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. Do you want to learn more
about what goes on at night in the natural world? You can at this event. The
event is free. You could go to http://www.cwu.edu/cesme/node/2561
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/facility/campus-map.
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: Hopefully
you’ve been hearing about and reading about the European Space Agency’s (ESA)
comet mission Rosetta and its lander, Philae. The best source for information
is the ESA’s own website http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta.
Tuesday: Mars
is less than a fist to the lower left of the young crescent 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. Jupiter is much easier to see, about
one fist above the east-northeast horizon at 11 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: Do
you need a post-Thanksgiving challenge? Get up before 6:45 a.m. and look low in
the east-southeast sky. If you are lucky or if you have binoculars, you may
spot Saturn about a half a fist above the horizon at 7a.m. If is slowly moving
out of the Sun’s glare and into the pre-dawn sky.
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 http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.
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