Saturday: The Kittitas Environmental Education Network (KEEN) invites you to “Get Intimate with the Shrub Steppe” (GISS) at Helen McCabe Park this morning and early afternoon. The CWU Astronomy club will have opportunities for safe solar viewing as well as information about the sky. Go to http://www.kittitasee.net/events/giss2009.html for more information about the entire event. I invite you to Get Intimate with Super Spectacular Saturn (GISSS) tonight. Saturn is five fists held upright and at arm’s length above the south horizon at 10 p.m. With a small telescope, you can see the rings of Saturn and at least one of its moons – Titan. With a good pair of 10X50 binoculars and a tripod, Titan will be visible. The “10X” in 10X50 indicated the binoculars have a magnification of ten times. The “50” means that the diameter of the lenses on the front are 50 millimeters. 10X50 is a common size for binoculars.
Sunday: Wake up early this morning for a nice spring shower – a meteor shower. The Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks just before dawn on Wednesday morning. But since this meteor shower has a fairly broad peak range, there will be many more meteors than in the typical pre-dawn sky for the next week. Meteor showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to originate. The meteors appear to come from a point in the constellation Aquarius near the star Eta. This point is about one fist above the east horizon at 4 a.m. Although dawn is starting to light the sky, you could be rewarded with as many as 30 meteors per hour. As an added bonus, the Eta Aquarid meteors are bright and fast – slamming into the Earth at about 40 miles per second. They often leave a long trail. The Eta Aquarid meteors are small rocks that have broken off Halley’s Comet.
Monday: Go shopping tonight (in Ellensburg, of course) with Mercury, the Roman god of commerce. The planet Mercury is less than a half a fist above the west horizon at 9:15 p.m. Because Mercury rarely gets more than two fists from the Sun in the sky, it is often obscured by the Sun’s glare. Within a few days, it will be too late to spot it in the evening sky.
Tuesday: Are you a henpecked husband? King Cepheus was. He was so captivated by his wife Cassiopeia’s beauty that he let her rule their home. You can tell who is boss by looking in the northern sky at 10 p.m. Cassiopeia is the prominent W-shaped grouping of stars two fists above the north horizon. Cepheus is the much dimmer house-shaped grouping of stars about a fist to the right of Cassiopeia.
Wednesday: The bright star Spica is a little more than a finger’s width to the upper left of the Moon at 10 p.m.
Thursday: Do people think you have a magnetic personality? The star Cor Caroli understands how you feel. Cor Caroli has one of the strongest magnetic fields among main sequence stars similar to our Sun. This strong magnetic field is thought to produce large sunspots that cause the brightness of Cor Caroli to vary. Cor Caroli is nearly straight overhead at 10:30 p.m.
Friday: Tonight’s full moon is in the constellation Libra the scales. Since this is the time for “May flowers”, this full moon is called the Full Flower Moon.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 4/25/09
Saturday: Scientists have discovered a 1980s-type pop song that they think is the first documentation of sunspots. It says, in part, “There was a little black spot in 1610. Ain’t seen nothing like it since who knows when”. Apparently the band The Police studied historical documents in astronomy before writing the song “King of Pain”. Galileo first observed sunspots in 1610 and wrote about it in 1612. This discovery was another knock against the theory that the heavens are unchanging. Sunspots come and go on a roughly eleven year cycle of maximums and minimums. We are currently in a sunspot minimum. Go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/observe.htm for more information about the Sun.
Sunday: Mercury and the Pleiades are right below the Moon at 9 p.m. Mercury is the fairly bright point of light a half a fist held upright and at arm’s length above the west-northwest horizon. The open star cluster the Pleiades is between the two.
Monday: May’s “Hot Topic” for the International Year of Astronomy, appropriately named, is the Sun. Go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/topics.htm for more information.
Tuesday: Are you a henpecked husband? King Cepheus was. He was so captivated by his wife Cassiopeia’s beauty that he let her rule their home. You can tell who is boss by looking in the northern sky at 10 p.m. Cassiopeia is the prominent W-shaped grouping of stars two fists above the north horizon. Cepheus is the much dimmer house-shaped grouping of stars about a fist to the right of Cassiopeia.
Wednesday: Normally, the bright stars Pollux and Castor are considered the Gemini twins. But, tonight, you will be forgiven for considering the Moon, Pollux, and Castor the triplets. Triplets where one child looks much bigger than the others. At 10 p.m., Pollux is less than a fist above the Moon and Castor is a half a fist to the right of Pollux. Pollux is the brightest star in the nighttime sky which is known to have a planet orbiting it. This planet, known as Pollux b, is about twice the mass of Jupiter and orbits the same distance from Pollux as Mars does around our Sun. It is unlikely that this planet has life similar to life on Earth owing to its size and distance from Pollux. But, not impossible. More promising, Pollux may be orbited by smaller, more Earth-like planets.
Thursday: Hydra the sea serpent rears its ugly head in the southwest sky at 10 p.m. First find Procyon. This bright star is two and a half fists above the west-southwest horizon. Next, find Saturn and Regulus right next to each other, five fists above the southwest horizon. Now, draw an imaginary line between Procyon and Regulus. Just below the midway point of that line, you should see a clump of stars that make the shape of a crooked house. This is the head of Hydra.
Friday: Saturn is five fists above the south horizon at 10 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Mercury and the Pleiades are right below the Moon at 9 p.m. Mercury is the fairly bright point of light a half a fist held upright and at arm’s length above the west-northwest horizon. The open star cluster the Pleiades is between the two.
Monday: May’s “Hot Topic” for the International Year of Astronomy, appropriately named, is the Sun. Go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/topics.htm for more information.
Tuesday: Are you a henpecked husband? King Cepheus was. He was so captivated by his wife Cassiopeia’s beauty that he let her rule their home. You can tell who is boss by looking in the northern sky at 10 p.m. Cassiopeia is the prominent W-shaped grouping of stars two fists above the north horizon. Cepheus is the much dimmer house-shaped grouping of stars about a fist to the right of Cassiopeia.
Wednesday: Normally, the bright stars Pollux and Castor are considered the Gemini twins. But, tonight, you will be forgiven for considering the Moon, Pollux, and Castor the triplets. Triplets where one child looks much bigger than the others. At 10 p.m., Pollux is less than a fist above the Moon and Castor is a half a fist to the right of Pollux. Pollux is the brightest star in the nighttime sky which is known to have a planet orbiting it. This planet, known as Pollux b, is about twice the mass of Jupiter and orbits the same distance from Pollux as Mars does around our Sun. It is unlikely that this planet has life similar to life on Earth owing to its size and distance from Pollux. But, not impossible. More promising, Pollux may be orbited by smaller, more Earth-like planets.
Thursday: Hydra the sea serpent rears its ugly head in the southwest sky at 10 p.m. First find Procyon. This bright star is two and a half fists above the west-southwest horizon. Next, find Saturn and Regulus right next to each other, five fists above the southwest horizon. Now, draw an imaginary line between Procyon and Regulus. Just below the midway point of that line, you should see a clump of stars that make the shape of a crooked house. This is the head of Hydra.
Friday: Saturn is five fists above the south horizon at 10 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 4/18/09
Saturday: This week is National Dark Sky Week, a time during which people in the United States are encouraged to turn off any unnecessary outdoor lights in order to temporarily reduce light pollution. Light pollution is the adverse effect of unwanted light including sky glow, glare, and light clutter. If you think that there is not much sky glow, or wasted light, in the world, look at the nighttime image of the Earth at http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~pesti/night/. While turning off a few unnecessary outdoor lights for one week will not solve the problem of light pollution, National Dark Sky Week will raise awareness of the issue. You can do your own dark sky test. At 10 p.m., look in the sky starting at the southwest horizon, moving to about halfway up in the western sky and back down to due north. If you can see the faint glow of the Milky Way Galaxy, you are observing from a dark site.
Sunday: At 5:30 a.m., Jupiter is less than a finger’s width to the lower left of the Moon. They are low in the southeast sky.
Monday: The Lyrid meteor shower peaks over the next two nights. The meteors appear to come from a point to the right of the bright bluish star Vega in the constellation Lyra the lyre. This point is about three fists above the east-northeast horizon at midnight tonight and close to straight over head near dawn. The best time to look is just before dawn since that is when the radiant, or point from which the meteors appear to come, is high in the sky. For most of the night, the Moon will be below the horizon meaning the sky will be dark enough to see dim meteors. This shower produces about 15 meteors, tiny rocks that hit the Earth and burn up in the atmosphere, every hour during the peak. The Lyrid meteor shower has historical interest because it was one of the first ones observed. Chinese records say “stars fell like rain” in the shower of 687 B.C.
Tuesday: Saturn is exactly five fists above due east at 10 p.m.
Wednesday: Who can forget that well known astronomy tune, “I saw Venus kiss a crescent Moon, low up in the eastern sky so bright.” At 5 a.m., Venus will just to the left of the crescent Moon. At 5:25, the Moon will pass between the Earth and Venus leading to a Venus occultation. At 6:25, about 20 minutes after sunrise, Venus will reappear from behind the right side of the Moon right at the Three o’clock position on the Moon. Since the right hand side of the Moon is not illuminated and about the same color as the rest of the sky, it will look like Venus appeared out of thin air. If that’s too early, go outside a 10 a.m. The thin crescent Moon and Venus will be four and a half fists above the south-southeast horizon. Look at the Moon through a pair of binoculars. Venus will be to the right of the Moon. Then, move your binoculars from your eyes while looking at the Moon and Venus. You should still be able to see Venus about a finger’s width to the right of the Moon even though it is daytime. For an extra challenge, try to find Mars. It is about a half a fist below the Moon.
Thursday: At 5:30 a.m., Venus is about a fist and Mars is about a half a fist above the east horizon.
Friday: You read a lot in this column about Sirius, the brightest star in the nighttime sky and the main star in Canis Major, the Greater Dog. But, you don’t read as much about Canis Minor, the Lesser Dog, and its brightest star, Procyon. Procyon is the seventh brightest star in the nighttime sky and the fifth brightest visible from Ellensburg. Procyon is four fists above the southwest horizon at 9 p.m. I guess Procyon and Canis Minor just need a better public relations team.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: At 5:30 a.m., Jupiter is less than a finger’s width to the lower left of the Moon. They are low in the southeast sky.
Monday: The Lyrid meteor shower peaks over the next two nights. The meteors appear to come from a point to the right of the bright bluish star Vega in the constellation Lyra the lyre. This point is about three fists above the east-northeast horizon at midnight tonight and close to straight over head near dawn. The best time to look is just before dawn since that is when the radiant, or point from which the meteors appear to come, is high in the sky. For most of the night, the Moon will be below the horizon meaning the sky will be dark enough to see dim meteors. This shower produces about 15 meteors, tiny rocks that hit the Earth and burn up in the atmosphere, every hour during the peak. The Lyrid meteor shower has historical interest because it was one of the first ones observed. Chinese records say “stars fell like rain” in the shower of 687 B.C.
Tuesday: Saturn is exactly five fists above due east at 10 p.m.
Wednesday: Who can forget that well known astronomy tune, “I saw Venus kiss a crescent Moon, low up in the eastern sky so bright.” At 5 a.m., Venus will just to the left of the crescent Moon. At 5:25, the Moon will pass between the Earth and Venus leading to a Venus occultation. At 6:25, about 20 minutes after sunrise, Venus will reappear from behind the right side of the Moon right at the Three o’clock position on the Moon. Since the right hand side of the Moon is not illuminated and about the same color as the rest of the sky, it will look like Venus appeared out of thin air. If that’s too early, go outside a 10 a.m. The thin crescent Moon and Venus will be four and a half fists above the south-southeast horizon. Look at the Moon through a pair of binoculars. Venus will be to the right of the Moon. Then, move your binoculars from your eyes while looking at the Moon and Venus. You should still be able to see Venus about a finger’s width to the right of the Moon even though it is daytime. For an extra challenge, try to find Mars. It is about a half a fist below the Moon.
Thursday: At 5:30 a.m., Venus is about a fist and Mars is about a half a fist above the east horizon.
Friday: You read a lot in this column about Sirius, the brightest star in the nighttime sky and the main star in Canis Major, the Greater Dog. But, you don’t read as much about Canis Minor, the Lesser Dog, and its brightest star, Procyon. Procyon is the seventh brightest star in the nighttime sky and the fifth brightest visible from Ellensburg. Procyon is four fists above the southwest horizon at 9 p.m. I guess Procyon and Canis Minor just need a better public relations team.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
The Ellensburg Sky for the week of 4/11/09
Saturday: You know Metis and Thebe and Adrastea and Amalthea. Io and Ganymede and Callisto and Europa. But do you recall? There are 63 Jovian moons in all. Less than 50 years ago, Jupiter was thought to have only 12 moons. But, astronomers are red-nosed with delight that the advent of supersensitive electronic cameras has caused the number of discovered moons to rapidly increase. Jupiter’s 63 moons range in size from Ganymede, with a diameter of 5,262 kilometers, to S/2002 J12 and S/2003 J9, with a diameter of only one kilometer. Our moon has a diameter of 3,475 kilometers. (One kilometer is 0.62 miles.) Saturn is second place in the moon race with 61 (up from 60 last year at this time). Uranus is next with 27. Then comes Neptune with 13, Mars with 2, and Earth with 1. Even dwarf planets have moons. Pluto has 3, Eris has 1, and Haumea has 2. Eris is an outer solar system object that was discovered in 2005 and named in September of 2006. Because it is larger than Pluto, people called it the tenth planet for a while. Haumea, the newest dwarf planet, was discovered in 2004 and officially named a dwarf planet on September 17, 2008. Saturn, the planet with the greatest increase in known moons over the past year, is four fists held upright and at arm’s length above the southeast horizon at 9 p.m. Go to http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/A_Guide_to_Planetary_Satellites.html for more information about moons.
Sunday: Today is Easter. How did I know? I looked at my calendar. According to my calendar, this Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox. With rare exceptions, this is how the date for Easter is set on any given year.
Monday: Antares is less than one pinky width to the upper left of the Moon at 5 a.m.
Tuesday: Start saying “Good bye” to the brightest star in the nighttime sky. Sirius, in the constellation Canis Major, is one and a half fists above the southwest horizon at 9 p.m.
Wednesday: Jupiter is one fist above the southeast horizon at 5:30 a.m.
Thursday: Remember the old saying: April showers bring… meteors. The Lyrid meteor shower is typically active from tonight to April 27. The meteors appear to come from a point to the right of the bright bluish star Vega in the constellation Lyra the lyre. This point is about three fists above the east-northeast horizon at midnight tonight and close to straight over head near dawn. The best time to look is just before dawn since that is when the radiant, or point from which the meteors appear to come, is high in the sky. As your Mother might say, dress warm and sit in a comfortable chair for maximum enjoyment. Meteors are tiny rocks that hit the Earth and burn up in the atmosphere. This is typically one of the least interesting major meteor showers of the year with about 10-20 meteors per hour. However, it is also one of the most unpredictable. As recently as 1982, there were 90 meteors visible during a single hour. In addition, the Lyrid meteor shower has historical interest because it was one of the first ones observed. Chinese records say “stars fell like rain” in the shower of 687 B.C.
Friday: This morning’s last quarter moon is in the constellation Sagittarius the archer.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Today is Easter. How did I know? I looked at my calendar. According to my calendar, this Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox. With rare exceptions, this is how the date for Easter is set on any given year.
Monday: Antares is less than one pinky width to the upper left of the Moon at 5 a.m.
Tuesday: Start saying “Good bye” to the brightest star in the nighttime sky. Sirius, in the constellation Canis Major, is one and a half fists above the southwest horizon at 9 p.m.
Wednesday: Jupiter is one fist above the southeast horizon at 5:30 a.m.
Thursday: Remember the old saying: April showers bring… meteors. The Lyrid meteor shower is typically active from tonight to April 27. The meteors appear to come from a point to the right of the bright bluish star Vega in the constellation Lyra the lyre. This point is about three fists above the east-northeast horizon at midnight tonight and close to straight over head near dawn. The best time to look is just before dawn since that is when the radiant, or point from which the meteors appear to come, is high in the sky. As your Mother might say, dress warm and sit in a comfortable chair for maximum enjoyment. Meteors are tiny rocks that hit the Earth and burn up in the atmosphere. This is typically one of the least interesting major meteor showers of the year with about 10-20 meteors per hour. However, it is also one of the most unpredictable. As recently as 1982, there were 90 meteors visible during a single hour. In addition, the Lyrid meteor shower has historical interest because it was one of the first ones observed. Chinese records say “stars fell like rain” in the shower of 687 B.C.
Friday: This morning’s last quarter moon is in the constellation Sagittarius the archer.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 4/4/09
Saturday: Some people in town today for the Yakima River Canyon Marathon may be looking for a little running inspiration. While nothing can take the place of a 20 mile long run for marathon preparation (I know), certain objects in the night sky are inspiring. In the Bible, Job specifically mentions the star Arcturus, or the bear keeper, to his friend as a sign of God's majesty. He describes God as that "Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers (constellations) of the south" (Job 9:9, King James Version). Whatever your religious beliefs, it is clear that Job was impressed with this very bright star. See the star that inspired Job nearly three fists held upright and at arm’s length above due east at 10 p.m.
Sunday: Vega, the brightest star in the constellation Lyra is one fist above the northeast horizon at 10:30 p.m.
Monday: Saturn is about a half a fist above the moon at 10 p.m.
Tuesday: Avast ye matey. Swab the poop deck. Pirates love astronomy. In fact, the term “poop” in poop deck comes from the French word for stern (poupe) which comes for the Latin word Puppis. Puppis is a constellation that represents the raised stern deck of Argo Navis, the ship used by Jason and the Argonauts in Greek mythology. Argo Nevis was an ancient constellation that is now divided between the constellations Puppis, Vela and Carina. The top of Puppis is about a fist and a half to the left of the bright star Sirius in the south-southwest sky at 9 p.m. Rho Puppis, one of the brightest stars in the constellation, is about one and a half fists above the south horizon at this time.
Wednesday: Jupiter is one fist above the southeast horizon at 5:30 a.m. Set your alarm.
Thursday: Do you like pop music? You don’t? So, so what. In the first draft of a song on her latest album “Funhouse”, the singer P!nk wrote “Waiter just took my full moon, and gave it to Jessica Simps”. Coincidence? I think not. Some Native American tribes called the April full moon the full pink moon because its arrival coincided with the blooming of wild ground phlox, a pink wild flower. Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo, must like P!nk because it is about a half a fist above the moon at 10 p.m.
Friday: Orion, the great constellation of winter, is sinking into the western horizon. The belt of Orion is two fists above the southwest horizon at 9 p.m. By the end of the month, Orion will be nearly lost in the evening twilight.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Vega, the brightest star in the constellation Lyra is one fist above the northeast horizon at 10:30 p.m.
Monday: Saturn is about a half a fist above the moon at 10 p.m.
Tuesday: Avast ye matey. Swab the poop deck. Pirates love astronomy. In fact, the term “poop” in poop deck comes from the French word for stern (poupe) which comes for the Latin word Puppis. Puppis is a constellation that represents the raised stern deck of Argo Navis, the ship used by Jason and the Argonauts in Greek mythology. Argo Nevis was an ancient constellation that is now divided between the constellations Puppis, Vela and Carina. The top of Puppis is about a fist and a half to the left of the bright star Sirius in the south-southwest sky at 9 p.m. Rho Puppis, one of the brightest stars in the constellation, is about one and a half fists above the south horizon at this time.
Wednesday: Jupiter is one fist above the southeast horizon at 5:30 a.m. Set your alarm.
Thursday: Do you like pop music? You don’t? So, so what. In the first draft of a song on her latest album “Funhouse”, the singer P!nk wrote “Waiter just took my full moon, and gave it to Jessica Simps”. Coincidence? I think not. Some Native American tribes called the April full moon the full pink moon because its arrival coincided with the blooming of wild ground phlox, a pink wild flower. Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo, must like P!nk because it is about a half a fist above the moon at 10 p.m.
Friday: Orion, the great constellation of winter, is sinking into the western horizon. The belt of Orion is two fists above the southwest horizon at 9 p.m. By the end of the month, Orion will be nearly lost in the evening twilight.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
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