The Ellensburg WA sky for the week of 1/31/15

Saturday: This is the weekend to spend time with the 12s. At 11 pm, look four fists held upright and at arm’s length above the southeast horizon to Leo, the 12th largest constellation. Just to the right of the backwards question mark that represents Leo’s head is Jupiter. Jupiter is the largest planet but Callisto, the 12th largest object in our Solar System, orbits it. Callisto, along with Jupiter’s three other large moons, is visible with a small telescope. At 11:00 tonight, Callisto is to the upper right of Jupiter, about one Jupiter-diameter away. The 12^th largest star is PZ Cassiopeiae, a red supergiant with a radius about 1,500 times that of the Suns, is always visible with binoculars. It is circumpolar which means it never sets. It is about three fists above the northwest horizon at 11 p.m. constellation Cassiopeia. You’ll have to wait until morning to see the 12th brightest star. Altair is two fists above the east horizon at 6:30 a.m.

Sunday: Are you going to watch the super bowl tonight? Is the bowl really that super? After all, half the night the bowl is tipped upside down, spilling out all of its contents. But don’t just focus on the functionality of the bowl. Think about how it inspires people all across the world to sit on the green grass and look into the dark blue early evening sky. In Mongolia, participants in the super bowl are known as gods. An Arabian story says the super bowl is a coffin, one that can even hold dying patriots. I encourage you go outside tonight at about 8 p.m., after whatever unimportant thing you have been doing since 3:30 p.m. Look low in the north-northwest sky and watch the super bowl, also known as the Big Dipper, balancing on the end of its handle, proudly displaying its large bowl.

Monday: Tomorrow is Groundhog Day. If Punxsutawney Phil doesn’t see his shadow this morning, he is telling us that he follows the Chinese calendar and that spring starts early. On the Chinese calendar, equinoxes and solstices occur in the middle of their respective seasons. In order for the vernal equinox to occur in the middle of spring, spring must start on February 3 or 4, depending on the year. Thus, if Phil doesn’t see his shadow, legend is that spring will start on February 3 or 4 as on the Chinese calendar. If Phil sees his shadow, he is telling us he agrees with the western calendar and that there will be six more weeks of winter meaning spring will start near March 20.

Tuesday: The very bright planet Venus is one fist above the west-southwest horizon at 6 p.m. Mars is about 100 times less bright and located one fist to the upper left of Venus.

Wednesday: Winter is the best season for finding bright stars. And if you only want to set aside a few minutes, 10 p.m. tonight just might be the best time because the winter hexagon is due south. Starting at the bottom, find Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, two and a half fists above the south horizon. Going clockwise, Procyon (6^th brightest star visible from Washington state) is about two and a half fists to the upper left of Sirius. Pollux (12^th brightest) is about two and a half fists above Procyon. Capella (4^th brightest) is about two and a half fists to the upper right of Procyon and close to straight overhead. Going back to Sirius at the bottom, Rigel (5^th brightest) about two and a half fists to the upper right of Sirius. Aldebaran (9^th brightest) is about three fists above Rigel. Betelgeuse (7^th brightest) is in the center of the hexagon. Adhara (16^th brightest) is a little more than a fist below Sirius and Castor (17^th brightest) is right above Pollux. That’s nine of the 17 brightest stars visible in the northern United States in one part of the sky.

Thursday: Saturn is a little more than two fists above the south horizon at 6:30 a.m.

Friday: The good news is the days are getting longer and the nights are getting shorter. The better news is the farther north you go in the United States, the longer the days get. Here in Ellensburg, there is one and a half more hours of daylight than on the first day of winter. In the southern part of the US, there is only 35 more minutes of sunlight. On the North Pole, the day length has gone from zero hours to zero hours in the past month and a half. If you’d like to have your own fun with day lengths and other time questions, go to http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/sunrise.html.

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.

The Ellensburg WA sky for the week of 1/24/15

Saturday: One Family Affair explored the trials of well-to-do civil engineer and bachelor Bill Davis as he attempted to raise his brother's orphaned children in his luxury New York City apartment (as described on Wikipedia). Another family affair explores how a well-to-do Solar System raises its constituents from birth, through growth, change, and death. Just like Buffy and Jody started off full of energy, planets start out hot and molten. Cissy got wrinkles as she approached middle age; planets become cratered as they age. We watched the TV show “Family Affair” to learn about a nontraditional Manhattan family grew and changed. Astronomers study other planets to learn how the Solar System will change. For more information about this Solar System Family Affair, go to http://goo.gl/G029D. Jupiter, the dad of the Solar System family, is about two fists held upright and at arm’s length above the eastern horizon at 8 p.m.

Sunday: There are three planets low in the western sky at 6 p.m. The brightest is Venus, a half a fist above the west-southwest horizon. About one and a half fists to the upper left of Venus is Mars. Neptune is on a line between the two, about a half a fist below Mars. You’ll definitely need a pair of binoculars to see it. For most binoculars, when Mars is in the upper left hand portion of your field of view, Neptune is in the lower right.

Monday: A half mile wide asteroid will come “speeding” by the Earth tonight. The word speeding is in quotes because the asteroid will be moving through the sky at two degrees (four full moon diameters) per hour. This is much faster than any other celestial object, but still slow enough to easy to find with binoculars or a small telescope. The best way to positively identify the asteroid, called 2004BL86, is to view the same part of the sky multiple times. The object that moves over an hour will be the asteroid. At 7 p.m., look about one fist to the upper right of Jupiter, which is the bright object one fist above the east horizon. 2004BL86 will be near the brightest star in the constellation. As the hours go by, the asteroid will move toward the middle of the constellation. At 11 p.m., it will be just below the open star cluster called the Beehive Cluster. At midnight, it will be just above the Beehive Cluster. For more information on the asteroid, including a map to help you find it, go to http://goo.gl/jo3It2.

Tuesday: Draco Malfoy makes an appearance in all seven books of the Harry Potter series. Perhaps you’ve heard of these. But, the constellation Draco the dragon makes an appearance in the sky every night. It is a circumpolar constellation as viewed from Ellensburg meaning it never goes below the horizon. The head of the dragon is one fist above due north at 9:30 p.m. Eltanin, the brightest star in the constellation, is at the lower left-hand corner of the trapezoid-shaped head of Draco.

Wednesday: Have you ever mooned a bull? It sounds like something a rodeo clown might do. You can see it done tonight… sort of. The moon is less than a half a fist to the right of the constellation Taurus the Bull, six fists above due south at 7:30 p.m.

Thursday: Let’s review three important sets of three cats. There’s Josie, Valerie, and Melody of Josie and the Pussycats. Felix, Tom, and Sylvester from old time cartoons. And, if you want to get away from the mind-numbing effects of television, there’s Leo the lion, Leo Minor, and Lynx in the night sky. Leo is by far the most prominent of these three constellations. Its brightest star called Regulus is nearly four fists above the east-southeast horizon at 11 p.m. The backwards question mark-shaped head of Leo is above Regulus and the trapezoid-shaped body is to the left of it. Leo Minor consists of a few dim stars right above Leo. Pretty wimpy. The long dim constellation spans from just above Leo Minor to nearly straight overhead. You and fellow stargazers won’t need to wear a long tail or ears for hats to enjoy these stellar cats.

Friday: Are you interested in participating in astronomy research? You don’t need to go back to school. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars getting a fake degree from an online university. The scientists working on the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter would like your input on which objects they should target for close-up pictures. While you may think the scientists are just trying to build interest in their project by having people look at pretty pictures, there is a real scientific benefit to having many eyes searching for interesting targets. There aren’t enough scientists to carefully inspect all of the low power images. And surprisingly, computers are not nearly as effective as people in making nuanced judgments of images. So, go to http://www.uahirise.org/ and click on the HiWish button. You’ll be on your way to suggesting close-up targets for NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

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.

What's up in the Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of

Saturday: Who can forget that memorable song by Three Dog Constellations Night, “The sky is black. The stars are white. Together we learn to find the light.” Well, maybe it didn’t go like that. Which is good. Because not all stars are white. Most stars are too dim to notice a color. But, two of the stars in the constellation Orion provide a noticeable contrast with each other. Betelgeuse, five fists held upright and at arm’s length above the south horizon at 10:30 p.m. is a red giant. Rigel, the bright star about two fists to the lower right of Betelgeuse, is a blue giant.

By the way, the three dog constellations are Canis Major, the greater dog, found one and a half fists to the lower left of Orion; Canis Minor, the lesser dog, found two and a half fists to the left of Betelgeuse; and Canes Venatici, the hunting dogs, found low in the northeast sky. Canis Major contains Sirius, the brightest star in the nighttime sky.

Sunday: The brightest planet Venus is a half a fist above the southwest horizon at 5:30 p.m. Mercury is a half a fist to the lower right of Venus.

Monday: Neptune is the dimmest planet in the Solar System but tonight you can use Mars and a pair of binoculars to help you find it. First, use your naked eyes to spot Mars two fists above the southwest horizon. Neptune will be too dim to see. But, when Mars is centered in your binocular field of view, Neptune will be just to the upper right of it. Even if you have a small telescope, you can easily see them both in the same field of view. They are about as far apart from each other in the sky as the quarter phase moon is thick.

Tuesday: Listen, do you want to know a secret? Do you promise not to tell? Whoa oh, oh. The Beatles certainly didn’t write this song about the Barringer meteorite crater in Arizona. Astronomers are studying this 50,000-year-old impact to learn more about our planet’s violent history as well as the physics of impacts throughout the solar system. If you’d like to be let in on some of these secrets, go to http://goo.gl/sqbBe.

Wednesday: Are you looking for a vacation spot close by? One that is not to hot and not too cold? Or one that is “just right”? Two years ago, astronomers discovered that the star Tau Ceti, one of our closest neighbor at 12 light years away, may have five planets. One of those planets orbiting the Sun-like star is in the so-called Goldilocks Zone where the temperature is just right for having liquid water. You’ll want to do some research before you travel there. Tau Ceti is two and a half fists above the south-southwest horizon at 7 p.m. For more information about the discovery, go to http://goo.gl/xcv0dl.

Thursday: You never see a giraffe on the ground in Ellensburg. But you can look for one every night in the sky. The constellation Camelopardalis the giraffe is circumpolar from Ellensburg’s latitude of 47 degrees north meaning it is always above the horizon. Don’t expect to be overwhelmed by the appearance of the stars in Camelopardalis. The brightest star in the constellation appears only about half as bright as the dimmest star in the Big Dipper. However, the actual luminosities of the three brightest stars in Camelopardalis are very high, each at least 3,000 times more luminous than the Sun. Alpha Camelopardalis, a mind boggling 600,000 times more luminous than the Sun, is seven fists above the northern horizon at 9 p.m.

Friday: Jupiter is two fists above the east horizon at 8 p.m.

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.

The Ellensburg WA sky for the week of 1/10/15

Saturday: Do you have a dime? No, I’m not going to ask you to use a payphone. (“A what?” asked the young person.) Do you have a penny? No, I’m going to ask you to buy a gumball. (“Gum for a penny?” asked the young person.) But I will ask you to make a measurement at 5:15 p.m. Mercury and Venus are very close together a half a fist above the southwest horizon with Mercury being to the lower right of much brighter Venus. Hold a dime out at arm’s length. It should easily fit between them. Then hold a penny at arm’s length. Depending on the length of your arm, this may be a snug fit.

Sunday: How do you study the life cycle of a dog? Easy. Get a dog from the animal shelter, care for it for 15 years and study it. How do you study the life cycle of a star? Easy. Pick a star, watch it for a few billion years, and…. Wait a minute. Astronomers can’t observe something for a few billion years. Instead, they study stars that are at different points in their long life cycle and piece together the information from those different stars. What they do is like studying a one-year-old dog for a few minutes, then studying a different two-year-old dog for a few minutes, and so on. The sky in and near the constellation Orion provides an example of four objects at different points of star life.

First, find Rigel, the bright star in the lower right corner of the constellation Orion. This star, rapidly burning its fuel for a high energy but short-lived existence, is three and a half fists above the south horizon at 10 p.m. About one fist up and to the left are the three objects of Orion’s sword holder. The middle “star” is really a star-forming region called the Orion nebula. There you’ll find baby Suns. Now, look about two fists to the right and a little below Rigel. You should be looking at a star that is about one tenth as bright as Rigel but still the brightest in its local region. The third star to the right of that star is Epsilon Eridani, the most Sun-like close and bright star. Betelgeuse, in the upper left corner of Orion, is a star at the end of its life that started out life a bit larger than the Sun.

Monday: The snout of Taurus the Bull points to Comet Lovejoy for the next three nights. First, find the V-shaped grouping of stars, six fists above due south at 8 p.m. This is the Hyades cluster, representing the snout of Taurus. Comet Lovejoy is one fist to the lower right of the snout. The “V” will point right to it. On a clear night away from the city lights, you should be able to see the comet without optical aids. But in town, and to see detail, you’ll need binoculars. For more information about the comet and where to find it, go to http://goo.gl/imiDsi.

Tuesday: Orion stands tall in the southern sky. At 10:30 p.m., the middle of Orion’s belt is four fists above due south. And talk about belt tightening! Alnilam, the middle star in the belt, is losing mass at a rate of about 100 thousand trillion tons a day. That’s a 1 followed by 17 zeros tons per day.

Wednesday: Hit the road Mercury. And don’t you come back no more, no more. For a few weeks, Mercury has been hitting the road and moving away from the Sun in the sky. Today, Mercury is as far away from the Sun as it will get on the evening half of this cycle. This is known as its greatest eastern elongation. Yet, this distance does not translate into good viewing because Mercury will be very low in the sky. Mercury is a half a fist above the southwest horizon at 5:30 p.m. Over the next few weeks, Mercury will move toward the Sun in the sky. After it passes in front of the Sun, it will appear in the morning sky by mid February.

Thursday: January is the coldest month of the year so it is time to turn up the furnace. Fornax the furnace is one fist above due south at 7 p.m.

Friday: Saturn is about a pinky width to the right of the moon at 7 a.m.

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.

The Ellensburg WA sky for the week of 1/3/15

Saturday: Late tonight and early morning’s weather forecast: showers. Meteor showers, that is. The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks late tonight and early tomorrow morning between midnight and dawn. Meteor showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to originate. That makes this shower mysterious because there isn’t any constellation with this name now. The shower was named after Quadrans Muralis, an obsolete constellation found in some early 19^th century star atlases. These meteors appear to come from a point in the modern constellation Draco the dragon. This point is about three fists held upright and at arm’s length above the northeast horizon at 1 a.m. This year, the waxing gibbous moonlight will obscure the dimmer meteors. Meteors are tiny rocks that hit the Earth and burn up in the atmosphere. Most meteors are associated with the path of a comet. This shower consists of the debris from an asteroid discovered in 2003. Keeping with the comet-origin paradigm, astronomers think the asteroid is actually an “extinct” comet, a comet that lost all of its ice as it passed by the Sun during its many orbits. For more information on how to observe a meteor shower, go to http://goo.gl/K8QRTY.

If the Sun looks big today, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. The Earth is at perihelion just before midnight tonight. If you dig out your Greek language textbook, you’ll see that peri- means “in close proximity” and helios means “Sun”. So, perihelion is when an object is closest to the Sun in its orbit, about 1.5 million miles closer than its average distance of 93 million miles. Since it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere now, the seasonal temperature changes must not be caused by the Earth getting farther from and closer to the Sun. Otherwise, we’d have summer when the Earth is closest to the Sun. The seasons are caused by the angle of the sunlight hitting the Earth. In the winter, sunlight hits the Earth at a very low angle, an angle far from perpendicular or straight up and down. This means that a given “bundle” of sunlight is spread out over a large area and does not warm the surface as much as the same bundle in the summer.

Sunday: According to a crazy internet rumor, the planets will align at 9:47 a.m. PST and decrease gravity on Earth enough to make you feel weightless. DO NOT use this as an excuse to overeat the night before. The planets will not be lined up this morning. And even if they were, they are too far away to have any measurable upward pull on you. You should be more worried about the gravitational pull of those three body builders who work in the office right above yours than about the gravitational pull of any planet other than Earth. To find out more about this planetary alignment hoax, go to http://goo.gl/JZiexL.

Monday: Mercury and Venus are about a half a fist above the southwest horizon at 5 p.m. You will be able to spot Venus right away. Mercury is dimmer and may require binoculars to be seen. As the week progresses, these two planets will be moving higher in the sky and closer together.

Tuesday: Comet Lovejoy C/2014 Q2, the fifth comet discovered by the Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy, is making its closest approach to Earth tonight. Throughout the rest of the month, it will be moving higher in the sky and getting brighter. Tonight, it will be a challenge to find, even with binoculars. First find Rigel, the brightest star in the constellation Orion, three and a half fists above due south at 10 p.m. Comet Lovejoy is one fist, or about two binocular fields of view to the right of Rigel. For more information, including a finder chart, go to http://goo.gl/psV4F1.

Wednesday: The moon and Jupiter travel through the sky together tonight. They rise in the east-northeast sky just before 8 p.m. with Jupiter being about a fist to the upper left of the moon. As the night goes on, the moon moves eastward with respect to Jupiter meaning by the morning, Jupiter will be about a fist to the upper right of the moon.

Thursday: Saturn is two fists above the southeast horizon at 7 a.m.

Friday: Have you ever looked down on the ground and spotted a penny? In Yakima? While you were standing in Ellensburg? If you have, then you may be able to see the star Hamal as more than just a point of light. It has an angular diameter that can be directly measured from Earth. Hamal, the brightest star in the constellation Aries the ram, has the same angular diameter as a penny 37 miles away. (For comparison, the moon is about half the diameter of a penny held at arm’s length.) Hamal is three and a half fists above due west at 11 p.m.

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.