Saturday: Dead October flowers lead to November meteor showers. While the Lyonid meteor shower is the big name among November meteor showers, the one or two bright fireballs per hour you can see during the typical Southern Taurids meteor shower may make it worth your while to say up. This shower reaches a maximum over the next few nights with a peak on November 6th. 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 V-shaped Hyades Cluster with its bright star Aldebaran (pronounced Al-deb’-a-ran). Meteors are tiny rocks that burn up in the atmosphere when the Earth runs into them. These rocks are broken off parts of Comet 2P/Encke.
Sunday: Halloween. The pumpkins. The candy. The children going door-to-door dressed up as their favorite astronomers Henrietta Swan Leavitt and Henry Draper. 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 Leavitts and Drapers come to your door tomorrow night, honor the Celts and give them a wintry treat. If they ask you for a trick, point out Venus, a half a fist above the southwest horizon.
Monday: Are you thinking of dressing up like a student and visiting a scary museum? Then the Museum of Culture and Environment at Central Washington University has an event for you, an interdisciplinary symposium called "Fabricating the Fantastic: The Pleasures and Perils of Exaggeration," at 4:30 p.m. Monday in Dean Hall. The symposium is inspired by the museum's exhibit "Storytelling Through the Mail: Tall Tale Postcards." CWU professors will talk about how exaggeration plays a role in certain fields, including astronomy. Go to http://goo.gl/C8Ynf for more information. If you doubt that museums can be scary, check out the size of the bugs on some of the postcards. Buzzzzzz, indeed!
Tuesday: 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.
Wednesday: Jupiter is two and a half fists above the east horizon at 8 p.m.
Thursday: Lacerta, the faint lizard constellation, is straight overhead at 9 p.m. It was named by the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in 1687 to fill the space between the much brighter and well-defined constellations Pegasus, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, and Cygnus going clockwise from the constellation just south of Lacerta. Chinese know this group of stars as a flying serpent or dragon.
Friday: Mars is five and a half fists above the southeast horizon at 7 a.m. Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo is a half a fist to the lower left.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 10/22/11
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: Would you like to contribute to science? Participate in the Great World Wide Star Count this week. Go to http://www.windows2universe.org/citizen_science/starcount/ to download instructions. Basically, you’ll count the stars you can see in Cygnus the Swan, a constellation that is nearly straight overhead at 8 p.m.
Monday: 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. A recent story highlights NASA’s Spitzer Space telescope’s discovery of a comet “storm” in a nearby star system that resembles what astronomers think occurred in our own solar system nearly four billion years ago. By studying the evidence of ice, organic material, and rocks near the one billion year old star Eta Corvi, astronomers may learn more about how the Earth was affected by a similar environment early in its formation.
Tuesday: Mars is five and a half fists above the southeast horizon at 6:30 a.m. The slightly dimmer star Regulus is a fist to the lower left of Mars.
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. But it can be felt, especially by the oceans. The Moon is at perigee tonight meaning the Moon is the closest it will be this month. When the Moon is at perigee during the new or full stage, the high tides are especially high because the Sun, Earth and Moon are all lined up.
Thursday: This weekend is Halloween so make sure you load up on peanut clusters, almond clusters, and open star clusters. That last one will be easy (and cheap, actually free) because two of the most prominent open star clusters in the sky are easily visible in the autumn sky. The sideways V-shaped Hyades Cluster is two fists above due east at 10 p.m. Containing over 300 stars; the Hyades cluster is about 150 light years away and 625 million years old. The Pleiades Cluster, a little more than three fists above due east, is larger at over 1000 stars and younger. Compared to our 5 billion year old Sun, the 100 million year age of the Pleiades is infant-like.
Friday: Jupiter is in opposition tonight. No, that doesn’t mean it will disagree with everything you say. (Yes it does. No it doesn’t. Yes it does. No it doesn’t) Opposition means that a planet is on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun. An object is in opposition when it is due south 12 hours after the Sun. When an object is in opposition, it is at its highest point in the sky during the darkest time of the night. A planet in opposition shines brighter and appears larger in a telescope than any other night of its orbital cycle. Jupiter is five and a half fists above due south at 1 a.m. daylight savings time which is midnight standard time. If you’d rather not stay up so late, you can find it three fists above the east-southeast horizon at 9 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Would you like to contribute to science? Participate in the Great World Wide Star Count this week. Go to http://www.windows2universe.org/citizen_science/starcount/ to download instructions. Basically, you’ll count the stars you can see in Cygnus the Swan, a constellation that is nearly straight overhead at 8 p.m.
Monday: 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. A recent story highlights NASA’s Spitzer Space telescope’s discovery of a comet “storm” in a nearby star system that resembles what astronomers think occurred in our own solar system nearly four billion years ago. By studying the evidence of ice, organic material, and rocks near the one billion year old star Eta Corvi, astronomers may learn more about how the Earth was affected by a similar environment early in its formation.
Tuesday: Mars is five and a half fists above the southeast horizon at 6:30 a.m. The slightly dimmer star Regulus is a fist to the lower left of Mars.
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. But it can be felt, especially by the oceans. The Moon is at perigee tonight meaning the Moon is the closest it will be this month. When the Moon is at perigee during the new or full stage, the high tides are especially high because the Sun, Earth and Moon are all lined up.
Thursday: This weekend is Halloween so make sure you load up on peanut clusters, almond clusters, and open star clusters. That last one will be easy (and cheap, actually free) because two of the most prominent open star clusters in the sky are easily visible in the autumn sky. The sideways V-shaped Hyades Cluster is two fists above due east at 10 p.m. Containing over 300 stars; the Hyades cluster is about 150 light years away and 625 million years old. The Pleiades Cluster, a little more than three fists above due east, is larger at over 1000 stars and younger. Compared to our 5 billion year old Sun, the 100 million year age of the Pleiades is infant-like.
Friday: Jupiter is in opposition tonight. No, that doesn’t mean it will disagree with everything you say. (Yes it does. No it doesn’t. Yes it does. No it doesn’t) Opposition means that a planet is on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun. An object is in opposition when it is due south 12 hours after the Sun. When an object is in opposition, it is at its highest point in the sky during the darkest time of the night. A planet in opposition shines brighter and appears larger in a telescope than any other night of its orbital cycle. Jupiter is five and a half fists above due south at 1 a.m. daylight savings time which is midnight standard time. If you’d rather not stay up so late, you can find it three fists above the east-southeast horizon at 9 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 10/15/11
Saturday: The Ellensburg weather is cooling down. But the space weather is heating up. More specifically, the Sun is moving toward a sunspot maximum which means an increase in solar storms. Keep your eye on the space weather by going to http://www.spaceweather.com.
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: Jupiter is three fists above the east-southeast horizon at 10 p.m.
Tuesday: 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.
Wednesday: Tonight’s last quarter Moon is in the constellation Cancer the Crab.
Thursday: The Orionid meteor shower consists of the Earth colliding with pieces of the remains of Halley's Comet's tail. This shower peaks for the next two nights and early mornings. 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. However, the chance of seeing meteors this year is less than usual because the waning crescent Moon will be out during most of the prime viewing hours. 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.
Friday: Mars is less that a fist to the upper left of the Moon at 6 a.m.
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: Jupiter is three fists above the east-southeast horizon at 10 p.m.
Tuesday: 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.
Wednesday: Tonight’s last quarter Moon is in the constellation Cancer the Crab.
Thursday: The Orionid meteor shower consists of the Earth colliding with pieces of the remains of Halley's Comet's tail. This shower peaks for the next two nights and early mornings. 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. However, the chance of seeing meteors this year is less than usual because the waning crescent Moon will be out during most of the prime viewing hours. 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.
Friday: Mars is less that a fist to the upper left of the Moon at 6 a.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 10/8/11
Saturday: The Draconid meteor shower peaks tonight. The meteors appear to come from a point in the head of Draco, the dragon constellation. This point is about five fists held upright and at arm’s 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.
Sunday: Do the weather people make you mad? Predict the weather yourself. This week, the planet Mars can help. Mars doesn’t actually make the forecast. But, it will help you find an object in the sky that allows you to predict storms. Mars is now close to the Beehive star cluster in the late night/early morning sky. The Beehive cluster is a hazy patch visible to the naked eye under dark, clear skies. If the sky seems clear but the Beehive cluster is not visible, that indicates that faint high-level clouds are moving in, bringing storm clouds in their wake. Mars is about four and a half fists above the southeast horizon at 6 a.m. The Beehive is about a half fist to the upper right of Mars. If you can’t see it, get an umbrella.
Monday: 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.
Tuesday: The harvest is over. Animals that have filled themselves up with the excess bounty are wondering around through forests that have lost their leaves. It is a hunter’s paradise. The only thing missing is nighttime lighting. Enter the hunter’s moon. Tonight’s full moon, called the hunter’s moon, is in the constellation Aries the ram.
Wednesday: 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, nearly two fists above due east horizon at 11 p.m., is a foreground star and not a part of the Hyades cluster.
Thursday: Jupiter is a half a fist to the left of the Moon at 6 a.m.
Friday: Arcturus is one fist above the west-northwest horizon at 8 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Do the weather people make you mad? Predict the weather yourself. This week, the planet Mars can help. Mars doesn’t actually make the forecast. But, it will help you find an object in the sky that allows you to predict storms. Mars is now close to the Beehive star cluster in the late night/early morning sky. The Beehive cluster is a hazy patch visible to the naked eye under dark, clear skies. If the sky seems clear but the Beehive cluster is not visible, that indicates that faint high-level clouds are moving in, bringing storm clouds in their wake. Mars is about four and a half fists above the southeast horizon at 6 a.m. The Beehive is about a half fist to the upper right of Mars. If you can’t see it, get an umbrella.
Monday: 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.
Tuesday: The harvest is over. Animals that have filled themselves up with the excess bounty are wondering around through forests that have lost their leaves. It is a hunter’s paradise. The only thing missing is nighttime lighting. Enter the hunter’s moon. Tonight’s full moon, called the hunter’s moon, is in the constellation Aries the ram.
Wednesday: 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, nearly two fists above due east horizon at 11 p.m., is a foreground star and not a part of the Hyades cluster.
Thursday: Jupiter is a half a fist to the left of the Moon at 6 a.m.
Friday: Arcturus is one fist above the west-northwest horizon at 8 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
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