Saturday: The Nature of Night event takes place from 10 a.m. to
3 p.m. in the Science Building on the CWU campus. There will be planetarium
shows, fun nighttime projects, telescopes, animals, cookies and much more. Have
you ever wanted to meet an owl? You can at this event. The event is free. You
could go to http://www.cwu.edu/cesme/nature-night
for more information. But why go to a computer. Instead, go directly to the
Science Building, I-8 on the map found at http://www.cwu.edu/newmap.html. The Center
for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Education gets help from various
community organizations to put on this event.
Sunday: Are you disappointed because you are not going
anywhere for Thanksgiving? Why not take a (virtual) trip to outer space using
Google’s new visualization tool called 100,000 Stars. It shows the stars in our
neighborhood in a very good simulation of 3-D. The Sun is initially at the
center. If you zoom in, you can click on neighboring stars and learn more about
them. For more information and a link to the tool, go to http://goo.gl/hg6Oc.
Monday: Jupiter is one and a half fists held upright and at
arm’s length above the east-northeast horizon at 9 p.m.
Tuesday: The moon has some bright neighbors this morning at 6
a.m. Mars is a little more than a fist to the left of the moon. And Regulus is
a little more than a fist to the upper right of the moon.
Wednesday: Are you thankful that you live in a solar system
with multiple planets? You should be. A giant planet like Jupiter cleans up
planetary debris that could have collided with Earth and hindered the formation
of complex life. Any inhabitants of the planets orbiting Upsilon Andromedae are
thankful for this, as well. Upsilon Andromedae, a star in the constellation Andromeda,
was the first Sun-like star discovered to have multiple planets orbiting it. So
far, all of its planets are giant planets like Jupiter. But, the system is
likely to also contain smaller planets. The dim star, but certainly not its
planets, is barely visible straight overhead at 9 p.m.
Thursday: Some of us have a lot to be thankful for on
Thanksgiving. But, probably not as much as Andromeda had to be thankful for.
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. Her mother Queen Cassiopeia and her father King Cepheus
didn’t know what to do. It seemed that all was lost. But, along came
Andromeda’s boyfriend, the great warrior Perseus. 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 monster’s neck and killed it. This was the first time in recorded
history that a set of parents actually welcomed an uninvited Thanksgiving visit
from the boyfriend. Perseus is about five fists above the east-northeast
horizon and Andromeda is about seven fists above the east horizon at 7 p.m.
Friday: Spica is about a finger’s width to the lower left of
the moon at 6 a.m. People in some parts of Alaska will see the moon occult, or
block, Spica.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets
is typically accurate for the entire week. For up to date information about the
night sky, go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.
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