on the back of Santa’s sleigh when she gets up early Christmas morning to eat one of Santa’s cookies? A tool box? No. A circular saw? No. A subscription to The Daily Record? No. Well, maybe. But what she really wants is a ring. And if she looks out a south-facing window, she’ll see her ring. Saturn, the ringed planet, that is. Saturn is four fists above due south at 6 a.m.
Friday: 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). 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 man, 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. Molnar’s theory is supported by a book written by the astrologer of Constantine the Great in 334 AD. The book describes an eclipse of Jupiter in Aries and notes a man of divine nature born during this time. See http://www.eclipse.net/~molnar/ for more information.
Aries and Jupiter make an appearance in the Christmas sky tonight. At 6 p.m., the dim constellation Aries is about five fists above the east-southeast horizon and Jupiter is two fists above the southwest horizon.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: For the next two nights, Neptune and Jupiter will be as close together in the night sky as they have been in many years. Neptune will be about a half a degree to the upper right of Jupiter. This is the diameter of the full Moon. You can prove that to yourself tonight because the Moon, a crescent moon is less than a fist to the right of the two planets. At 6 p.m., the two planets are two fists above the southwest horizon. You’ll need binoculars to see Neptune. If you are having a difficult time finding Neptune because of the stray moonlight, wait a few nights. Jupiter and Neptune will be neighbors for a few more weeks so there is no hurry to see them together.
Monday: At 11:47 a.m., 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 noon time 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 day 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 time depends 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. For more information on this, go to http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astronomical-applications/astronomical-information-center/dark-days.
Tuesday: Mars is two fists above the east horizon at 10 p.m.
Wednesday: Tonight’s first quarter moon is in the constellation Pisces the fish.
Thursday: What would that special someone want to see on the back of Santa’s sleigh when she gets up early Christmas morning to eat one of Santa’s cookies? A tool box? No. A circular saw? No. A subscription to The Daily Record? No. Well, maybe. But what she really wants is a ring. And if she looks out a south-facing window, she’ll see her ring. Saturn, the ringed planet, that is. Saturn is four fists above due south at 6 a.m.
Friday: 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). 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 man, 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. Molnar’s theory is supported by a book written by the astrologer of Constantine the Great in 334 AD. The book describes an eclipse of Jupiter in Aries and notes a man of divine nature born during this time. See http://www.eclipse.net/~molnar/ for more information.
Aries and Jupiter make an appearance in the Christmas sky tonight. At 6 p.m., the dim constellation Aries is about five fists above the east-southeast horizon and Jupiter is two fists above the southwest horizon.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 12/12/09
Saturday: Jupiter is two and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the south-southwest horizon at 6 p.m. It is by far the brightest object in this region of the sky. Neptune, the dimmest planet in the sky is near Jupiter, allowing you to use Jupiter as a marker to find it with binoculars. Place Jupiter in the lower right hand portion of your binocular field of view. There will be a diagonal line of three stars near the middle of the field of view. The upper right star should be the brightest. Neptune is to the upper left of this line of three stars, a little bit farther above the stars than Jupiter is below them.
Sunday: The Geminid meteor shower peaks at 9 p.m. and should remain highly active through 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 three fists held upright and at arm’s length above the east-northeast horizon at 9 p.m. 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. This shower is typically one of the best ones of the year producing bright, medium speed meteors with up to 80 meteors per hour near the peak. Since we are so close to the new moon, the sky will be very dark meaning good viewing conditions.
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 the comet source since 1862 when the shower was first observed. In 1983, astronomers discovered the object that created the fragments that cause the meteor shower. 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. But, they still don’t know if it an asteroid or if it is a comet with all of its ice sublimated away by many close passes by the Sun.
If you are interested in participating in astronomy research by counting meteors, the International Meteor Organization would love to hear from you. Careful observations from observers around the world are critical for the study of meteors and their relationship to the rest of the solar system. Go to http://www.imo.net/ for more information on how to participate and about meteor showers in general.
Monday: On these cold mornings, it is difficult tom 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 of the over achievers in your house), you are NOT sitting still with respect to the center of the galaxy. For more information about this concept, go to http://www.astrosociety.org/education/publications/tnl/71/howfast.html.
Tuesday: Mars is two and a half fists above due east at 11 p.m.
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.
Thursday: 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 evening sky, it is east of the Sun. Thus, this evening’s elongation is known as the greatest eastern elongation. (If you care to remember this in general, remember both eastern and evening start with the letter "e".) Tonight and tomorrow will be the best nights to observe Mercury for the next few months. Mercury is about a half a fist above the southwest horizon at 5:00 p.m., just to the upper left of the crescent moon. Over the next two weeks, Mercury will toward the Sun in the sky. By mid-January, it will be visible in the morning sky.
Friday: When you were growing up, you may have heard “Don’t make waves.” The red supergiant star Betelgeuse must not have listened. According to data from the Japanese Akari satellite, Betelgeuse creates a shockwave as it moves through the surrounding cloud of gas and dust. If viewed through a telescope sensitive to infrared radiation, this shockwave would appear to be the size of the full Moon as seen from Earth. Betelgeuse is four 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.
Sunday: The Geminid meteor shower peaks at 9 p.m. and should remain highly active through 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 three fists held upright and at arm’s length above the east-northeast horizon at 9 p.m. 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. This shower is typically one of the best ones of the year producing bright, medium speed meteors with up to 80 meteors per hour near the peak. Since we are so close to the new moon, the sky will be very dark meaning good viewing conditions.
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 the comet source since 1862 when the shower was first observed. In 1983, astronomers discovered the object that created the fragments that cause the meteor shower. 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. But, they still don’t know if it an asteroid or if it is a comet with all of its ice sublimated away by many close passes by the Sun.
If you are interested in participating in astronomy research by counting meteors, the International Meteor Organization would love to hear from you. Careful observations from observers around the world are critical for the study of meteors and their relationship to the rest of the solar system. Go to http://www.imo.net/ for more information on how to participate and about meteor showers in general.
Monday: On these cold mornings, it is difficult tom 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 of the over achievers in your house), you are NOT sitting still with respect to the center of the galaxy. For more information about this concept, go to http://www.astrosociety.org/education/publications/tnl/71/howfast.html.
Tuesday: Mars is two and a half fists above due east at 11 p.m.
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.
Thursday: 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 evening sky, it is east of the Sun. Thus, this evening’s elongation is known as the greatest eastern elongation. (If you care to remember this in general, remember both eastern and evening start with the letter "e".) Tonight and tomorrow will be the best nights to observe Mercury for the next few months. Mercury is about a half a fist above the southwest horizon at 5:00 p.m., just to the upper left of the crescent moon. Over the next two weeks, Mercury will toward the Sun in the sky. By mid-January, it will be visible in the morning sky.
Friday: When you were growing up, you may have heard “Don’t make waves.” The red supergiant star Betelgeuse must not have listened. According to data from the Japanese Akari satellite, Betelgeuse creates a shockwave as it moves through the surrounding cloud of gas and dust. If viewed through a telescope sensitive to infrared radiation, this shockwave would appear to be the size of the full Moon as seen from Earth. Betelgeuse is four 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.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 12/5/09
Saturday: The earliest sunset of the year occurs this week, about 4:17 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 Sun rise and set time depends 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 leading edge of the analemma, the first section to go below the horizon.
Sunday: Mars, the bright star Regulus, and the Moon make a small triangle in the sky tonight. At 11 p.m., Mars is about one fist to the upper left of the Moon and Regulus is a little less than a fist to the lower left of the Moon. They are about one fist held upright and at arm’s length above the east horizon.
Monday: “Hey baby! What’s your sign?”
“Ophiuchus, of course”
The Sun is in the same part of the sky as the stars of Ophiuchus from about November 29 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 highly personal advice such as “Today is a good day to watch your finances.”
The bright stars of Ophiuchus rise just before the Sun. Rasalhague (pronounced Ras’-al-hay’-gwee), the brightest star, is about one fist above the east horizon at 6:30 a.m.
Tuesday: This morning’s nearly last quarter Moon is in the constellation Sextans the sextant. I know. I know. Right now, 100,000 Daily Record readers are asking “What the who?”. Sextans is a faint constellation below Leo the lion. It is one of seven constellations proposed by Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in the 1600s. He used a sextant to measure star positions.
Wednesday: Jupiter is two and a half fists above the west-southwest horizon at 6 p.m.
Thursday: Saturn is about a fist above the Moon at 6 a.m. They are in the south-southeast sky.
Friday: When Galileo aimed his telescope towards the sky, he knew of only one Sun-like star: the Sun. By the early twentieth century, Annie Jump Cannon, Williamina Fleming and others had developed a scheme for classifying stars so astronomers could identify other Sun -like stars. But it wasn’t until the last few years that astronomers have discovered planets around some of those Sun -like stars. As of this week, at least five Sun -like stars have at least two planets orbiting them. These 10 planets are unlikely to have life as we know it because they are all giant planets, some larger than Jupiter and some extremely close to their host star. But in the next few years, satellites such as Kepler will start imaging Earth-sized planets around these stars. For more information about these and other exciting new worlds, go to the last Hot Topic of the International Year of Astronomy at http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/topics_dec.htm.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Mars, the bright star Regulus, and the Moon make a small triangle in the sky tonight. At 11 p.m., Mars is about one fist to the upper left of the Moon and Regulus is a little less than a fist to the lower left of the Moon. They are about one fist held upright and at arm’s length above the east horizon.
Monday: “Hey baby! What’s your sign?”
“Ophiuchus, of course”
The Sun is in the same part of the sky as the stars of Ophiuchus from about November 29 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 highly personal advice such as “Today is a good day to watch your finances.”
The bright stars of Ophiuchus rise just before the Sun. Rasalhague (pronounced Ras’-al-hay’-gwee), the brightest star, is about one fist above the east horizon at 6:30 a.m.
Tuesday: This morning’s nearly last quarter Moon is in the constellation Sextans the sextant. I know. I know. Right now, 100,000 Daily Record readers are asking “What the who?”. Sextans is a faint constellation below Leo the lion. It is one of seven constellations proposed by Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in the 1600s. He used a sextant to measure star positions.
Wednesday: Jupiter is two and a half fists above the west-southwest horizon at 6 p.m.
Thursday: Saturn is about a fist above the Moon at 6 a.m. They are in the south-southeast sky.
Friday: When Galileo aimed his telescope towards the sky, he knew of only one Sun-like star: the Sun. By the early twentieth century, Annie Jump Cannon, Williamina Fleming and others had developed a scheme for classifying stars so astronomers could identify other Sun -like stars. But it wasn’t until the last few years that astronomers have discovered planets around some of those Sun -like stars. As of this week, at least five Sun -like stars have at least two planets orbiting them. These 10 planets are unlikely to have life as we know it because they are all giant planets, some larger than Jupiter and some extremely close to their host star. But in the next few years, satellites such as Kepler will start imaging Earth-sized planets around these stars. For more information about these and other exciting new worlds, go to the last Hot Topic of the International Year of Astronomy at http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/topics_dec.htm.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
The Ellensburg Sky for the week of 11/28/09
Saturday: As Lawrence Welk used to say, “wonderful, wonderful”. It is too bad Mr. Welk isn’t around to introduce us to the star Mira, Latin for “the Wonderful”. Mira is a star that undergoes a huge variation in brightness. At its brightest, it is about 600 times brighter than at its dimmest. For the next week, Mira is near its maximum brightness. Look three and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the southwest horizon and two fists below the Moon at 8 p.m. Mira will be the brightest star in that region of the sky, dominated by Mira’s constellation, Cetus the sea monster. At its dimmest, it is not even visible through binoculars. David Fabricius first noted Mira’s variability in 1596 making it the first periodic variable star, other than cataclysmic variables such as novae and supernovae, to be discovered.
Sunday: Have you been 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 six and a half fists above the northeast horizon at 7 p.m., about a fist below the sideways “W” of Cassiopeia.
Monday: Do you like to look in a nursery and say “it’s a boy” or “it’s a girl”? Not me. I say, “it’s a star”. Of course, I like looking into a stellar nursery – a star forming region such as the Orion Nebula in the middle of Orion’s sword holder. The Orion Nebula looks like a fuzzy patch to the naked eye. Binoculars reveal a nebula, or region of gas and dust, that is 30 light years across. The center of the nebula contains four hot “baby” stars called the Trapezium. These hot stars emit the ultraviolet radiation that causes the Nebula’s gas to glow. The Orion Nebula is three fists above the southeast horizon at 11 p.m. For more information about the Orion Nebula, go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/observe.htm and click on December. It is the last “Go Observe” for 2009, the International Year of Astronomy.
Tuesday: Jupiter is about two and a half fists above the south horizon at 6 p.m. So is Neptune. And, thanks to Jupiter and a well-placed line of stars, it is easier to find with binoculars than usual. Place Jupiter in the lower right hand portion of your binocular field of view. There will be a diagonal line of three stars near the middle of the field of view. The upper right star should be the brightest. Neptune is to the upper left of this line of three stars.
Wednesday: December does not seem to be the month to enjoy a full cold drink. But it is the month to enjoy the Full Cold Moon. This is one of the names some Native American tribes have given the December full moon. Another nickname, long night moon is appropriate for two reasons. First, winter nights are much longer than summer nights. Second, the wintertime full moon is above the horizon a much longer time than a summertime full moon. That is because a full moon is our all night, regardless of season. So the season with the longer nights will be the season with full moons that are out longer.
Thursday: Mars is one and a half fists above the east horizon at 11 p.m.
Friday: Saturn is a little over four fists above the south horizon at 6:30 a.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Have you been 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 six and a half fists above the northeast horizon at 7 p.m., about a fist below the sideways “W” of Cassiopeia.
Monday: Do you like to look in a nursery and say “it’s a boy” or “it’s a girl”? Not me. I say, “it’s a star”. Of course, I like looking into a stellar nursery – a star forming region such as the Orion Nebula in the middle of Orion’s sword holder. The Orion Nebula looks like a fuzzy patch to the naked eye. Binoculars reveal a nebula, or region of gas and dust, that is 30 light years across. The center of the nebula contains four hot “baby” stars called the Trapezium. These hot stars emit the ultraviolet radiation that causes the Nebula’s gas to glow. The Orion Nebula is three fists above the southeast horizon at 11 p.m. For more information about the Orion Nebula, go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/observe.htm and click on December. It is the last “Go Observe” for 2009, the International Year of Astronomy.
Tuesday: Jupiter is about two and a half fists above the south horizon at 6 p.m. So is Neptune. And, thanks to Jupiter and a well-placed line of stars, it is easier to find with binoculars than usual. Place Jupiter in the lower right hand portion of your binocular field of view. There will be a diagonal line of three stars near the middle of the field of view. The upper right star should be the brightest. Neptune is to the upper left of this line of three stars.
Wednesday: December does not seem to be the month to enjoy a full cold drink. But it is the month to enjoy the Full Cold Moon. This is one of the names some Native American tribes have given the December full moon. Another nickname, long night moon is appropriate for two reasons. First, winter nights are much longer than summer nights. Second, the wintertime full moon is above the horizon a much longer time than a summertime full moon. That is because a full moon is our all night, regardless of season. So the season with the longer nights will be the season with full moons that are out longer.
Thursday: Mars is one and a half fists above the east horizon at 11 p.m.
Friday: Saturn is a little over four fists above the south horizon at 6:30 a.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Friday, November 20, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 11/21/09
Saturday: The Nature of Night takes place today from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Black Hall on the Central Washington University campus in Ellensburg, WA. There will be planetarium shows, fun nature at night experiments, storytelling, soil from Mars and much more. The event is free. The Center for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Education at CWU and various community sponsors work together to put on this event.
Sunday: Mars is one fist above the east-northeast horizon at 11 p.m.
Monday: Jupiter is about a half a fist to the lower right of the Moon at 7 p.m.
Tuesday: Tonight’s first quarter moon is in the constellation Aquarius the water bearer.
Wednesday: Most constellations don’t look like the object their name refers to. Most constellations don’t have such a simple to object to emulate as Triangulum. As you probably guessed, Triangulum is shaped like a giraffe. Wait…. Just a second…. I read my book wrong. Triangulum is shaped like a thin isosceles triangle. Mothallah is the only named star in the constellation. In Latin it is called Caput Trianguli, the head of the triangle. Triangulum is seven fists above the south horizon at 9 p.m. It is pointing down and to the right with Mothallah being the southernmost star at this time of night. The Triangulum Galaxy can be seen with binoculars about a half a fist to the right of Mothallah.
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-northeast horizon and Andromeda is about seven fists above the east horizon at 7 p.m.
Friday: Are you thankful that you live in a solar system with multiple planets? You should be. A giant planet like Jupiter cleans up planetary debris that could have collided with Earth and hindered the formation of complex life. Any inhabitants of the planets orbiting Upsilon Andromedae are thankful for this, as well. Upsilon Andromedae, a star in the constellation Andromeda, was the first Sun-like star discovered to have multiple planets orbiting it. So far, all of its planets are giant planets like Jupiter. But, the system is likely to also contain smaller planets. The dim star, but certainly not its planets, is barely visible straight overhead at 9 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Mars is one fist above the east-northeast horizon at 11 p.m.
Monday: Jupiter is about a half a fist to the lower right of the Moon at 7 p.m.
Tuesday: Tonight’s first quarter moon is in the constellation Aquarius the water bearer.
Wednesday: Most constellations don’t look like the object their name refers to. Most constellations don’t have such a simple to object to emulate as Triangulum. As you probably guessed, Triangulum is shaped like a giraffe. Wait…. Just a second…. I read my book wrong. Triangulum is shaped like a thin isosceles triangle. Mothallah is the only named star in the constellation. In Latin it is called Caput Trianguli, the head of the triangle. Triangulum is seven fists above the south horizon at 9 p.m. It is pointing down and to the right with Mothallah being the southernmost star at this time of night. The Triangulum Galaxy can be seen with binoculars about a half a fist to the right of Mothallah.
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-northeast horizon and Andromeda is about seven fists above the east horizon at 7 p.m.
Friday: Are you thankful that you live in a solar system with multiple planets? You should be. A giant planet like Jupiter cleans up planetary debris that could have collided with Earth and hindered the formation of complex life. Any inhabitants of the planets orbiting Upsilon Andromedae are thankful for this, as well. Upsilon Andromedae, a star in the constellation Andromeda, was the first Sun-like star discovered to have multiple planets orbiting it. So far, all of its planets are giant planets like Jupiter. But, the system is likely to also contain smaller planets. The dim star, but certainly not its planets, is barely visible straight overhead at 9 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 11/14/09
Saturday: Imagine Opie and Andy Taylor walking down the dirt path at night to that fishing hole in the sky. (No, that is not a euphemism for death.) 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 10 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 in my opinion.
Sunday: November 13, 2009 – the world ends! Wait, maybe it’s December 21, 2012 when the world will end. Maybe you hope it ends the day before your big project that you haven’t even started is due. All of those dates are equally likely. On November 13, 2009, the movie “2012” comes out. (So, I guess that’s the day good movie making ends.) The movie 2012 is about the supposed end of the world predictions made by the Mayan calendar, Nostradamus….What’s that? “Woof, woof”…. And apparently Jack my dog. But, none of the many reasons for the supposed end make sense. There will be no planetary alignment on December 21, 2012. And, even if there was, the gravitational pull of all of the planets on the Earth would not cause a noticeable effect. There is no planet X streaking towards the Earth for a 12/21/2012 rendezvous. And the Earth’s passage through the galactic plane, another theory, can’t be predicted within a few hundred years, much less a precise day. So plan a fun event for December 22, 2012. The day will be there waiting for you. There is a good article about the 2012 scare at http://media.skyandtelescope.com/documents/Doomsday2012-lores.pdf.
Monday: The Leonid meteor shower peaks tonight and tomorrow morning. These meteors appear to come from a point in Leo the lion. This point is about one fist above the east-northeast horizon at midnight tonight. You can follow this point throughout the night and into the morning as it will remain about one fist above the bright star Regulus. Assuming the weather cooperates, this should be a good night to see a lot of meteors because the sky will be moonless as the Moon is in the new phase. The Leonid meteors are particles from the tail of Comet Tempel-Tuttle, a comet discovered by Ernst Tempel and Horace Parnell Tuttle around January 1, 1866. Go to http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap021116.html to see a picture of Comet Tempel-Tuttle. This year’s shower is expected to be much more active than usual with up to 500 meteors per hour visible throughout the night. As your Mother might say, dress warm and sit in a comfortable chair for maximum enjoyment. If there is anything close to 500 meteors per hour, you’ll want to enjoy it.
Tuesday: Jupiter is two and a half fists above the south horizon at 6 p.m.
Wednesday: Aldebaran, the brightest star in the constellation Taurus the bull, is two and a half fists above due east at 8 p.m.
Thursday: Saturday, November 21, the Nature of Night takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Black Hall on the CWU campus. There will be planetarium shows, fun nighttime projects, storytelling, cookies and much more. The event is free. Go to www.cwu.edu/~scied or call 963-2929 for more information. The Center for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Education at CWU and various community sponsors work together to put on this event. When you are there, ask about Venus. It is nearly a fist above the southwest horizon at 5:30 p.m. You can even see it in the daytime sky if you know where to look.
Friday: Mars is one fist above the east-northeast horizon at 11 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: November 13, 2009 – the world ends! Wait, maybe it’s December 21, 2012 when the world will end. Maybe you hope it ends the day before your big project that you haven’t even started is due. All of those dates are equally likely. On November 13, 2009, the movie “2012” comes out. (So, I guess that’s the day good movie making ends.) The movie 2012 is about the supposed end of the world predictions made by the Mayan calendar, Nostradamus….What’s that? “Woof, woof”…. And apparently Jack my dog. But, none of the many reasons for the supposed end make sense. There will be no planetary alignment on December 21, 2012. And, even if there was, the gravitational pull of all of the planets on the Earth would not cause a noticeable effect. There is no planet X streaking towards the Earth for a 12/21/2012 rendezvous. And the Earth’s passage through the galactic plane, another theory, can’t be predicted within a few hundred years, much less a precise day. So plan a fun event for December 22, 2012. The day will be there waiting for you. There is a good article about the 2012 scare at http://media.skyandtelescope.com/documents/Doomsday2012-lores.pdf.
Monday: The Leonid meteor shower peaks tonight and tomorrow morning. These meteors appear to come from a point in Leo the lion. This point is about one fist above the east-northeast horizon at midnight tonight. You can follow this point throughout the night and into the morning as it will remain about one fist above the bright star Regulus. Assuming the weather cooperates, this should be a good night to see a lot of meteors because the sky will be moonless as the Moon is in the new phase. The Leonid meteors are particles from the tail of Comet Tempel-Tuttle, a comet discovered by Ernst Tempel and Horace Parnell Tuttle around January 1, 1866. Go to http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap021116.html to see a picture of Comet Tempel-Tuttle. This year’s shower is expected to be much more active than usual with up to 500 meteors per hour visible throughout the night. As your Mother might say, dress warm and sit in a comfortable chair for maximum enjoyment. If there is anything close to 500 meteors per hour, you’ll want to enjoy it.
Tuesday: Jupiter is two and a half fists above the south horizon at 6 p.m.
Wednesday: Aldebaran, the brightest star in the constellation Taurus the bull, is two and a half fists above due east at 8 p.m.
Thursday: Saturday, November 21, the Nature of Night takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Black Hall on the CWU campus. There will be planetarium shows, fun nighttime projects, storytelling, cookies and much more. The event is free. Go to www.cwu.edu/~scied or call 963-2929 for more information. The Center for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Education at CWU and various community sponsors work together to put on this event. When you are there, ask about Venus. It is nearly a fist above the southwest horizon at 5:30 p.m. You can even see it in the daytime sky if you know where to look.
Friday: Mars is one fist above the east-northeast horizon at 11 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 11/7/09
Saturday: The North Taurid meteor shower peaks for the next few late nights and early mornings with the night of the 12th being the peak of the peak. This is not a prominent shower but it occasionally produces a couple of bright “fireballs”. Meteor showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to originate. These meteors appear to come from a point in Taurus the bull. This point is about six fists held upright and at arm’s length above the southeast horizon at 11 p.m. You can follow this point throughout the night as it will remain midway between the bright star Aldebaran (pronounced Al-deb’-a-ran) and the open star cluster, the Pleiades. If you miss the peak tonight, don’t worry. Taurid meteor showers result in a slight increase on meteor activity from mid-October to the beginning of December.
Sunday: The bees are buzzing around both the Moon and Mars tonight. Mars is a half a fist above the Moon at 11:30 p.m. The open star cluster called the Beehive Cluster is about a finger’s width to the right of the Moon. Keep your eye on this part of the sky for the next few nights. The Moon will move eastward, away from Mars and the Beehive Cluster. That means the cluster will much easier to find in the sky and see in detail with binoculars.
Monday: Did you look up Antonia Maury and Edward Pickering based on last week’s Halloween costume suggestion? Antonia Maury developed one of the first comprehensive methods of classifying stars. Edward Pickering was director of the Harvard College Observatory from 1877 until his death in 1919. He recruited many women, including Antonia Maury, to work at the observatory where they made significant contributions to astronomy. They make much better, and more realistic, heroes than rock stars, actors and super models.
Tuesday: Jupiter is two and a half fists above due south at 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday: We wish you a Merry Martinmas. We wish you a Merry Martinmas. We wish you a Merry Martinmas. And a happy Wednesday. Martinmas is a holiday in many parts of the world commemorating Saint Martin of Tours. He was buried on November 11, 397. What does this have to astronomy? Not much except that the celebration on November 11 often doubles as a cross-quarter day celebration, a day that is halfway between an equinox and a solstice.
Thursday: Saturn is about one fist to the upper left of the Moon at 6:30 a.m.
Friday: The constellation Lepus the hare is right under the feet of Orion. At 11 p.m., the middle of the hare is one fist above the southeast horizon. Rigel, the brightest star in the constellation Orion, is just above the head of the hare.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: The bees are buzzing around both the Moon and Mars tonight. Mars is a half a fist above the Moon at 11:30 p.m. The open star cluster called the Beehive Cluster is about a finger’s width to the right of the Moon. Keep your eye on this part of the sky for the next few nights. The Moon will move eastward, away from Mars and the Beehive Cluster. That means the cluster will much easier to find in the sky and see in detail with binoculars.
Monday: Did you look up Antonia Maury and Edward Pickering based on last week’s Halloween costume suggestion? Antonia Maury developed one of the first comprehensive methods of classifying stars. Edward Pickering was director of the Harvard College Observatory from 1877 until his death in 1919. He recruited many women, including Antonia Maury, to work at the observatory where they made significant contributions to astronomy. They make much better, and more realistic, heroes than rock stars, actors and super models.
Tuesday: Jupiter is two and a half fists above due south at 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday: We wish you a Merry Martinmas. We wish you a Merry Martinmas. We wish you a Merry Martinmas. And a happy Wednesday. Martinmas is a holiday in many parts of the world commemorating Saint Martin of Tours. He was buried on November 11, 397. What does this have to astronomy? Not much except that the celebration on November 11 often doubles as a cross-quarter day celebration, a day that is halfway between an equinox and a solstice.
Thursday: Saturn is about one fist to the upper left of the Moon at 6:30 a.m.
Friday: The constellation Lepus the hare is right under the feet of Orion. At 11 p.m., the middle of the hare is one fist above the southeast horizon. Rigel, the brightest star in the constellation Orion, is just above the head of the hare.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 10/31/09
Saturday: Halloween. The pumpkins. The candy. The children going door-to-door dressed up has their favorite astronomers Antonia Maury and Edward Pickering. At least they should because Halloween is, in part, an astronomical holiday. Halloween is a “cross-quarter date”, a day approximately midway between an equinox and a solstice. Historically, the Celts of the British Isles used cross-quarter dates as the beginnings of seasons. For the Celts, winter began with Halloween. So when all those little Maurys and Pickerings come to your door, honor the Celts and give them a wintry treat.
Don’t forget to “fall back” tonight. Before you fall back on to your bed, set your clock back one hour to the real time. Daylight savings ends early Sunday morning at 2 a.m. This means one more hour of sky watching at night 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. But, 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.
Sunday: Happy Celtic New Year! Many historians think that this day, 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.
Monday: Tonight’s full Moon and the waning gibbous phase of the next few nights will obscure many meteorites. But, the one or two bright fireballs per hour you can see during the typical Southern Taurid meteor shower may make it worth your while to say up. The Southern Taurid meteor shower reaches a maximum over the next few nights with a peak on November 5. Meteor showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to originate. These meteors appear to come from a point in Taurus the bull. This point is about four fists held upright and at arm’s length above the southeast horizon at 11 p.m. You can follow this point throughout the night as it will remain one fist to the right of the 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. If you stay up all night, you may notice Venus less than one fist above the east-southeast horizon at 6 a.m.
Tuesday: Orion is about two fists above the east-southeast horizon at 11 p.m. If you are having trouble finding things in the sky, Orion is a good confidence builder.
Wednesday: Jupiter is two and a half fists above the south horizon at 7 p.m.
Thursday: The weather may be getting cold. But, NASA still has Hot Topics for the International Year of Astronomy. November’s topic is very hot. Starting at a few thousand degrees Celsius for most of their productive lives and moving on to 100,000 degrees Celsius for new white dwarf stars, stars can definitely heat up a room. (Not as much as an episode of Grey’s Anatomy with all of those good looking doctors but close.) Not all stars start at the same temperature or die the same way. The temperature of a star for most of its productive life can tell an astronomer a lot about how the star was formed and how it will end up. Four hundred years ago, Galileo would have never dreamed that the descendants of his telescope would see such a variety of stars, objects that many uninformed people still call little points of white light. For more information about the lives of stars, go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/topics.htm and click on November.
Friday: Mars is one fist above the east-northeast horizon at 11:30 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Don’t forget to “fall back” tonight. Before you fall back on to your bed, set your clock back one hour to the real time. Daylight savings ends early Sunday morning at 2 a.m. This means one more hour of sky watching at night 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. But, 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.
Sunday: Happy Celtic New Year! Many historians think that this day, 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.
Monday: Tonight’s full Moon and the waning gibbous phase of the next few nights will obscure many meteorites. But, the one or two bright fireballs per hour you can see during the typical Southern Taurid meteor shower may make it worth your while to say up. The Southern Taurid meteor shower reaches a maximum over the next few nights with a peak on November 5. Meteor showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to originate. These meteors appear to come from a point in Taurus the bull. This point is about four fists held upright and at arm’s length above the southeast horizon at 11 p.m. You can follow this point throughout the night as it will remain one fist to the right of the 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. If you stay up all night, you may notice Venus less than one fist above the east-southeast horizon at 6 a.m.
Tuesday: Orion is about two fists above the east-southeast horizon at 11 p.m. If you are having trouble finding things in the sky, Orion is a good confidence builder.
Wednesday: Jupiter is two and a half fists above the south horizon at 7 p.m.
Thursday: The weather may be getting cold. But, NASA still has Hot Topics for the International Year of Astronomy. November’s topic is very hot. Starting at a few thousand degrees Celsius for most of their productive lives and moving on to 100,000 degrees Celsius for new white dwarf stars, stars can definitely heat up a room. (Not as much as an episode of Grey’s Anatomy with all of those good looking doctors but close.) Not all stars start at the same temperature or die the same way. The temperature of a star for most of its productive life can tell an astronomer a lot about how the star was formed and how it will end up. Four hundred years ago, Galileo would have never dreamed that the descendants of his telescope would see such a variety of stars, objects that many uninformed people still call little points of white light. For more information about the lives of stars, go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/topics.htm and click on November.
Friday: Mars is one fist above the east-northeast horizon at 11:30 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 10/24/09
Saturday: “It’s a wonderful day in the neighborhood.” Constellations can be considered neighborhoods in the nighttime sky. But, the stars in those constellations are not necessarily neighbors in real life. For example, the bright stars in the constellation Cassiopeia range from 19 to over 10,000 light years away from Earth. One constellation that consists of real neighbors is Ursa Major. Or, more specifically, the Big Dipper. Five stars in the Big Dipper are all moving in the same direction in space, are about the same age and are all about 80 light years from Earth. “Please won’t you be my neighbor?” Skat, the third brightest star in the constellation Aquarius is a neighbor to these five Big Dipper stars, all of which are about 30 light years from each other. They are thought to have originated in the same nebula about 500 million years ago. Just like human children do, these child stars are slowly moving away from home. Skat is about three fists held upright and at arm’s length above due south at 10 p.m. The much brighter Fomalhaut is a fist and a half below Skat. And, it’s not fun being below Skat.
Sunday: Tonight’s first quarter moon is in the constellation Capricornus the sea goat.
Monday: Jupiter is about as finger’s width to the lower left of the Moon. They are two and a half fists above due south at 8 p.m.
Tuesday: The Stargate movies and TV shows have access to a portal to other planets. Harry Potter has access to a portal to the Chamber of Secrets. You have access to a Portal to the Universe. This portal, available not in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom but on the web at http://www.portaltotheuniverse.org/, is a repository of up-to-date astronomy news, blogs, and podcasts.
Wednesday: Venus is one fist above the east-southeast horizon at 7 a.m. It is near the belly button of the maiden depicted in the constellation Virgo. Great. I hope this does start a new trend – tattooing a planet near your belly button.
Thursday: A few stars appear to be a color other than white to the naked eye. The reddish Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion and the bluish Vega in the constellation Lyra come to mind. But if you look with binoculars, the star Mu Cephei appears to be more vividly colored than either of these - a surprisingly deep red. This star, named the Garnet star by the astronomer William Herschel, is eight fists above the north horizon, very close to being straight overhead, at 8 p.m. It is a red supergiant star that varies in brightness by about a factor of five over a two-year period. If our Sun were replaced by Mu Cephei, it would fill up the solar system out to halfway between Jupiter and Saturn.
Friday: Finally, you don’t have to be an insomniac or work the late shift to see Mars before you go to bed! Mars is a half a fist above the east-northeast horizon at midnight.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Tonight’s first quarter moon is in the constellation Capricornus the sea goat.
Monday: Jupiter is about as finger’s width to the lower left of the Moon. They are two and a half fists above due south at 8 p.m.
Tuesday: The Stargate movies and TV shows have access to a portal to other planets. Harry Potter has access to a portal to the Chamber of Secrets. You have access to a Portal to the Universe. This portal, available not in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom but on the web at http://www.portaltotheuniverse.org/, is a repository of up-to-date astronomy news, blogs, and podcasts.
Wednesday: Venus is one fist above the east-southeast horizon at 7 a.m. It is near the belly button of the maiden depicted in the constellation Virgo. Great. I hope this does start a new trend – tattooing a planet near your belly button.
Thursday: A few stars appear to be a color other than white to the naked eye. The reddish Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion and the bluish Vega in the constellation Lyra come to mind. But if you look with binoculars, the star Mu Cephei appears to be more vividly colored than either of these - a surprisingly deep red. This star, named the Garnet star by the astronomer William Herschel, is eight fists above the north horizon, very close to being straight overhead, at 8 p.m. It is a red supergiant star that varies in brightness by about a factor of five over a two-year period. If our Sun were replaced by Mu Cephei, it would fill up the solar system out to halfway between Jupiter and Saturn.
Friday: Finally, you don’t have to be an insomniac or work the late shift to see Mars before you go to bed! Mars is a half a fist above the east-northeast horizon at midnight.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 10/17/09
Saturday: 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. This is a little like the morning of October 9 when the NASA satellite crashed into the lunar south pole crater Cabeus. The expected giant plume of dust that would be visible on Earth never materialized. But the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter photographed the warmth of the collision in the infrared wavelength band.
Sunday: 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 held upright and at arm’s length above due south at 8:30 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. The Daily Record (shop Ellensburg) would never let anything like that get into their newspaper. Their editing (shop Ellensburg) staff is too good. Nothing (pohs grubsnellE) evades their gaze.
Monday: Venus is one fist above the east horizon and Mars is six fists above the south-southeast horizon at 6:30 a.m.
Tuesday: The Orionid meteor shower consists of the Earth colliding with pieces of the remains of Halley's Comet's tail. This shower peaks this tonight into early tomorrow morning. This is not a meteor shower that results in a meteor storm. There will be about 15-20 meteors per hour, many more meteors than are visible on a typical night. The chance of seeing meteors this year is greater than usual because the waxing crescent moon will set early this evening, before the peak viewing time. 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 three fists above the southeast horizon at 1 a.m. tonight. 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.
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 south-southwest horizon by 8 p.m. The handle is on top and the spout is touching the horizon ready to pour that last cup of tea.
Thursday: In order to celebrate Galilean Nights, a world-wide astronomy outreach event, the CWU Astronomy Club is hosting a star party from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. in Lind Hall on the NW corner of University Way and Chestnut Street. The evening will start with a presentation about Jupiter and its moons. At 7:30, we’ll go upstairs to the CWU Observatory and view the night sky. Interested participants can participate in the Worldwide Star Count. In honor of you, the participant, we have rewritten an England Dan and John Ford Coley song for the event: “I didn’t know light would be so strong. Waiting and wondering about you. I didn’t know stars would last so long. Galilean Nights are forever without you.”
Friday: Jupiter is two and a half fists above due south at 8 p.m. For more information about Jupiter’s four largest moons, discovered by Galileo, go to http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/javascript/3307071.html.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: 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 held upright and at arm’s length above due south at 8:30 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. The Daily Record (shop Ellensburg) would never let anything like that get into their newspaper. Their editing (shop Ellensburg) staff is too good. Nothing (pohs grubsnellE) evades their gaze.
Monday: Venus is one fist above the east horizon and Mars is six fists above the south-southeast horizon at 6:30 a.m.
Tuesday: The Orionid meteor shower consists of the Earth colliding with pieces of the remains of Halley's Comet's tail. This shower peaks this tonight into early tomorrow morning. This is not a meteor shower that results in a meteor storm. There will be about 15-20 meteors per hour, many more meteors than are visible on a typical night. The chance of seeing meteors this year is greater than usual because the waxing crescent moon will set early this evening, before the peak viewing time. 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 three fists above the southeast horizon at 1 a.m. tonight. 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.
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 south-southwest horizon by 8 p.m. The handle is on top and the spout is touching the horizon ready to pour that last cup of tea.
Thursday: In order to celebrate Galilean Nights, a world-wide astronomy outreach event, the CWU Astronomy Club is hosting a star party from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. in Lind Hall on the NW corner of University Way and Chestnut Street. The evening will start with a presentation about Jupiter and its moons. At 7:30, we’ll go upstairs to the CWU Observatory and view the night sky. Interested participants can participate in the Worldwide Star Count. In honor of you, the participant, we have rewritten an England Dan and John Ford Coley song for the event: “I didn’t know light would be so strong. Waiting and wondering about you. I didn’t know stars would last so long. Galilean Nights are forever without you.”
Friday: Jupiter is two and a half fists above due south at 8 p.m. For more information about Jupiter’s four largest moons, discovered by Galileo, go to http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/javascript/3307071.html.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The Ellensburg Sky for the week of 10/10/09
Saturday: Halley's Comet returns this month! In the form of little pieces of its tail, that is. The Orionid meteor shower consists of the earth colliding with pieces of the remains of Halley's Comet's tail. This shower peaks on the morning of October 21 but produces meteors from now until early November. 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 three fists held upright and at arm’s length above the southeast horizon at 1 a.m. tonight. 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. As you Mother might say, dress warm and sit in a comfortable chair for maximum enjoyment.
Sunday: This morning’s last quarter Moon is in the constellation Gemini the twins.
Monday: Venus and Saturn are right next to each other in the sky for the next few mornings. This morning, the very bright Venus is at the top of a tiny triangle with Saturn less than a pinky width to the lower left and the star Zavijava less than a pinky width to the lower right. The bending of light from Zavijava by the Sun provided early experimental evidence for Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Einstein predicted that objects such as the Sun were so massive that they could noticeably bend light from a star. During a total solar eclipse in 1922, Zavijava was almost directly behind the Sun such that bits light would have to pass near the Sun on its way to the Earth. Astronomers measured its position on that day to be slightly different from its position on star charts meaning its light had been slightly deflected by the Sun. This morning the triangle is a fist above the east horizon at 6:30 a.m. Mercury is about a fist below them.
Tuesday: The southernmost bright star visible from Ellensburg, Fomalhaut (pronounced Fo'-mal-ought) is one fist above the south horizon at 10 p.m. Fomalhaut is the brightest star in the constellation Pisces Austrinus, the southern fish. This fish is said to be the parent of Pisces, the two zodiacal fish. The parent fish must have moved south to get away from the cold weather.
Wednesday: Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo, is about a half a fist above the Moon at 6:30 a.m.
Thursday: Jupiter is two and a half fists above the south horizon at 9 p.m.
Friday: Mars is six fists above the south-southeast horizon at 6:30 a.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: This morning’s last quarter Moon is in the constellation Gemini the twins.
Monday: Venus and Saturn are right next to each other in the sky for the next few mornings. This morning, the very bright Venus is at the top of a tiny triangle with Saturn less than a pinky width to the lower left and the star Zavijava less than a pinky width to the lower right. The bending of light from Zavijava by the Sun provided early experimental evidence for Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Einstein predicted that objects such as the Sun were so massive that they could noticeably bend light from a star. During a total solar eclipse in 1922, Zavijava was almost directly behind the Sun such that bits light would have to pass near the Sun on its way to the Earth. Astronomers measured its position on that day to be slightly different from its position on star charts meaning its light had been slightly deflected by the Sun. This morning the triangle is a fist above the east horizon at 6:30 a.m. Mercury is about a fist below them.
Tuesday: The southernmost bright star visible from Ellensburg, Fomalhaut (pronounced Fo'-mal-ought) is one fist above the south horizon at 10 p.m. Fomalhaut is the brightest star in the constellation Pisces Austrinus, the southern fish. This fish is said to be the parent of Pisces, the two zodiacal fish. The parent fish must have moved south to get away from the cold weather.
Wednesday: Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo, is about a half a fist above the Moon at 6:30 a.m.
Thursday: Jupiter is two and a half fists above the south horizon at 9 p.m.
Friday: Mars is six fists above the south-southeast horizon at 6:30 a.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 10/3/09
Saturday: Shine on, shine on harvest moon, up in the sky. It’s just like a full moon in January, February, June and July. The only difference is that near the Autumnal Equinox (also known as the first day of fall), the full moon rises near sunset resulting in a full night of light for the harvest. The harvest moon looks like a dull orange color while it is near the horizon because of the dust kicked up from the harvest. The dust scatters the white light reflecting off of the Moon resulting in slightly more of the red and orange components of the white light reaching your eyes. Although the Moon has a dull yellow color whenever it is near the horizon owing to light scattering off of dust and atmospheric particles, the effect is more noticeable for the harvest Moon. Tonight’s full moon is in the constellation Pisces the fish.
If you keep your old copies of “What’s Up in the Sky?” each week (and who doesn’t?), you will notice that last year’s harvest moon was also in the constellation Pisces. So was the year before’s harvest moon. And the year before that. The harvest moon won’t always be in Pisces. But, it will be in Pisces or a constellation that borders Pisces. That is because the Sun is always in (meaning in line with) the constellation Virgo on the first day of autumn. Since the full moon is always 180 degrees from the Sun in the sky, the harvest moon will be in nearly the same place each year. I say “nearly” because the moon’s orbit has a slight wobble so it does not follow the exact same path in consecutive years.
Sunday: Mercury, Venus, and Saturn close together low in the eastern sky for the next few mornings. This morning at 6:30 am, Venus, the brightest of the three, is a fist and a half held upright and at arm’s length above the east horizon. Mercury, the second brightest, is a fist above the east horizon and Saturn is just below it.
Monday: Jupiter is two and a half fists above due south at 9 p.m.
Tuesday: Mars finally rises in the evening sky… assuming you define 11:56 p.m. as “evening”. By 1 a.m., it is a fist above the east-northeast horizon.
Wednesday: The Draconid meteor shower peaks tonight and tomorrow night. The meteors appear to come from a point in the head of Draco, the dragon constellation. This point is about five fists above the northwest horizon at 10 p.m. tonight. This point remains near the trapezoid-shaped head of Draco throughout the night. Typically, this is a minor shower. However, Draconid meteors are slow moving which means you will have a easy time differentiating true Draconid meteors, from Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, from stray grains of dust that happen to enter the Earth’s atmosphere near where we see the constellation Draco. As your Mother might say, dress warm and sit in a comfortable chair for maximum enjoyment.
Thursday: This morning, Mercury, Venus, and Saturn are within a circle smaller than your fist held at arm’s length. They are about a fist above the east horizon at 6:30 a.m. Saturn and Mercury are about a third of a degree apart, less than the width of a pencil held at arm’s length.
Friday: Do you know how it is when people drive by a collision? They don’t want to look but they can’t help it. The CWU astronomy club and physics department will be feeding on that morbid human curiosity by hosting an LCROSS collision party in Lind Hall on the southeast corner of the CWU campus this morning starting at 3:30 a.m. LCROSS stands for Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite. This morning (October 9) at 4:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, LCROSS will crash into the crater Cabeus near the Moon’s South Pole. A trailing part of the satellite will analyze the ejected dust for signs of water. Locally, CWU physics professor Michael Braunstein will be tracking the collision at the CWU Observatory on the roof of Lind Hall (weather permitting). The NASA feed will be showing in room 204 starting at 3:30 a.m. There will be various smaller telescopes available for general sky observing, as well. The event will end, and nap time will begin, at 5:00 a.m. For more information about LCROSS, go to http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
If you keep your old copies of “What’s Up in the Sky?” each week (and who doesn’t?), you will notice that last year’s harvest moon was also in the constellation Pisces. So was the year before’s harvest moon. And the year before that. The harvest moon won’t always be in Pisces. But, it will be in Pisces or a constellation that borders Pisces. That is because the Sun is always in (meaning in line with) the constellation Virgo on the first day of autumn. Since the full moon is always 180 degrees from the Sun in the sky, the harvest moon will be in nearly the same place each year. I say “nearly” because the moon’s orbit has a slight wobble so it does not follow the exact same path in consecutive years.
Sunday: Mercury, Venus, and Saturn close together low in the eastern sky for the next few mornings. This morning at 6:30 am, Venus, the brightest of the three, is a fist and a half held upright and at arm’s length above the east horizon. Mercury, the second brightest, is a fist above the east horizon and Saturn is just below it.
Monday: Jupiter is two and a half fists above due south at 9 p.m.
Tuesday: Mars finally rises in the evening sky… assuming you define 11:56 p.m. as “evening”. By 1 a.m., it is a fist above the east-northeast horizon.
Wednesday: The Draconid meteor shower peaks tonight and tomorrow night. The meteors appear to come from a point in the head of Draco, the dragon constellation. This point is about five fists above the northwest horizon at 10 p.m. tonight. This point remains near the trapezoid-shaped head of Draco throughout the night. Typically, this is a minor shower. However, Draconid meteors are slow moving which means you will have a easy time differentiating true Draconid meteors, from Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, from stray grains of dust that happen to enter the Earth’s atmosphere near where we see the constellation Draco. As your Mother might say, dress warm and sit in a comfortable chair for maximum enjoyment.
Thursday: This morning, Mercury, Venus, and Saturn are within a circle smaller than your fist held at arm’s length. They are about a fist above the east horizon at 6:30 a.m. Saturn and Mercury are about a third of a degree apart, less than the width of a pencil held at arm’s length.
Friday: Do you know how it is when people drive by a collision? They don’t want to look but they can’t help it. The CWU astronomy club and physics department will be feeding on that morbid human curiosity by hosting an LCROSS collision party in Lind Hall on the southeast corner of the CWU campus this morning starting at 3:30 a.m. LCROSS stands for Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite. This morning (October 9) at 4:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, LCROSS will crash into the crater Cabeus near the Moon’s South Pole. A trailing part of the satellite will analyze the ejected dust for signs of water. Locally, CWU physics professor Michael Braunstein will be tracking the collision at the CWU Observatory on the roof of Lind Hall (weather permitting). The NASA feed will be showing in room 204 starting at 3:30 a.m. There will be various smaller telescopes available for general sky observing, as well. The event will end, and nap time will begin, at 5:00 a.m. For more information about LCROSS, go to http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
The Ellensburgsky for the week of 9/26/09
Saturday: “You know Aries and Cancer and Draco and Libra. Leo and Pisces and Virgo and Hydra. But, do you recall, the pointiest asterism of all? Triangulum, the three sided asterism, had a very pointy edge….” Sorry. Some stores have started putting up their Christmas decorations and that put me in the mood. Anyway, Triangulum is a small constellation between the more prominent Andromeda and Aries. Its main feature is a skinny triangle oriented parallel to and nearly four fists held upright and at arm’s length above the east horizon at 10 p.m.
Sunday: Did you time the exact length of the day and night last Tuesday on the first day of autumn? They were not equal in duration. Many people think that the day and night are the same duration on the autumnal equinox. The day is a little longer than the night for two reasons. First, the Sun is an extended object so even when the middle part has set, the upper half is still above the horizon lighting the sky. The second, and more influential reason, is that the atmosphere acts like a lens, bending light from the Sun above the horizon when the Sun is really still below the horizon. Day and night are closest in duration today.
Monday: The International Year of Astronomy (IYA) is winding down. But the size of the objects being featured is not getting any smaller. This month’s Go Observe is the Andromeda Galaxy. On Saturday, I had you look for Triangulum. About one fist above Triangulum is a star twice as bright as the brightest star in Triangulum. From that star, hop about a half a fist up to a star that is about one fourth as bright as the bright star you just found. Less than another half fist in the same direction is a fuzzy oval patch of light called the Andromeda Galaxy. The galaxy is impressive to see in binoculars. It consists of about 400 billion stars and is 2.2 million light years away. For more information about the Andromeda Galaxy, go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/observe.htm and click on October.
Tuesday: Jupiter is less than a half a fist to the lower right of the Moon at 9 p.m. Just to the lower left of Jupiter is the star iota Capricorni, a star a little bit larger than our Sun.
Wednesday: Astronomers, philosophers, and smart children have been contemplating the fate of the universe for centuries. Galileo did not start that trend. But by turning his telescope toward the night sky, he opened a new source of evidence for determining that fate. To honor Galileo’s contribution to this question, the IYA Hot Topic for October is “What is the fate of the universe?”. For more information, go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/topics.htm and click on October.
Thursday: Mars is five and a half fists above the southeast horizon and Venus is one fist above the east horizon at 6 a.m.
Friday: Since Halloween is coming up, the stores are filled with bags of candy clusters. Instead, 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, one fist above the east horizon at 11 p.m., is a foreground star and not a part of the Hyades cluster.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Did you time the exact length of the day and night last Tuesday on the first day of autumn? They were not equal in duration. Many people think that the day and night are the same duration on the autumnal equinox. The day is a little longer than the night for two reasons. First, the Sun is an extended object so even when the middle part has set, the upper half is still above the horizon lighting the sky. The second, and more influential reason, is that the atmosphere acts like a lens, bending light from the Sun above the horizon when the Sun is really still below the horizon. Day and night are closest in duration today.
Monday: The International Year of Astronomy (IYA) is winding down. But the size of the objects being featured is not getting any smaller. This month’s Go Observe is the Andromeda Galaxy. On Saturday, I had you look for Triangulum. About one fist above Triangulum is a star twice as bright as the brightest star in Triangulum. From that star, hop about a half a fist up to a star that is about one fourth as bright as the bright star you just found. Less than another half fist in the same direction is a fuzzy oval patch of light called the Andromeda Galaxy. The galaxy is impressive to see in binoculars. It consists of about 400 billion stars and is 2.2 million light years away. For more information about the Andromeda Galaxy, go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/observe.htm and click on October.
Tuesday: Jupiter is less than a half a fist to the lower right of the Moon at 9 p.m. Just to the lower left of Jupiter is the star iota Capricorni, a star a little bit larger than our Sun.
Wednesday: Astronomers, philosophers, and smart children have been contemplating the fate of the universe for centuries. Galileo did not start that trend. But by turning his telescope toward the night sky, he opened a new source of evidence for determining that fate. To honor Galileo’s contribution to this question, the IYA Hot Topic for October is “What is the fate of the universe?”. For more information, go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/topics.htm and click on October.
Thursday: Mars is five and a half fists above the southeast horizon and Venus is one fist above the east horizon at 6 a.m.
Friday: Since Halloween is coming up, the stores are filled with bags of candy clusters. Instead, 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, one fist above the east horizon at 11 p.m., is a foreground star and not a part of the Hyades cluster.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 9/19/09
Saturday: Last Saturday, I gave you a very brief overview of how to use the Big Dipper as a clock. But, my explanation was helpful only for a late evening in the autumn or spring. Some of you go out other times of the year and need a way to tell time then. First, find the two stars at the far end of the Big Dipper cup, the stars that do not touch the handle. Draw an imaginary line segment starting at the North Star and passing through the two Big Dipper cup stars. Now, draw a big circle around the North Star. Your circle is a 24-hour clock. Number the circle from 0 hours at the top, counterclockwise to 12 hours at the bottom of the circle, and back up to 24 hours at the top. (O hours and 24 hours are the same on this clock because the day is 24 hours long.) The hour number on the big circle closest to where your imaginary line intersects this circle is called your raw time. Due to the location of the Big Dipper compared to the rest of the stars, the time nearest the intersection (the raw time) is correct for March 6. For any other night, subtract two times the number of months the current date is after March 6 from the raw time. For example, let’s say the imaginary line between the North Star and the Dipper stars is pointed to the right. That means the raw time is 18 hours or 6 p.m. If you made this observation on October 6, which is seven months after March 6, you would subtract two times seven or 14 hours from the raw time. Thus, the time for November 6 is 18 hours minus 14 hours or 4 hours. In other words, 4 a.m. Don’t forget to convert for daylight savings time if needed. For a more complete set of instructions, go to http://prdupl02.ynet.co.il/ForumFiles_2/24505461.pdf. There is a simple “star clock” template and instructions at http://www.skyandtelescope.com/letsgo/familyfun/Make_a_Star_Clock.html. Use this paper star clock whenever you watch is broken.
Sunday: Leo the lion will appear to have two hearts for the next few mornings. Venus will be alongside Regulus, the bright star in the constellation that represents the heart of Leo. They are a fist and a half held upright and at arm’s length above due east at 6 a.m. Regulus is less than a pencil thickness to the right of the much brighter Venus this morning and they’ll remain close all week.
Monday: Let me tell you the story of the ghostly white figure that rises early in the morning around Halloween. It appears to be a huge dim glow of white light that rises up from the east in the pre-dawn sky. No, I’m not writing about the ROTC student who has her first early morning physical training. I’m describing 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 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. It is visible for the next few mornings.
Tuesday: The “twos” have it. At precisely 2:22 p.m. today, Twosday the 22nd, the center of the Sun crosses the celestial equator and passes into the southern sky. The celestial equator is an imaginary line that divides the sky into a northern and southern half. When the Sun is in the southern half of the sky, it appears to take a shorter path from rising to setting. It also does not get as high in the sky at noon. This leads to shorter days and longer nights. Since the Sun crosses the celestial equator today, there is an instant when it is equally in the northern and southern sky, called the north and south celestial hemispheres. This so-called “equal night” is given by the Latin word equinox. Thus, today is known as the Autumnal Equinox. However, the day and night are not of equal duration today. The sun rises at 6:45 a.m. and sets at 7:03 p.m. Day and night are of equal duration this Sunday.
Wednesday: Star light, star bright, the last star I see with mourning. How I wish with all my might, college didn’t start this morning. You may be making that wish on the star Capella, a tightly bound pair of yellow giants in the constellation Auriga. Capella is straight over head at 6:15 a.m.
Thursday: Jupiter is two and a half fists above the south-southeast horizon at 9 p.m.
Friday: If you are a late night person, you will see Mars one fist above the east-northeast horizon at 1:30 a.m. If you are an early morning person, you will see Mars five fists above the southeast horizon at 6 a.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Leo the lion will appear to have two hearts for the next few mornings. Venus will be alongside Regulus, the bright star in the constellation that represents the heart of Leo. They are a fist and a half held upright and at arm’s length above due east at 6 a.m. Regulus is less than a pencil thickness to the right of the much brighter Venus this morning and they’ll remain close all week.
Monday: Let me tell you the story of the ghostly white figure that rises early in the morning around Halloween. It appears to be a huge dim glow of white light that rises up from the east in the pre-dawn sky. No, I’m not writing about the ROTC student who has her first early morning physical training. I’m describing 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 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. It is visible for the next few mornings.
Tuesday: The “twos” have it. At precisely 2:22 p.m. today, Twosday the 22nd, the center of the Sun crosses the celestial equator and passes into the southern sky. The celestial equator is an imaginary line that divides the sky into a northern and southern half. When the Sun is in the southern half of the sky, it appears to take a shorter path from rising to setting. It also does not get as high in the sky at noon. This leads to shorter days and longer nights. Since the Sun crosses the celestial equator today, there is an instant when it is equally in the northern and southern sky, called the north and south celestial hemispheres. This so-called “equal night” is given by the Latin word equinox. Thus, today is known as the Autumnal Equinox. However, the day and night are not of equal duration today. The sun rises at 6:45 a.m. and sets at 7:03 p.m. Day and night are of equal duration this Sunday.
Wednesday: Star light, star bright, the last star I see with mourning. How I wish with all my might, college didn’t start this morning. You may be making that wish on the star Capella, a tightly bound pair of yellow giants in the constellation Auriga. Capella is straight over head at 6:15 a.m.
Thursday: Jupiter is two and a half fists above the south-southeast horizon at 9 p.m.
Friday: If you are a late night person, you will see Mars one fist above the east-northeast horizon at 1:30 a.m. If you are an early morning person, you will see Mars five fists above the southeast horizon at 6 a.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Friday, September 11, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 9/12/09
Saturday: You can use the position of the Big Dipper as a clock. During the late evening in the autumn, the Big Dipper cup is facing up to hold water. During the late evening in the spring, the Big Dipper cup is facing down to produce those spring showers. The water-holding Big Dipper is one fist held upright and at arm’s length above the north horizon at 11 p.m.
Sunday: This morning, the Moon starts a week of close encounters in the morning sky. At 6 a.m., Mars is a finger width below the Moon. They are even closer in the sky as viewed from Greenland and Lapland. (Yes, Lapland – look it up.) Residents there will see the Moon block, or occult, Mars. Of course, you have to hang out close together up there because it can be so cold.
Monday: Jupiter is two and a half fists above the south-southeast horizon at 10 p.m.
Tuesday: Look out moon! Don’t get stung. The Beehive Cluster, an open star cluster in the constellation Cancer the crab, is about a finger’s width to the upper left of the Moon. They are two fists above the east horizon at 5 a.m.
Wednesday: After surviving a bee scare yesterday morning, this morning the Moon gets close to something far more vexing yet potentially magnificent - a goddess. Venus, the Roman goddess of love, is about a finger’s width to the left of the Moon at 6 a.m.
Thursday: Conjunction junction, what’s your function? Saturn is in conjunction with the Sun today. That does not mean Saturn and the Sun are connected with an “and”. It means that Saturn AND the Sun share the same sky longitude, called Right Ascension. (I guess they are connected with an “and”.) Today Saturn is behind the Sun as viewed from Earth but a little bit above the Sun. That means if someone could turn off the Sun light at 11:00 a.m., you would be able to see Saturn about a finger width above the Sun. Thus, Saturn is impossible to see in backyard telescopes. It will not be easily visible until late next month.
Friday: 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. Even there was a giant, well-lit base on the Moon; you still could not see it. The new Moon is nearly in line with the Sun so the glare and illuminated blue sky would overwhelm the hypothetical moon base light.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: This morning, the Moon starts a week of close encounters in the morning sky. At 6 a.m., Mars is a finger width below the Moon. They are even closer in the sky as viewed from Greenland and Lapland. (Yes, Lapland – look it up.) Residents there will see the Moon block, or occult, Mars. Of course, you have to hang out close together up there because it can be so cold.
Monday: Jupiter is two and a half fists above the south-southeast horizon at 10 p.m.
Tuesday: Look out moon! Don’t get stung. The Beehive Cluster, an open star cluster in the constellation Cancer the crab, is about a finger’s width to the upper left of the Moon. They are two fists above the east horizon at 5 a.m.
Wednesday: After surviving a bee scare yesterday morning, this morning the Moon gets close to something far more vexing yet potentially magnificent - a goddess. Venus, the Roman goddess of love, is about a finger’s width to the left of the Moon at 6 a.m.
Thursday: Conjunction junction, what’s your function? Saturn is in conjunction with the Sun today. That does not mean Saturn and the Sun are connected with an “and”. It means that Saturn AND the Sun share the same sky longitude, called Right Ascension. (I guess they are connected with an “and”.) Today Saturn is behind the Sun as viewed from Earth but a little bit above the Sun. That means if someone could turn off the Sun light at 11:00 a.m., you would be able to see Saturn about a finger width above the Sun. Thus, Saturn is impossible to see in backyard telescopes. It will not be easily visible until late next month.
Friday: 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. Even there was a giant, well-lit base on the Moon; you still could not see it. The new Moon is nearly in line with the Sun so the glare and illuminated blue sky would overwhelm the hypothetical moon base light.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Friday, September 4, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 9/5/09
Saturday: Geometry review: part 2. School starts this week so it is time to continue our little geometry review from last week. (What? You forgot last week’s lesson? Well, go to the litter box, dig out last Saturday’s paper and review it.) Go outside at 10 p.m. tonight with notebook in hand. Ready? A square is a quadrilateral with four sides of equal length and four right angle corners. A good example in the sky is the Great Square, an asterism (group of stars) consisting of three stars from the constellation Pegasus and one star from the constellation Andromeda. At 9 p.m., the bottom of the Great Square is two fists held upright and at arm’s length above due east.
Sunday: Jupiter is two and a half fists above the south-southeast horizon at 10 p.m.
Monday: Fomalhaut, the brightest star in the constellation Piscis Austrinus, is one fist above the south-southeast horizon at 11 pm. It is the southernmost bright star visible from Ellensburg.
Tuesday: Venus is two fists above due east and Mars is five fists above the east-southeast horizon at 6 a.m.
Wednesday: The moon is spending a fun-filled Friday night with seven sisters. (Don’t tell Mrs. Moon.) At 11 p.m., the open star cluster called the Pleiades, or the seven sisters, is less than one fist to the lower left of the moon. They get closer as the night goes on. By sunrise, they are less than pinky width apart. Expect the moon to sleep on the couch tomorrow night.
Thursday: The calendar says summer is nearing an end. School starting tomorrow says summer is nearing an end. The summer triangle in the sky begs to differ as it is still high in the sky. Vega, the brightest star in the triangle, is a little bit west of straight overhead. Deneb is a little bit east of straight overhead and Altair is five fists above the south horizon.
Friday: Tonight’s last quarter moon is in the constellation Taurus the bull.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Jupiter is two and a half fists above the south-southeast horizon at 10 p.m.
Monday: Fomalhaut, the brightest star in the constellation Piscis Austrinus, is one fist above the south-southeast horizon at 11 pm. It is the southernmost bright star visible from Ellensburg.
Tuesday: Venus is two fists above due east and Mars is five fists above the east-southeast horizon at 6 a.m.
Wednesday: The moon is spending a fun-filled Friday night with seven sisters. (Don’t tell Mrs. Moon.) At 11 p.m., the open star cluster called the Pleiades, or the seven sisters, is less than one fist to the lower left of the moon. They get closer as the night goes on. By sunrise, they are less than pinky width apart. Expect the moon to sleep on the couch tomorrow night.
Thursday: The calendar says summer is nearing an end. School starting tomorrow says summer is nearing an end. The summer triangle in the sky begs to differ as it is still high in the sky. Vega, the brightest star in the triangle, is a little bit west of straight overhead. Deneb is a little bit east of straight overhead and Altair is five fists above the south horizon.
Friday: Tonight’s last quarter moon is in the constellation Taurus the bull.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Friday, August 28, 2009
The Ellensburg Sky for the week of 8/29/09
Saturday: School starts next week so it is time for a little geometry review. Go outside at 10 p.m. tonight with notebook in hand. Ready? A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three line segments as sides. A good example is the summer triangle made up of the bright stars Vega, Deneb and Altair. Vega, the brightest star in the triangle is a little bit west of straight overhead. Deneb is a little bit east of straight overhead and Altair is five fists above the south horizon.
Sunday: Venus is two fists above the east horizon at 5:30 a.m. Mars is four and a half fists above the east-southeast horizon at this time. Nearly 400 years ago, Galileo discovered that Venus goes through phases from new to quarter to full just like our moon does. Thanks to this and Galileo’s many other observations of moons and planets in our solar system, support for an Earth-centered universe was greatly diminished. To commemorate these findings, NASA has made planets and moons this month’s “Hot Topic” for the International Year of Astronomy. For more information, go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/topics.htm and click on September.
Monday: The bright star Capella is just above the north horizon at 8:30 p.m.
Tuesday: “I’m a little teapot, short and stout. The galactic center, I pour it out.” (I’m a Little Teapot, astronomy version, 2009.) Despite its great size and importance, the center of our Milky Way galaxy and its giant black hole remains hidden to the naked eye behind thick clouds of gas and dust. By plotting the orbits if stars near the middle of the galaxy, astronomers have determined that the black hole’s mass is equal to about 4.5 million Suns. While you can see the actual galactic center, you can gaze in the direction of the center by looking to the right of the teapot asterism in the constellation Sagittarius. This point is about one fist above the south-southwest horizon at 9 p.m.
Wednesday: Jupiter is about a half a fist to the lower right of the Moon at 8:30 p.m. Galileo’s discovery of the moons of Jupiter provided strong evidence that objects other than the Earth could have satellites providing more support for a Sun-centered solar system. For more information about Jupiter or observing Jupiter, go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/observe.htm and click on September.
Thursday: It is a good thing Galileo didn’t turn his telescope toward Jupiter tonight from 9:40-11:30 p.m. He would not have seen any moons, people would still think the Earth was at the center of the universe, science would have ground to a halt, and historically important inventions such as music videos and electric can openers would have never been created. “Poppycock”, you say? Evaluate your own feelings tonight. From 9:40 to 11:30 p.m., the four largest moons of Jupiter, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto will either be in front of or behind Jupiter meaning they can’t be seen from Earth with a small telescope. Jupiter will appear moonless from Earth for over 100 minutes. For more information, go to http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/52543517.html.
Friday: The Ellensburg Rodeo is a “Top-25” rodeo. What does it take to be a “Top-25” star? There are many ways to rank stars. The most obvious way for a casual observer to rank stars is by apparent brightness. The apparent brightness is the brightness of a star as seen from Earth, regardless of its distance from the Earth. Shaula (pronounced Show’-la) is the 25th brightest star in the nighttime sky as seen from Earth. It represents the stinger of Scorpius the scorpion. In fact, Shaula means stinger in Arabic. Shaula has a visual brightness rating of 1.62. Sirius, the brightest star has a visual brightness rating of -1.46. (Smaller numbers mean brighter objects.) The dimmest objects that can be seen with the naked eye have a visual brightness rating of about 6. There are approximately 6,000 stars with a lower visual brightness rating than 6 meaning there are 6,000 stars visible to the naked eye. Shaula is a blue sub-giant star that radiates 35,000 times more energy than the Sun. It is 700 light years away making it one of the most distant bright stars. Shaula is a challenge to find because it never gets more than a half a fist above the horizon. Look for it tonight about a half a fist above the south horizon, a little bit west of due south, at 8:30.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Venus is two fists above the east horizon at 5:30 a.m. Mars is four and a half fists above the east-southeast horizon at this time. Nearly 400 years ago, Galileo discovered that Venus goes through phases from new to quarter to full just like our moon does. Thanks to this and Galileo’s many other observations of moons and planets in our solar system, support for an Earth-centered universe was greatly diminished. To commemorate these findings, NASA has made planets and moons this month’s “Hot Topic” for the International Year of Astronomy. For more information, go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/topics.htm and click on September.
Monday: The bright star Capella is just above the north horizon at 8:30 p.m.
Tuesday: “I’m a little teapot, short and stout. The galactic center, I pour it out.” (I’m a Little Teapot, astronomy version, 2009.) Despite its great size and importance, the center of our Milky Way galaxy and its giant black hole remains hidden to the naked eye behind thick clouds of gas and dust. By plotting the orbits if stars near the middle of the galaxy, astronomers have determined that the black hole’s mass is equal to about 4.5 million Suns. While you can see the actual galactic center, you can gaze in the direction of the center by looking to the right of the teapot asterism in the constellation Sagittarius. This point is about one fist above the south-southwest horizon at 9 p.m.
Wednesday: Jupiter is about a half a fist to the lower right of the Moon at 8:30 p.m. Galileo’s discovery of the moons of Jupiter provided strong evidence that objects other than the Earth could have satellites providing more support for a Sun-centered solar system. For more information about Jupiter or observing Jupiter, go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/observe.htm and click on September.
Thursday: It is a good thing Galileo didn’t turn his telescope toward Jupiter tonight from 9:40-11:30 p.m. He would not have seen any moons, people would still think the Earth was at the center of the universe, science would have ground to a halt, and historically important inventions such as music videos and electric can openers would have never been created. “Poppycock”, you say? Evaluate your own feelings tonight. From 9:40 to 11:30 p.m., the four largest moons of Jupiter, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto will either be in front of or behind Jupiter meaning they can’t be seen from Earth with a small telescope. Jupiter will appear moonless from Earth for over 100 minutes. For more information, go to http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/52543517.html.
Friday: The Ellensburg Rodeo is a “Top-25” rodeo. What does it take to be a “Top-25” star? There are many ways to rank stars. The most obvious way for a casual observer to rank stars is by apparent brightness. The apparent brightness is the brightness of a star as seen from Earth, regardless of its distance from the Earth. Shaula (pronounced Show’-la) is the 25th brightest star in the nighttime sky as seen from Earth. It represents the stinger of Scorpius the scorpion. In fact, Shaula means stinger in Arabic. Shaula has a visual brightness rating of 1.62. Sirius, the brightest star has a visual brightness rating of -1.46. (Smaller numbers mean brighter objects.) The dimmest objects that can be seen with the naked eye have a visual brightness rating of about 6. There are approximately 6,000 stars with a lower visual brightness rating than 6 meaning there are 6,000 stars visible to the naked eye. Shaula is a blue sub-giant star that radiates 35,000 times more energy than the Sun. It is 700 light years away making it one of the most distant bright stars. Shaula is a challenge to find because it never gets more than a half a fist above the horizon. Look for it tonight about a half a fist above the south horizon, a little bit west of due south, at 8:30.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Friday, August 14, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 8/22/09
Saturday: Orion's the hunter. Searching for love in these lonely skies again. (Apologies to my favorite 1980s heavy metal band, Dokken.) Orion is such a prominent constellation, there are many myths about him. Nearly all involve him getting killed. In one myth, he is accidentally killed by his girlfriend Diana, the goddess of the moon and of hunting. She felt so guilty that she repaid her debt by pulling him across the sky each night in her moon chariot. In another myth, Orion is killed by the bite of Scorpius, the scorpion. Obviously, Orion wants to avoid Scorpius in the night sky so he does not get bit again. That is one story of why Orion sets just as Scorpius rises.
Notice that both of these stories have an element of truth. Orion really does cross the sky each night. Orion really does set as Scorpius rises. Many people think a myth is simply a fake story. Instead, a myth is a story used to communicate a message. Myths always have some truth in them. Try to create your own myth about Orion as you see it about two to two and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the east-southeast horizon at 5 a.m. The bright reddish star two and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the east horizon is Betelgeuse (pronounced Bet'-el-jews). The bright bluish star two fists above the southeast horizon is Rigel.
Sunday: Hit the road Mercury. And don’t you come back no more, no more. For a few weeks, Mercury has been hitting the road and moving away from the Sun in the sky. Today, Mercury is as far away from the Sun as it will get on the evening half of this cycle. This is known as its greatest eastern elongation. Yet, this distance does not translate into good viewing because Mercury will be very low in the sky. Mercury is less than a half a fist above the west horizon at 8:30 p.m. Over the next few weeks, Mercury will move toward the Sun in the sky. After it passes in front of the Sun, it will appear in the morning sky by late September.
Monday: Jupiter is two fists above the southeast horizon at 10 p.m.
Tuesday: Pegasus, the winged horse flies across the sky tonight. The horse’s body, represented by a large diamond is between three and five fists above the east-southeast horizon at 11 p.m.
Wednesday: Venus is one and a half fists and Mars is about four fists above the east horizon at 5 a.m. Venus is a little bit north of east and Venus is a little bit south of east.
Thursday: Tonight’s first quarter Moon is in the constellation Scorpius. The bright star Antares is less than a half a fist to the right of the Moon at 10 p.m. In the southern United States, the Moon will pass between the Earth and Antares and block, or occult, Antares.
Friday: Vega, the third brightest star visible from Ellensburg, is nearly straight overhead at 9 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Notice that both of these stories have an element of truth. Orion really does cross the sky each night. Orion really does set as Scorpius rises. Many people think a myth is simply a fake story. Instead, a myth is a story used to communicate a message. Myths always have some truth in them. Try to create your own myth about Orion as you see it about two to two and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the east-southeast horizon at 5 a.m. The bright reddish star two and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the east horizon is Betelgeuse (pronounced Bet'-el-jews). The bright bluish star two fists above the southeast horizon is Rigel.
Sunday: Hit the road Mercury. And don’t you come back no more, no more. For a few weeks, Mercury has been hitting the road and moving away from the Sun in the sky. Today, Mercury is as far away from the Sun as it will get on the evening half of this cycle. This is known as its greatest eastern elongation. Yet, this distance does not translate into good viewing because Mercury will be very low in the sky. Mercury is less than a half a fist above the west horizon at 8:30 p.m. Over the next few weeks, Mercury will move toward the Sun in the sky. After it passes in front of the Sun, it will appear in the morning sky by late September.
Monday: Jupiter is two fists above the southeast horizon at 10 p.m.
Tuesday: Pegasus, the winged horse flies across the sky tonight. The horse’s body, represented by a large diamond is between three and five fists above the east-southeast horizon at 11 p.m.
Wednesday: Venus is one and a half fists and Mars is about four fists above the east horizon at 5 a.m. Venus is a little bit north of east and Venus is a little bit south of east.
Thursday: Tonight’s first quarter Moon is in the constellation Scorpius. The bright star Antares is less than a half a fist to the right of the Moon at 10 p.m. In the southern United States, the Moon will pass between the Earth and Antares and block, or occult, Antares.
Friday: Vega, the third brightest star visible from Ellensburg, is nearly straight overhead at 9 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 8/15/09
Saturday: It’s a moonless August morning. The first remnant of dawn has not appeared yet. Suddenly, you notice a large softly radiant pyramid of light in the east sky. The base of this ghostly triangle is along the east horizon and the peak stretches two or three fists held upright and at arm’s length above the horizon about two hours before sunrise. Don’t be scared. It’s 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. This is one of the best times of year to see the zodiacal light in the morning.
Sunday: There are two “close encounters of the planetary kind” today. At 5 a.m. in the eastern sky this morning, Mars is a half a fist to the upper right of the Moon.
If you don’t like getting early, start! It is a tough economy and you are sleeping in? What’s up with that? Oops. Back to astronomy. There is also an evening encounter to allow you to keep up with your beauty sleep. Mercury and Saturn are about a half a fist above due west at 8:30 p.m. Mercury, the brighter object of the two, is about a thumb width below Saturn.
Monday: Gemini the twins become Gemini the quadruplets this morning. Venus is about a half a fist below the Moon in the eastern sky at 5 a.m. in the constellation Gemini. Pollux and Castor, the two brightest stars in Gemini, are a fist to the left of the Moon and Venus. Pollux is the bottom star and the brighter of the two.
Tuesday: Fomalhaut, the bright star in the Piscis Austrinus, the Southern Fishes, is about one fist above the southeast horizon at midnight. It is the southernmost bright star visible from Ellensburg.
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 can not be seen.
Thursday: The brightest star in the nighttime sky is creeping back into the morning sky. Sirius is a half a fist above the east-southeast horizon at 5:30 a.m.
Friday: You may have trouble holding your water at midnight. But not the Big Dipper. The cup of the Big Dipper is facing upward in a water-holding orientation about two fists above the north horizon at midnight.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: There are two “close encounters of the planetary kind” today. At 5 a.m. in the eastern sky this morning, Mars is a half a fist to the upper right of the Moon.
If you don’t like getting early, start! It is a tough economy and you are sleeping in? What’s up with that? Oops. Back to astronomy. There is also an evening encounter to allow you to keep up with your beauty sleep. Mercury and Saturn are about a half a fist above due west at 8:30 p.m. Mercury, the brighter object of the two, is about a thumb width below Saturn.
Monday: Gemini the twins become Gemini the quadruplets this morning. Venus is about a half a fist below the Moon in the eastern sky at 5 a.m. in the constellation Gemini. Pollux and Castor, the two brightest stars in Gemini, are a fist to the left of the Moon and Venus. Pollux is the bottom star and the brighter of the two.
Tuesday: Fomalhaut, the bright star in the Piscis Austrinus, the Southern Fishes, is about one fist above the southeast horizon at midnight. It is the southernmost bright star visible from Ellensburg.
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 can not be seen.
Thursday: The brightest star in the nighttime sky is creeping back into the morning sky. Sirius is a half a fist above the east-southeast horizon at 5:30 a.m.
Friday: You may have trouble holding your water at midnight. But not the Big Dipper. The cup of the Big Dipper is facing upward in a water-holding orientation about two fists above the north horizon 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 8/8/09
Saturday: If the 1970s group The Knack were bigger fans of astronomy, they may have sang: “Oo, my little pretty one, pretty one. When you gonna give me some time, Corona?” The constellation Corona Borealis is a pretty one. Depending on what source you read, the myth associated with the constellation can be happy or sad. Bacchus, Roman god of wine, presented his bride, Ariadne, with a golden crown set with seven diamonds. Some sources say Bacchus tossed the crown in the air out of joy when he married Ariadne. Other sources say he threw the crown into the sky after Ariadne died because it reminded him of her. In either case, his friends among the gods thought the crown was beautiful and hung it in the sky to show it off. You can see if you agree with the Roman gods by looking for Corona Borealis tonight. Seven stars represent the seven diamonds. Look about five and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the west horizon or two fists above the bright star Arcturus at 11 p.m. The seven stars form a bowl.
Sunday: Saturn is just about to be obscured by the light of the setting Sun. It is less than a half a fist above the west horizon at 9:15 p.m. Within a few nights, you will not be able to see it. By early October, Saturn will be visible in the morning sky just before sunrise. But, you still have an evening planet to enjoy. Jupiter is a half a fist above the east-southeast horizon at this time.
Monday: Deneb is about seven fists above the east horizon at 10 p.m. When you look at Deneb, you are seeing light that left Deneb about 1,800 years ago.
Tuesday: The Perseid meteor shower peaks late tonight and early tomorrow morning. The meteors appear to come from a point just below the W of the constellation Cassiopeia. This point is about two and a half fists above the northeast horizon at 11 p.m. By 4 a.m., the peak time, this point is about seven fists above the northeast horizon. If you fall asleep or forget to set your alarm, you will be able to observe this shower from midnight to dawn for a few days before and after tonight in about the same location in the sky. The Perseid shower is one of the longest lasting showers. You may be able to see up to 20 meteors per hour in the late night and early morning hours all week. However, the light of the waning gibbous Moon will obscure the dim meteors. As your Mother might say, dress warm and sit in a comfortable chair for maximum enjoyment. These meteors are sand to pea-sized bits of rock that fell off of Comet Swift-Tuttle. They are traveling about 40 miles per second as they collide with the Earth and burn up in the atmosphere. For more tips about meteor watching, go to www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/meteors/3304061.html.
Wednesday: Rise and shine and look at the planets at 5 a.m.! Venus, the brightest point of light in the sky, is two fists above the east horizon, a little bit north of east. Mars is three and a half fists above the east horizon, a little bit south of east.
Thursday: This morning’s last quarter Moon is in the constellation Aries the ram.
Friday: Many big city dwellers never see the milky white, nearly continuous band of stars known as the Milky Way. As cities grow and add more lights, it has become harder to see the bulk of the Milky Way galaxy, our home in the universe. But, there are two easy ways to see the Milky Way. The first way is to look in the mirror. You are part of the Milky Way. The second way is to look from due north through the point straight overhead (called the zenith) to due south from 10:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. for the next two weeks. This is the time of year when the Milky Way is highest in the sky and away from the city lights on the horizon.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Saturn is just about to be obscured by the light of the setting Sun. It is less than a half a fist above the west horizon at 9:15 p.m. Within a few nights, you will not be able to see it. By early October, Saturn will be visible in the morning sky just before sunrise. But, you still have an evening planet to enjoy. Jupiter is a half a fist above the east-southeast horizon at this time.
Monday: Deneb is about seven fists above the east horizon at 10 p.m. When you look at Deneb, you are seeing light that left Deneb about 1,800 years ago.
Tuesday: The Perseid meteor shower peaks late tonight and early tomorrow morning. The meteors appear to come from a point just below the W of the constellation Cassiopeia. This point is about two and a half fists above the northeast horizon at 11 p.m. By 4 a.m., the peak time, this point is about seven fists above the northeast horizon. If you fall asleep or forget to set your alarm, you will be able to observe this shower from midnight to dawn for a few days before and after tonight in about the same location in the sky. The Perseid shower is one of the longest lasting showers. You may be able to see up to 20 meteors per hour in the late night and early morning hours all week. However, the light of the waning gibbous Moon will obscure the dim meteors. As your Mother might say, dress warm and sit in a comfortable chair for maximum enjoyment. These meteors are sand to pea-sized bits of rock that fell off of Comet Swift-Tuttle. They are traveling about 40 miles per second as they collide with the Earth and burn up in the atmosphere. For more tips about meteor watching, go to www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/meteors/3304061.html.
Wednesday: Rise and shine and look at the planets at 5 a.m.! Venus, the brightest point of light in the sky, is two fists above the east horizon, a little bit north of east. Mars is three and a half fists above the east horizon, a little bit south of east.
Thursday: This morning’s last quarter Moon is in the constellation Aries the ram.
Friday: Many big city dwellers never see the milky white, nearly continuous band of stars known as the Milky Way. As cities grow and add more lights, it has become harder to see the bulk of the Milky Way galaxy, our home in the universe. But, there are two easy ways to see the Milky Way. The first way is to look in the mirror. You are part of the Milky Way. The second way is to look from due north through the point straight overhead (called the zenith) to due south from 10:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. for the next two weeks. This is the time of year when the Milky Way is highest in the sky and away from the city lights on the horizon.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 8/1/09
Saturday: In Scotland, August 1 was known as Lammas, the festival of the first wheat harvest of the year. You can remember this by looking at Spica, named for the Latin word for “ear of wheat”, one fist held upright and at arm’s length above the west-southwest horizon at 9:30 p.m. It is also called a cross-quarter day, a day approximately half way between an equinox and a solstice.
Sunday: The solar system’s cleaner is one fist above the southeast horizon at 10 p.m. Oh, you may know it as Jupiter. But as the hole in Jupiter’s atmosphere can attest, Jupiter helps rid the solar system of objects potentially hazardous to life on Earth. Astronomers think that a comet or asteroid collided with Jupiter about two weeks ago, opening up a nearly Earth-sized scar on Jupiter.
Monday: Are you thirsty? The Big Dipper can hold your water late at night. The cup is facing upright about two fists above the north-northwest horizon at 11:30 p.m.
Tuesday: Had the script been written a little differently for a well known Robin Williams movie, we may have heard Mr. Williams shout, “Goooood Morning Orion the hunter”. Orion is typically thought of as a winter constellation. But, it makes its first appearance in the summer sky. The lowest corner of Orion’s body, represented by the star Saiph (pronounced “safe”), rises at 4:30 a.m., well before the Sun. By 5 a.m., Orion’s belt is about one fist above the east-southeast horizon.
Wednesday: The full moon occurs at about 6:00 this evening. When the Moon is full, it is difficult to see dim objects in the sky because of the sky glow. But why struggle to find dim objects when there is so much to see on the big, bright object in front of you? The lunar crater called Tycho is best seen during a full Moon. Tycho was formed about 109 million years ago when an asteroid struck the Moon, leaving a crater over 50 miles in diameter and ejected dust trails visible from Earth that radiate out hundreds of miles in all directions. For more lunar highlights, go to
http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/docs/ObserveMoon.pdf, a resource of the Night Sky Network.
Thursday: Saturn is a half a fist above due west at 9:30 p.m.
Friday: Need a caffeine pick-me-up? Make it a double. Need an astronomy pick-me-up? Make it a double-double. Find Vega, in the constellation Lyra the lyre, nearly straight overhead at 11:00 tonight. Less than half a fist to the east (or left if you are facing south) of the bright bluish star Vega is the “star” Epsilon Lyra. If you look at Epsilon Lyra through binoculars, it looks like two stars. If you look at Epsilon Lyra through a large enough telescope, you will notice that each star in the pair is itself a pair of stars. Each star in the double is double. Hence, Epsilon Lyra is known as the double-double. The stars in each pair orbit a point approximately in the center of each respective pair. The pairs themselves orbit a point between the two pairs.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: The solar system’s cleaner is one fist above the southeast horizon at 10 p.m. Oh, you may know it as Jupiter. But as the hole in Jupiter’s atmosphere can attest, Jupiter helps rid the solar system of objects potentially hazardous to life on Earth. Astronomers think that a comet or asteroid collided with Jupiter about two weeks ago, opening up a nearly Earth-sized scar on Jupiter.
Monday: Are you thirsty? The Big Dipper can hold your water late at night. The cup is facing upright about two fists above the north-northwest horizon at 11:30 p.m.
Tuesday: Had the script been written a little differently for a well known Robin Williams movie, we may have heard Mr. Williams shout, “Goooood Morning Orion the hunter”. Orion is typically thought of as a winter constellation. But, it makes its first appearance in the summer sky. The lowest corner of Orion’s body, represented by the star Saiph (pronounced “safe”), rises at 4:30 a.m., well before the Sun. By 5 a.m., Orion’s belt is about one fist above the east-southeast horizon.
Wednesday: The full moon occurs at about 6:00 this evening. When the Moon is full, it is difficult to see dim objects in the sky because of the sky glow. But why struggle to find dim objects when there is so much to see on the big, bright object in front of you? The lunar crater called Tycho is best seen during a full Moon. Tycho was formed about 109 million years ago when an asteroid struck the Moon, leaving a crater over 50 miles in diameter and ejected dust trails visible from Earth that radiate out hundreds of miles in all directions. For more lunar highlights, go to
http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/docs/ObserveMoon.pdf, a resource of the Night Sky Network.
Thursday: Saturn is a half a fist above due west at 9:30 p.m.
Friday: Need a caffeine pick-me-up? Make it a double. Need an astronomy pick-me-up? Make it a double-double. Find Vega, in the constellation Lyra the lyre, nearly straight overhead at 11:00 tonight. Less than half a fist to the east (or left if you are facing south) of the bright bluish star Vega is the “star” Epsilon Lyra. If you look at Epsilon Lyra through binoculars, it looks like two stars. If you look at Epsilon Lyra through a large enough telescope, you will notice that each star in the pair is itself a pair of stars. Each star in the double is double. Hence, Epsilon Lyra is known as the double-double. The stars in each pair orbit a point approximately in the center of each respective pair. The pairs themselves orbit a point between the two pairs.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 7/25/09
Saturday: The Southern Delta Aquarid meteor shower peaks for the next few nights and early mornings with the greatest concentration of meteors being visible Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Meteor showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to originate. These meteors appear to come from a point in Aquarius near the star Delta Aquarii, also known as Skat. This point is about one and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the southeast horizon at 1 am tomorrow morning. You can follow this point throughout the night as it will remain a fist above Fomalhaut, the brightest star in that section of the sky. Since the moon sets before 1 a.m. all week, it will not be out to obscure many meteors so you should be able to see close to 15-20 meteors per hour at peak activity. As you 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.
Sunday: Speaking of meteor showers, the Perseid meteor shower is NASA’s “Go Observe” object for August. The Perseid meteor shower is typically the most easily visible shower of the year for Northern Hemisphere observers. This year, moonlight will interfere with the dimmer meteors during the peak evenings of August 12 and 13. Luckily, Perseid meteors are visible from about the last week in July until the last week in August so you can start watching the Perseid meteor shower this week. The meteors appear to come from a point just below the W of the constellation Cassiopeia. This point is about two fists above the northeast horizon at 11 p.m. tonight. For more information, go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/observe.htm.
Monday: Say "Cheese". 158 years ago this month, Vega, in the constellation Lyra the lyre, became the first star ever photographed. The photograph was done at the Harvard Observatory using the daguerreotype process. Vega is the third brightest nighttime star we can see in Ellensburg behind Sirius and Arcturus. Vega is nearly straight overhead at 11:00 tonight.
Tuesday: Tonight’s first quarter Moon is in the constellation Virgo the maiden.
Wednesday: When you think of the Solar System, the main objects that come to mind are the planets and the Sun. But much of the evidence of how the Solar System formed comes from meteors, comets, and asteroids. Scientists have been analyzing the small chunks of rocks and ice that fall to Earth. More recently, astronomers have been studying the rocks and ice in outer space with telescopes and space probes. For example, in July, 2005, the NASA mission Deep Impact smashed into a comet to study its structure. For more information about this rather cold “Hot Topic”, go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/topics.htm.
Thursday: Jupiter is one and a half fists above the southeast horizon at 11 p.m.
Friday: Mars is nearly three fists above due east at 4:30 a.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Speaking of meteor showers, the Perseid meteor shower is NASA’s “Go Observe” object for August. The Perseid meteor shower is typically the most easily visible shower of the year for Northern Hemisphere observers. This year, moonlight will interfere with the dimmer meteors during the peak evenings of August 12 and 13. Luckily, Perseid meteors are visible from about the last week in July until the last week in August so you can start watching the Perseid meteor shower this week. The meteors appear to come from a point just below the W of the constellation Cassiopeia. This point is about two fists above the northeast horizon at 11 p.m. tonight. For more information, go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/observe.htm.
Monday: Say "Cheese". 158 years ago this month, Vega, in the constellation Lyra the lyre, became the first star ever photographed. The photograph was done at the Harvard Observatory using the daguerreotype process. Vega is the third brightest nighttime star we can see in Ellensburg behind Sirius and Arcturus. Vega is nearly straight overhead at 11:00 tonight.
Tuesday: Tonight’s first quarter Moon is in the constellation Virgo the maiden.
Wednesday: When you think of the Solar System, the main objects that come to mind are the planets and the Sun. But much of the evidence of how the Solar System formed comes from meteors, comets, and asteroids. Scientists have been analyzing the small chunks of rocks and ice that fall to Earth. More recently, astronomers have been studying the rocks and ice in outer space with telescopes and space probes. For example, in July, 2005, the NASA mission Deep Impact smashed into a comet to study its structure. For more information about this rather cold “Hot Topic”, go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/topics.htm.
Thursday: Jupiter is one and a half fists above the southeast horizon at 11 p.m.
Friday: Mars is nearly three fists above due east at 4:30 a.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 7/18/09
Saturday: Being in a coma is a bad thing. Looking at the Coma Star Cluster is a good thing. The Coma Star Cluster is an open cluster of about 50 stars that takes up more space in the sky than 10 full Moons. It looks like a fuzzy patch with the naked eye. Binoculars reveal dozens of sparkling stars. A telescope actually diminishes from the spectacle because the cluster is so big and the telescope’s field of view is so small. The Coma Star Cluster is in the faint constellation Coma Berenices (ba-ron-ice’-ez) or Queen Berenice’s hair. Queen Berenice of Egypt cut off her beautiful hair as a sacrifice to the gods for the safe return of her husband Ptolemy III from battle. The Coma Star Cluster is about four fists held upright and at arm’s length above the west horizon at 10:30 p.m.
Sunday: Mars, Venus and the Moon make an obtuse triangle low in the eastern sky early this morning. Venus, the brightest planet, is at the obtuse angle, a half a fist to the right of the Moon. Mars is about a fist to the upper right of Venus. At 4:30 a.m., the triangle is two fists above the east horizon.
Monday: Take a two and a half hour walk. Too long, you say? Forty years ago today, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took the first ever walk by humans on another world. They spend two and a half hours setting up scientific instruments and collecting rocks for study back on Earth. Michael Collins orbited the Moon in the spacecraft the three astronauts would use to return to Earth. There is a special news conference featuring NASA astronauts from 6:30-7:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time to commemorate the event. At 9:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, NASA astronauts and officials will answer questions from people at science museums all across the country. Both of these events will be broadcast live today on NASA-TV and at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv. For more information about 40th anniversary events, go to http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/40th/events.html.
Tuesday: Just as we did for the previous new Moon, it is time to revisit that well known astronomy version of the Blondie hit song The Tide is High. In the astronomy version, Debbie Harry sang: “The tide is high ‘cause the moon is new. Higher still when the moon’s close, too.” The last two new Moons have occurred near when the Moon is at perigee. Tides are high during the new Moon phase because the moon and Sun are both stretching the Earth in the same direction causing the ocean water in line with the Sun and moon to be pulled upward. Tonight's moon is new. When the Moon is at perigee, it is at its closest to the Earth which accentuates the upward pull on the water and makes the tides really high.
Wednesday: Jupiter is one fist above the southeast horizon at 11 p.m.
Thursday: Do you wish it was easy to find due north? After all, a compass points to magnetic north which is a few degrees off of true geographic north. Well, tonight’s your night. Capella, the brightest star in the constellation Auriga the Charioteer, is due north at exactly 10:14 p.m. It looks like a bright light on a pole on the north ridge because is only about one degree above the horizon.
Friday: Saturn is one fist above the west horizon at 9:30 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Mars, Venus and the Moon make an obtuse triangle low in the eastern sky early this morning. Venus, the brightest planet, is at the obtuse angle, a half a fist to the right of the Moon. Mars is about a fist to the upper right of Venus. At 4:30 a.m., the triangle is two fists above the east horizon.
Monday: Take a two and a half hour walk. Too long, you say? Forty years ago today, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took the first ever walk by humans on another world. They spend two and a half hours setting up scientific instruments and collecting rocks for study back on Earth. Michael Collins orbited the Moon in the spacecraft the three astronauts would use to return to Earth. There is a special news conference featuring NASA astronauts from 6:30-7:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time to commemorate the event. At 9:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, NASA astronauts and officials will answer questions from people at science museums all across the country. Both of these events will be broadcast live today on NASA-TV and at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv. For more information about 40th anniversary events, go to http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/40th/events.html.
Tuesday: Just as we did for the previous new Moon, it is time to revisit that well known astronomy version of the Blondie hit song The Tide is High. In the astronomy version, Debbie Harry sang: “The tide is high ‘cause the moon is new. Higher still when the moon’s close, too.” The last two new Moons have occurred near when the Moon is at perigee. Tides are high during the new Moon phase because the moon and Sun are both stretching the Earth in the same direction causing the ocean water in line with the Sun and moon to be pulled upward. Tonight's moon is new. When the Moon is at perigee, it is at its closest to the Earth which accentuates the upward pull on the water and makes the tides really high.
Wednesday: Jupiter is one fist above the southeast horizon at 11 p.m.
Thursday: Do you wish it was easy to find due north? After all, a compass points to magnetic north which is a few degrees off of true geographic north. Well, tonight’s your night. Capella, the brightest star in the constellation Auriga the Charioteer, is due north at exactly 10:14 p.m. It looks like a bright light on a pole on the north ridge because is only about one degree above the horizon.
Friday: Saturn is one fist above the west horizon at 9:30 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 7/11/09
Saturday: At 10 p.m., the bright star Regulus is a little less than one fist held upright and at arm’s length above the west horizon. Saturn is one less than a half a fist to the upper left of Regulus. But, who is this Regulus? He has many potential identities. The most interesting from a pop culture standpoint is Regulus Black, the brother of Sirius Black who is Harry Potter’s godfather. Regulus Black was a former follower of Voldemort, the bad guy of the Harry Potter series. However, Regulus tried to dissociate himself from Voldemort and was killed. He would be in the pile of forgotten Harry Potter characters except that he is so interesting. Also, in the sixth book, Harry found an important note written by someone known only by the initials R.A.B. Humm. R.A.B. Regulus A. Black perhaps? If you’re too lazy to read the book and learn more about R.A.B., the sixth Harry Potter movie is coming out this Wednesday.
Sunday: Bellatrix Lestrange is Sirius Black’s cousin. But, far from being kissing cousins. They are killing cousins. Bellatrix kills Sirius in a fight at the Ministry of Magic. Bellatrix the star is the third brightest star in the constellation Orion the hunter. You can find it a half a fist above the east horizon at 4:30 am. But, don’t turn you back on it!
Monday: Hot enough for you? Don’t blame the Earth-Sun distance. Surprisingly, the overall temperature of the Earth is slightly higher in July, when the Earth is farthest from the Sun, than in January, when it is closest. That’s because in July, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun. (This is the real cause of the seasons.) The Northern Hemisphere has more land than the Southern Hemisphere. Thus, in July, the large amount of Northern Hemisphere land heats up the entire Earth about two degrees Celsius warmer than in January. In January, the watery Southern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun. But, water does not heat up as fast as land so the Earth is a few degrees cooler.
Tuesday: Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter’s young nemesis, is related to Sirius Black. Draco’s mother, Narcissa Black (Sirius’ cousin) helped develop a plan to trap Harry at the Ministry of Magic in the fifth book. Draco’s namesake, the constellation Draco the dragon is one of the largest constellations in the sky, winding around the North Star. Draco’s head is a four-sided figure nearly straight overhead at 11 p.m.
Wednesday: Venus is two fists above the east horizon at 4 a.m. Aldebaran, the brightest star in the constellation Taurus, is less than a half a fist to the lower right of Venus. Mars is a little more than a half a fist to the upper right of Venus.
Thursday: Not every woman in the Black family is evil. Andromeda Black, Bellatrix’s sister, is a good witch and the mother of Tonks, a young witch from the last few Harry Potter books. (If these Harry Potter references are confusing, talk to a young adolescent about them.) Andromeda the constellation is an interesting one. It contains the Andromeda galaxy, the most distant object visible with the naked eye from a dark site. To locate the Andromeda Galaxy, first find the Great Square of Pegasus. At 11:00 p.m., the left hand corner of the square is about two fists above the east-northeast horizon. Less than two fists to the left and down a little bit is another star the same brightness as the star at the corner of the square. From that star, hop about a half a fist up to a star that is about one fourth as bright. Less than another half fist in the same direction is a fuzzy oval patch of light known as the Andromeda Galaxy. The galaxy is impressive to see in binoculars. It consists of about 400 billion stars and is 2.2 million light years away.
Friday: Jupiter is one fist above the southeast horizon at 11:30 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Bellatrix Lestrange is Sirius Black’s cousin. But, far from being kissing cousins. They are killing cousins. Bellatrix kills Sirius in a fight at the Ministry of Magic. Bellatrix the star is the third brightest star in the constellation Orion the hunter. You can find it a half a fist above the east horizon at 4:30 am. But, don’t turn you back on it!
Monday: Hot enough for you? Don’t blame the Earth-Sun distance. Surprisingly, the overall temperature of the Earth is slightly higher in July, when the Earth is farthest from the Sun, than in January, when it is closest. That’s because in July, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun. (This is the real cause of the seasons.) The Northern Hemisphere has more land than the Southern Hemisphere. Thus, in July, the large amount of Northern Hemisphere land heats up the entire Earth about two degrees Celsius warmer than in January. In January, the watery Southern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun. But, water does not heat up as fast as land so the Earth is a few degrees cooler.
Tuesday: Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter’s young nemesis, is related to Sirius Black. Draco’s mother, Narcissa Black (Sirius’ cousin) helped develop a plan to trap Harry at the Ministry of Magic in the fifth book. Draco’s namesake, the constellation Draco the dragon is one of the largest constellations in the sky, winding around the North Star. Draco’s head is a four-sided figure nearly straight overhead at 11 p.m.
Wednesday: Venus is two fists above the east horizon at 4 a.m. Aldebaran, the brightest star in the constellation Taurus, is less than a half a fist to the lower right of Venus. Mars is a little more than a half a fist to the upper right of Venus.
Thursday: Not every woman in the Black family is evil. Andromeda Black, Bellatrix’s sister, is a good witch and the mother of Tonks, a young witch from the last few Harry Potter books. (If these Harry Potter references are confusing, talk to a young adolescent about them.) Andromeda the constellation is an interesting one. It contains the Andromeda galaxy, the most distant object visible with the naked eye from a dark site. To locate the Andromeda Galaxy, first find the Great Square of Pegasus. At 11:00 p.m., the left hand corner of the square is about two fists above the east-northeast horizon. Less than two fists to the left and down a little bit is another star the same brightness as the star at the corner of the square. From that star, hop about a half a fist up to a star that is about one fourth as bright. Less than another half fist in the same direction is a fuzzy oval patch of light known as the Andromeda Galaxy. The galaxy is impressive to see in binoculars. It consists of about 400 billion stars and is 2.2 million light years away.
Friday: Jupiter is one fist above the southeast horizon at 11:30 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Friday, July 3, 2009
The Ellensburg Sky for the week of 7/4/09
Saturday: Do you want to take a chance on seeing some really big fireworks? Don’t go to those wimpy firecracker shows. Find the hypergiant star Rho Cassiopeiae. Astronomers think that Rho Cassiopeiae will likely go supernova (explode) in the near future. Of course, for stars, near future might mean July 4, 2009. It might mean July 4, 52,009. Rho Cassiopeiae is in the constellation Cassiopeia the queen. At 11:00 tonight, Cassiopeia looks like the letter “W” about three fists held upright and at arm’s length above the northeast horizon. Rho Cassiopeiae is about a finger’s width to the right of the rightmost star in the “W”.
Sunday: Now that “Jon and Kate Plus 8” is taking a break, you should get up early and watch Mars and Venus Plus 7”. That’s right. Those lovely, overworked planets are spending time with the seven sisters for the next few mornings. Mars, Venus, and the seven sisters, also known as the Pleiades, make a small triangle about one fist above the east horizon. Venus, the brightest point of light in the sky, is at the bottom of the triangle. Mars is in the upper right, about a half a fist from Venus. The Pleiades, an open star cluster consisting of seven naked eye stars, is a half a fist to the upper left of Venus.
Monday: The full moon occurs early tomorrow morning at about 2:20 a.m. When the Moon is full, it is difficult to see dim objects in the sky because of the sky glow. But why struggle to find dim objects when there is so much to see on the big, bright object in front of you? The lunar crater called Tycho is best seen during a full Moon. Tycho was formed about 109 million years ago when an asteroid struck the Moon, leaving a crater over 50 miles in diameter and ejected dust trails that radiate out hundreds of miles in all directions. For more lunar highlights, go to
http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/docs/ObserveMoon.pdf, a resource of the Night Sky Network.
Tuesday: Jupiter has a planetary neighbor in the late night sky for a few nights. Neptune, the farthest planet from the Sun – take that you Pluto lovers – is above Jupiter for the next few weeks. At midnight, Jupiter, the brightest point of light in the sky, is one fist above the southeast horizon. You’ll need binoculars to see Neptune, the dim point of light right above Jupiter. There is also a star that is brighter than Neptune but much dimmer than Jupiter right above Jupiter in the sky.
Wednesday: Saturn is one and a half fists above the west horizon at 10 p.m.
Thursday: Jupiter is about a half a fist to the lower left of the Moon in the low southeast sky at 11:30 p.m.
Friday: Hot enough for you? Don’t blame the Earth-Sun distance. Surprisingly, the overall temperature of the Earth is slightly higher in July, when the Earth is farthest from the Sun, than in January, when it is closest. That’s because in July, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun. (This is the real cause of the seasons.) The Northern Hemisphere has more land than the Southern Hemisphere. Thus, in July, the large amount of Northern Hemisphere land heats up the entire Earth about two degrees Celsius warmer than in January. In January, the watery Southern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun. But, water does not heat up as fast as land so the Earth is a few degrees cooler.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Now that “Jon and Kate Plus 8” is taking a break, you should get up early and watch Mars and Venus Plus 7”. That’s right. Those lovely, overworked planets are spending time with the seven sisters for the next few mornings. Mars, Venus, and the seven sisters, also known as the Pleiades, make a small triangle about one fist above the east horizon. Venus, the brightest point of light in the sky, is at the bottom of the triangle. Mars is in the upper right, about a half a fist from Venus. The Pleiades, an open star cluster consisting of seven naked eye stars, is a half a fist to the upper left of Venus.
Monday: The full moon occurs early tomorrow morning at about 2:20 a.m. When the Moon is full, it is difficult to see dim objects in the sky because of the sky glow. But why struggle to find dim objects when there is so much to see on the big, bright object in front of you? The lunar crater called Tycho is best seen during a full Moon. Tycho was formed about 109 million years ago when an asteroid struck the Moon, leaving a crater over 50 miles in diameter and ejected dust trails that radiate out hundreds of miles in all directions. For more lunar highlights, go to
http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/docs/ObserveMoon.pdf, a resource of the Night Sky Network.
Tuesday: Jupiter has a planetary neighbor in the late night sky for a few nights. Neptune, the farthest planet from the Sun – take that you Pluto lovers – is above Jupiter for the next few weeks. At midnight, Jupiter, the brightest point of light in the sky, is one fist above the southeast horizon. You’ll need binoculars to see Neptune, the dim point of light right above Jupiter. There is also a star that is brighter than Neptune but much dimmer than Jupiter right above Jupiter in the sky.
Wednesday: Saturn is one and a half fists above the west horizon at 10 p.m.
Thursday: Jupiter is about a half a fist to the lower left of the Moon in the low southeast sky at 11:30 p.m.
Friday: Hot enough for you? Don’t blame the Earth-Sun distance. Surprisingly, the overall temperature of the Earth is slightly higher in July, when the Earth is farthest from the Sun, than in January, when it is closest. That’s because in July, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun. (This is the real cause of the seasons.) The Northern Hemisphere has more land than the Southern Hemisphere. Thus, in July, the large amount of Northern Hemisphere land heats up the entire Earth about two degrees Celsius warmer than in January. In January, the watery Southern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun. But, water does not heat up as fast as land so the Earth is a few degrees cooler.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 6/27/09
Saturday: Saturn is about one fist held out at arm’s length to the upper right of the Moon at 10 p.m.
Sunday: When people find out that you read this column, they may ask you all sorts of tough astronomy questions such as “Where can I see the Milky Way?” That one is easy. Just look in the mirror. We are all part of the Milky Way. The center of the Milky Way galaxy is in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, about one and a half fists above due south at 11:30 p.m. The Milky Way is NASA’s “Go Observe” object for July. For more information, go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/observe.htm.
Monday: Today’s first quarter moon is in… is in…. Actually, today’s first quarter moon is not even visible. The first quarter moon occurs one week after the new moon when the Sun, Earth, and Moon make a 90 degree angle. The right half of the Moon is illuminated. This month they form the right angle at 4:30 this morning when the Moon is below the horizon. That means that tonight’s moon will be more than half lit and last night’s moon was less than half lit. Look for this waxing gibbous Moon two fists above the southwest horizon at 10 p.m.
Tuesday: The constellation Cepheus the king (husband of Cassiopeia the queen) is about four fists above the northeast horizon at 11 pm. Cepheus is about one and a half fists above Cassiopeia. Cepheus looks like a house on its side with the roof peak pointing towards the west. Cassiopeia and Cepheus revolve around the North Star every night like a happy couple going through life together.
Wednesday: At midnight, Jupiter is about a half a fist above the east-southeast horizon.
Thursday: You have two good reasons to take a nap today. The first reason is that you will probably stay up late this weekend to watch many bright objects move rather quickly across the sky. The second is that you’ll want to stay up late tonight to watch a single bright object move rather quickly across the sky. The International Space Station will appear one fist above the east-northeast horizon at 12:25:09 tomorrow morning. It will move toward the east-northeast horizon for seven seconds before disappearing. If you miss this short trip, you have another chance at 1:56:35. This time, a much brighter ISS will appear three fists above the west-northwest horizon and move toward the east-northeast horizon for four minutes. How much would you pay for this experience? Wait, don’t answer yet. You have even one more chance at 3:30:40 tomorrow morning when the ISS appears one fist above the west-northwest horizon and moves toward the east-northeast horizon for five minutes. For more information about when you can see the International Space Station or any other human-made satellite throughout the year, go to www.heavens-above.com.
Friday: Are you feeling warm this time of year? Don’t blame the distance between the Earth and the Sun for the hot days of summer. The Earth is actually farther away from the Sun during the Northern Hemisphere winter than during the summer. Today, the Earth is at aphelion. Apo- is Greek for “away from” or “far from” and helios is Greek for Sun. So at aphelion, the Earth is farther from the Sun than on any other day. The Earth is about 3.3% farther from the Sun today than it is in January.
Surprisingly, the overall temperature of the earth is slightly higher in July, when the Earth is farthest from the Sun, than in January, when it is closest. That’s because in July, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun. (This is the real cause of the seasons.) The Northern Hemisphere has more land than the Southern Hemisphere. Thus, in July, the large amount of Northern Hemisphere land heats up the entire Earth about two degrees Celsius warmer than in January. In January, the watery Southern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun. But, water does not heat up as fast as land so the Earth a few degrees cooler.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: When people find out that you read this column, they may ask you all sorts of tough astronomy questions such as “Where can I see the Milky Way?” That one is easy. Just look in the mirror. We are all part of the Milky Way. The center of the Milky Way galaxy is in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, about one and a half fists above due south at 11:30 p.m. The Milky Way is NASA’s “Go Observe” object for July. For more information, go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/observe.htm.
Monday: Today’s first quarter moon is in… is in…. Actually, today’s first quarter moon is not even visible. The first quarter moon occurs one week after the new moon when the Sun, Earth, and Moon make a 90 degree angle. The right half of the Moon is illuminated. This month they form the right angle at 4:30 this morning when the Moon is below the horizon. That means that tonight’s moon will be more than half lit and last night’s moon was less than half lit. Look for this waxing gibbous Moon two fists above the southwest horizon at 10 p.m.
Tuesday: The constellation Cepheus the king (husband of Cassiopeia the queen) is about four fists above the northeast horizon at 11 pm. Cepheus is about one and a half fists above Cassiopeia. Cepheus looks like a house on its side with the roof peak pointing towards the west. Cassiopeia and Cepheus revolve around the North Star every night like a happy couple going through life together.
Wednesday: At midnight, Jupiter is about a half a fist above the east-southeast horizon.
Thursday: You have two good reasons to take a nap today. The first reason is that you will probably stay up late this weekend to watch many bright objects move rather quickly across the sky. The second is that you’ll want to stay up late tonight to watch a single bright object move rather quickly across the sky. The International Space Station will appear one fist above the east-northeast horizon at 12:25:09 tomorrow morning. It will move toward the east-northeast horizon for seven seconds before disappearing. If you miss this short trip, you have another chance at 1:56:35. This time, a much brighter ISS will appear three fists above the west-northwest horizon and move toward the east-northeast horizon for four minutes. How much would you pay for this experience? Wait, don’t answer yet. You have even one more chance at 3:30:40 tomorrow morning when the ISS appears one fist above the west-northwest horizon and moves toward the east-northeast horizon for five minutes. For more information about when you can see the International Space Station or any other human-made satellite throughout the year, go to www.heavens-above.com.
Friday: Are you feeling warm this time of year? Don’t blame the distance between the Earth and the Sun for the hot days of summer. The Earth is actually farther away from the Sun during the Northern Hemisphere winter than during the summer. Today, the Earth is at aphelion. Apo- is Greek for “away from” or “far from” and helios is Greek for Sun. So at aphelion, the Earth is farther from the Sun than on any other day. The Earth is about 3.3% farther from the Sun today than it is in January.
Surprisingly, the overall temperature of the earth is slightly higher in July, when the Earth is farthest from the Sun, than in January, when it is closest. That’s because in July, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun. (This is the real cause of the seasons.) The Northern Hemisphere has more land than the Southern Hemisphere. Thus, in July, the large amount of Northern Hemisphere land heats up the entire Earth about two degrees Celsius warmer than in January. In January, the watery Southern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun. But, water does not heat up as fast as land so the Earth a few degrees cooler.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
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