Saturday: In
the movie The Terminator, Arnold said “Hasta la vista, baby”. Today you can
join NASA scientists and many other people around the world in saying “Hasta la
vista, Vesta”. The Dawn probe has studied the asteroid Vesta for the past year.
Soon it will head over to the dwarf planet Ceres. Before it goes, Dawn
scientists and engineers will host a Google+ Hangout from noon-2:00 p.m.
Pacific Daylight Time this afternoon. You can also get mission updates
throughout the mission on Facebook or Twitter. For more information, go to http://goo.gl/fKorW.
Sunday: If
you sat up late Saturday night or get up very early this morning, you can say
“Hasta la vista, Ceres” for an hour. At about 12:25 this morning, the Moon will
pass between the Earth and Ceres. This is called an occultation of Ceres
because the word “occult” means to block. At about 1:20 a.m., the Moon will
have moved far enough in its orbit such that Ceres will emerge out from behind
the dark part of the Moon. You’ll need binoculars or a small telescope to see
Ceres.
Monday: Science
is Central! This week, faculty, staff, and students in the College of the
Sciences at CWU will kick off the start of the academic year by hosting a
series of evening science lectures and demonstrations geared for all ages. All
events are taking place on the CWU Ellensburg campus and all are free. The series
kicks off tonight with CWU professor, astronomy club advisor and columnist
extraordinaire Bruce Palmquist at 7:00 – 8:00 pm in Lind Hall 215 on the CWU
campus. He’ll be giving an interactive lecture about the probability of finding
intelligent life on other planets followed by a guided tour of the night sky
with several telescopes. Go to http://www.cwu.edu/newmap.html
for a map of campus. Parking is free after 4:30 p.m. For more information about the week's events, go to http://goo.gl/6Gseh.
Tuesday: In
most parts of the country, a mixture of tasty carbon-based material and healthy
minerals is called a casserole. In Minnesota, it is called a hot dish. (Uffdah,
you betcha!) In space, it is called a supergiant. Antares, a supergiant in the
constellation Scorpius, is forging lighter elements into carbon, oxygen,
silicon, and iron in its core. It is on the main course table one fist above
the southwest horizon at 7:30. Make sure it cools off before you take a bite.
Wednesday:
Venus is less than a half a fist to the upper left of the Moon at 6 a.m.
Jupiter is over six fists above the south-southeast horizon. If you don’t want
to get up early to see Jupiter, it is less than a half a fist above the
east-northeast horizon at 11 p.m.
Thursday: As
Jupiter moves into the evening sky, Mars and Saturn are moving out of the
evening sky by moving closer to being in line with the Sun. At 8 p.m., Saturn
is half a fist above the west-southwest horizon and Mars is a little less than
a fist above the southwest horizon.
Friday: In
1987, the rock group Def Leppard sang “Pour some sugar on me, in the name of
love. Pour some sugar on me, come on fire me up”. In 2012, some European
astronomers “found some sugar near stars, they were very young. Found some
sugar near stars, out where planets formed.” Astronomers observed molecules of
glycolaldehyde, a simple form of sugar, in the disk of gas and dust orbiting young
binary stars. This is the first time astronomers have found this simple sugar
so close to a star indicating that organic molecules can be found in
planet-forming regions of stars. For more information, go to http://goo.gl/tfwy1.
The
positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically
accurate for the entire week.
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