Saturday: The
two smallest planets team up in the sky tonight. Elusive Mercury and perennial
favorite Mars will be close together, a half a fist held upright and at arm’s
length above the west-southwest horizon at 6 p.m. They have a lot in common.
They both start with the letter “M”. They both have frozen water on their
surface, and they have both sent debris to the Earth. Over 100 meteorites are
known to have come from Mars, most famously ALH 84001 which was discovered in
Antarctica in 1984. ALH84001 was though to contain evidence of nanobacteria
fossils that originated on Mars. Since Mercury is so close to the Sun, very few
rocks escape the gravitational pull of the Sun and Mercury to make it to Earth.
(The Ford Motor Company tried to make up for this deficiency when it sold the
Mercury Meteor from 1961-1963.) Astronomers think they may have found the first
Mercury meteorite in Morocco. It bright green color due to a silicate material
called diopside helps it stand out from other meteorites. Astronomers need to
study it a lot more before that can confirm the Mercury origin. For more
information, go to http://goo.gl/ByvOz.
Sunday: At
8 p.m., Jupiter is six fists above the south horizon.
Monday:
Naked eye comets are rare occurrences. But in mid- to late March, the comet
Pan-STARRS may be as bright as the stars in the Big Dipper. This is a new comet
from the Oort Cloud, making its first appearance in the inner Solar System. So
astronomers aren’t sure if it will break up and not be seen or be very active
and have a large tail. For more information, go to http://goo.gl/5GiXR.
Tuesday: At
6 a.m., Saturn is nearly three fists above the south horizon.
Wednesday:
Do you have a date for Valentine’s Day? Of course you do. You’ve been planning
for weeks. But have you been planning for the equally important Valentine’s Day
Eve? I didn’t think so. Well, the Central Washington University Astronomy Club
has got you covered. They are giving planetarium shows in the SURC ballroom on
the CWU campus tonight starting at 7 p.m. For more information, visit the
club’s Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/CWUAC.
Thursday: 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. It seemed that all was lost. But, along came the great warrior
Perseus, fresh off his defeat of the evil Gorgon, Medusa. The only similarity
between Andromeda and Medusa was that Andromeda caused people to stand still
and stare at her beauty while Medusa turned people to stone because of her
ugliness. (And, you thought you looked bad in the morning.) 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 monsters neck and killed it. In a little known addendum to the
story, Perseus carved “Percy (heart symbol) Andi” in the rock, thus originating
the use of the heart symbol as a substitute for the word “love”.
You can
find these lovers in the sky this Valentine’s Day. Just remember it is rude to stare
– and you never know when you might turn to stone. First, find the Great Square
of Pegasus at 7 p.m. between one and a half and three and a half fists above
the west horizon. The lowest star in Andromeda is the top star in the square.
This represents Andromeda’s head. Perseus is at her feet, nearly straight
overhead. Mirphak, the brightest star in Perseus, is about eight fists above
the west horizon. Perseus’ body is represented by the line of stars to the left
and right of Mirphak.
Friday: Tonight,
an asteroid about half the size of a football field will pass about 17,000
miles above the Earth’s surface. This is above low earth orbiting objects such
as the International Space Station but below the higher belt of weather and
communication satellites. It will be very difficult to find in backyard
telescopes. But the Clay Center Observatory will have a real-time
high-definition video feed from 3 p.m. PST to 1 a.m. tomorrow. Find it here http://www.ustream.tv/channel/clay-center-observatory.
The
positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically
accurate for the entire week.
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