Saturday: 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 held upright and at arm’s length 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.
Sunday: Venus
and Mars are neighbors near the western horizon this week. At 6:30 this
evening, Venus is a little more than a fist above the west-southwest horizon.
Mars is less than a half a fist to its upper left. As the days go by, Venus
will slowly move up from the horizon and Mars will move down to the horizon. By
early next week, they will nearly bump into each other in the sky. Of course,
they will really be millions of miles apart.
Monday: The
first human-made probe to visit a dwarf planet will reach its destination early
next month. But it has already started sending back pictures. The Dawn mission
will arrive at Ceres on March 6. Ceres is the largest object in the main
asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It was actually classified as a planet
for a few years after it was discovered in 1801. As with any good science
mission, Dawn has answered a few questions and raised many more. Since you
can’t see Ceres in the night sky – it is now out during the daytime – do to http://goo.gl/hdCRIx for a two second movie of
Ceres rotation.
Tuesday: Jupiter
is five and a half fists above the southeast horizon at 10 p.m.
Wednesday:
“Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday dear Pluto. Happy
Birthday to you.” On this day in 1930, Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto, at that
time classified as the ninth planet. However, as astronomers started
discovering a lot of similar objects in that part of the solar system, they
realized that had a classification crisis on their hands. Should everything in
this region of the solar system be named a planet? Eventually the International
Astronomical Union (IAU) reclassified Pluto and all future Pluto-like objects
as dwarf planets. According to his wife, if Mr. Tombaugh were alive today, he
maybe disappointed at the reclassification but he’d accept it because, as a
scientist, he’d recognize the implications the new naming scheme would have on
future discoveries. Besides, noted astronomer Hal Levison, while Tombaugh
didn’t discover the ninth planet, he discovered the Kuiper Belt and that’s a
whole lot more interesting. The New Horizons probe will reach Pluto July 14,
2015. See http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/ for
more information.
Thursday: Saturn
is two and a half fists above due south at 6:15 a.m.
Friday: Along
with Pluto, Tombaugh discovered numerous asteroids, variable stars, and star
clusters. Up until recently, the responsibility of naming all of these objects
would have belonged to the International Astronomical Union. But in 2013, the
IAU revised their naming rules to let individuals suggest names for certain
celestial objects. They are running a contest to name certain objects. For more
information, go to http://www.nameexoworlds.org/.
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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