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.
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