The Ellensburg WA sky for the week of 8/1/15

Saturday: In Scotland, August 1 was known as Lammas, the festival of the first wheat harvest of the year. You can remember this by looking at Spica, named after the Latin word for “ear of wheat”, one fist held upright and at arm’s length above the west-southwest horizon at 9:30 p.m. August 1 is known as a cross-quarter day, a day approximately half way between an equinox and a solstice.

Sunday: If you want to show your loved ones a celestial sign that they should hang up their clothes, show them Brocchi's Cluster, commonly known as the Coat Hanger cluster because of its resemblance to an upside down coat hanger. The cluster is six fists above the southeast horizon at 10:30 p.m., midway between Altair and Vega, the two brightest stars in the Summer Triangle. You'll need binoculars to make out the shape. First find Altair four fists above the southeast horizon. Slowly move your binoculars up toward Vega. You will run into the coat hanger along the way. And while you are at it, put away your shoes.

Monday: Regulus, Jupiter, and the elusive Mercury make a straight line in the sky for the next three nights. Regulus and Jupiter stay close together, just above the west-northwest horizon at 9:00 p.m. Mercury is a half a fist to the right of Jupiter. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Mercury moves closer to the pair.

Tuesday: It’s a moonless August morning. The first remnant of dawn has not appeared yet. Suddenly, you notice a large softly radiant pyramid of light in the east sky. The base of this ghostly triangle is along the east horizon and the peak stretches two or three fists held upright and at arm’s length above the horizon about two hours before sunrise. Don’t be scared. It’s not really a ghost. It is an effect called the zodiacal light. This light comes from sunlight reflecting off dust grains in our solar system. The effect is the most visible when the band of constellations called the zodiac makes a steep angle with the horizon. You need a clear dark sky with no haze or light pollution to see the zodiacal light. At its brightest, the zodiacal light rivals the light of the central Milky Way. This is one of the best times of year to see the zodiacal light in the morning.

This is also one of the best times of the year to see meteors. The Perseid meteor shower peaks early next week. But you should see increased meteor activity later this week just below the W of the constellation Cassiopeia. This point is about two and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the northeast horizon at 11 p.m. By dawn, this point is about seven fists above the northeast horizon.

Wednesday: Do you want an easy way to find due north? A compass points to magnetic north, which is a few degrees off of true geographic north. Well, tonight’s your night. Capella, the brightest star in the constellation Auriga the Charioteer, is due north at exactly 9:23 p.m. It looks like a bright light on a pole on the north ridge because is only about one degree above the horizon.

Thursday: Saturn is two fists above the southwest horizon at 10 p.m.

Friday: Mars is finally escaping the glare of the Sun, showing up a half a fist above the east-northeast horizon at 5 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 7/25/15

Saturday: At 9:15 p.m., the bright star Regulus is about a half a fist held upright and at arm’s length above the west horizon. But, who is this Regulus? He has many potential identities. The most interesting from a pop culture standpoint is Regulus Black, the brother of Sirius Black who is Harry Potter’s godfather. Regulus Black was a former follower of Voldemort, the bad guy of the Harry Potter series. However, Regulus tried to dissociate himself from Voldemort and was killed. He would be in the pile of forgotten Harry Potter characters except that he is so interesting. Also, in the sixth book, Harry found an important note written by someone known only by the initials R.A.B. Hmmm. R.A.B. Regulus A. Black perhaps? Summer is a great time to read the books. Just seeing the movies is not good enough. Venus and Jupiter are just below Regulus in the sky. Venus, the brightest of the trio, is to the lower left of Regulus and Jupiter is to the lower right.

Sunday: But what does the “A” stand for? Anthony? Abercrombie? Alfonzo? Not astronomical enough. It stands for Arcturus, the second brightest star visible in the nighttime sky in Washington and at Hogwarts. Arcturus is five fists above the southwest horizon at 10 p.m. The bright star Spica is below Arcturus, one third of the way up way up from the southwest horizon.

Monday: Bellatrix Lestrange is Sirius Black’s cousin. But, far from being kissing cousins. They are killing cousins. Bellatrix kills Sirius in a fight at the Ministry of Magic. Bellatrix the star is the third brightest star in the constellation Orion the hunter. It is one fist above the east horizon at 4:45 a.m.

Tuesday: Of course, Bellatrix is in cahoots with “he who must not be named”. Now, that’s a poor sentence, using an obscure synonym for “conspiring” and a non-specific reference. I must be under the curse “writicus dreadfulium”. Clearly this is the work of Tom Riddle, whose mother is named Merope Gaunt. Merope is a star in the Pleiades, an open star cluster about two fists above the east-northeast horizon at 4 a.m.

Wednesday: Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter’s young nemesis, is related to Sirius Black. Draco’s mother, Narcissa Black (Sirius’ cousin), helped develop a plan to trap Harry at the Ministry of Magic in the fifth book. Draco’s namesake, the constellation Draco the dragon is one of the largest constellations in the sky, winding around the North Star. Draco’s head is a four-sided figure nearly straight overhead at 11 p.m.

Thursday: Saturn is two fists above the south-southwest horizon at 9:30 p.m., right next to the constellation Scorpius. Draco Malfoy was so impressed with this constellation name that he used it for the first name of his son.

Friday: Not every woman in the Black family is evil. Let’s focus on the good. Andromeda Black, Bellatrix’s sister, is a good witch and the mother of Tonks, a young witch from the last few Harry Potter books. (If these Harry Potter references are confusing, talk to an adolescent about them.) Andromeda the constellation is an interesting one. It contains the Andromeda galaxy, the most distant object visible with the naked eye from a dark site. To locate the Andromeda Galaxy, first find the Great Square of Pegasus. At 11 p.m., the left hand corner of the square is about two and a half fists above the east horizon. Less than two fists to the left and down a little bit is another star the same brightness as the star at the corner of the square. From that star, hop about a half a fist up to a star that is about one fourth as bright. Less than another half fist in the same direction is a fuzzy oval patch of light known as the Andromeda Galaxy. The galaxy is impressive to see in binoculars. It consists of about 400 billion stars and is 2.2 million light years away.

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 sky for the week of 7/18/15

Saturday: Now that New Horizons has passed Pluto and completed the busiest part of its mission, it has time to get back to its real passion: music. That should come as no surprise once you realize that one of Pluto’s moons is called Styx, just like the band that gave us “Mr. Roboto”. Most of the striking images show how red Pluto is. As New Horizons rhythmically passed by Pluto, it wrote, “The planet in red is dancing with me” for noted songwriter and space junkie Chris de Burgh. It honored UB40 and the object formerly known as the ninth planet with the lyrics “Red red nine you make me feel so fine, you keep me ice and rocking all of the time”. You won’t find these lyrics. But you will find great pictures and new information about the Pluto system at http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/. Domo Arigato New Horizons.

Sunday: Hot enough for you? If not, astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer Space telescope think they have discovered a molten planet orbiting a star almost right next door on an astronomical scale – only 33 light years away. This planet is about two-thirds the diameter of Earth and is VERY close to its parent star – about 2% of the Earth-Sun distance. The star, GJ 436, is a dim red dwarf star. For more information about this discovery, read the NASA press release at http://goo.gl/9nY8w.

Monday: Take a two and a half hour walk. Too long, you say? Forty-six years ago today, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took the first ever walk by humans on another world. They spend two and a half hours setting up scientific instruments and collecting rocks for study back on Earth. Michael Collins orbited the Moon in the spacecraft the astronauts would use to return to Earth.

Tuesday: The Southern Delta Aquarid meteor shower peaks for the next few weeks with the best viewing being the next few nights and the second full week in August. Meteor showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to originate. These meteors appear to come from a point in Aquarius near the star Delta Aquarii, also known as Skat. This point is about one and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the southeast horizon at 1 am tonight. You can follow this point throughout the night, as it will remain a fist above Fomalhaut, the brightest star in that section of the sky. The best time to view the shower is about 3 a.m. From the end of July through the first week in August, the moon will be out, obscuring the dimmer meteors. For more information about this year’s shower, go to http://goo.gl/Uoxvda. As you Mother might say, dress warm and sit in a comfortable chair for maximum enjoyment. Meteors are tiny rocks that hit the Earth and burn up in the atmosphere.

Wednesday: Venus is just above the west-northwest horizon at 9:15.  Jupiter should come into view to the upper right of Venus within the next few minutes.

Thursday: If you are interested in observing the dark skies of Kittitas County, please come to a public forum this evening at 6:00 pm at the Copper Kettle on Water Street and West University Way in Ellensburg. We’ll be discussing the formation of a community astronomy club, learning a little astronomy, and observing the Sun with a proper filter.

Friday: Saturn is two fists above the south-southwest horizon at 10 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 sky for the week of July 11, 2015

Saturday: Venus will really be negative for the next few nights. But, don’t feel bad for Venus. It is okay for a celestial object to be negative as long as we are referring only to its magnitude. The ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus developed a system for rating the apparent brightness of stars and planets in which lower numbers refer to brighter stars and planets. In his initial scheme, all points of light in the night sky were classified from first magnitude, meaning bright, to sixth magnitude, meaning very dim. Modern day astronomers have made this scale more quantitative. Tonight and tomorrow, Venus has a magnitude, or apparent brightness rating, of -4.5. Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, has a brightness rating of -1.5. That’s about the same magnitude as Jupiter is tonight. Venus is about a half a fist held upright and at arm’s length above the west-northwest horizon at 10 p.m. Jupiter is about a half a fist to the right of Venus. The star Regulus is less than a half fist to the upper left.

Sunday: Being in a coma is a bad thing. Looking at the Coma Star Cluster is a good thing. The Coma Star Cluster is an open cluster of about 50 stars that takes up more space in the sky than 10 full Moons. It looks like a fuzzy patch with the naked eye. Binoculars reveal dozens of sparkling stars. A telescope actually diminishes from the spectacle because the cluster is so big and the telescope’s field of view is so small. The Coma Star Cluster is in the faint constellation Coma Berenices (ba-ron-ice’-ez) or Queen Berenice’s hair. Queen Berenice of Egypt cut off her beautiful hair as a sacrifice to the gods for the safe return of her husband Ptolemy III from battle. The Coma Star Cluster is about three fists above the west horizon at 11:00 p.m.

Monday: Saturn is two and a half fists above the south horizon at 10 p.m.

Tuesday: New Horizons arrives at Pluto at about 4:50 a.m. PDT. But don’t be waiting by your computer for the latest images. First of all, it takes about five hours for the signal to get from Pluto to Earth. Second of all, New Horizons will be spending hours with its instruments pointed toward Pluto, not Earth. NASA TV will host a show from mission headquarters from about 5:30-6:15 p.m. PDT today to broadcast the celebration when the first signal from Pluto arrives. From 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. tomorrow, NASA TV will show the first close-up images from Pluto. For more information about NASA TV coverage of the event, go to https://goo.gl/oCtlGd. For more information about the mission, go to http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/.

Wednesday: Mercury is less than a half a fist above the northeast horizon at 5 a.m. If you have binoculars, you may be able to spot a much dimmer Mars to the lower left of Mercury.

Thursday: The long summer days remind us to take some time to safely observe the Sun. The best way to do that is to go to http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/ and watch the great images and videos that come from the Solar Dynamics Observer, or SDO for short. We are just moving away from a sunspot maximum so the Sun has been very active lately. So what, you say? Sunspots and associated phenomena greatly influence the strength of solar flares. The strongest flares can affect satellites orbiting the Earth and even electronics on the Earth’s surface.

Friday: Say "Cheese". 165 years ago today, Vega, in the constellation Lyra the lyre, became the first star ever photographed. The photograph was done at the Harvard Observatory using the daguerreotype process. Vega is the third brightest nighttime star we can see in Ellensburg, behind Sirius and Arcturus. Vega is nearly straight overhead at 11:00 tonight.

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 7/4/15

Saturday: Tonight, while you are looking at an explosion of fireworks, the NASA spacecraft Kepler may be looking at an “explosion” of exoplanets. So far, Kepler has found 1028 planets whose presence has been confirmed by other means and evidence of 4,664 planet candidates. Something is called a planet candidate when the light from a star being observed by Kepler dims in a systematic way. Astronomers still need to compare the pattern of dimming with the potential pattern of star wobble caused by being tugged on by one or more planets before they can say for certain that they have actually found planets orbiting these stars. But if even half of these stars show the characteristic wobble, it will more than double the number of planets known to orbit other stars, also known as exoplanets. And this is only the beginning. The Kepler spacecraft is monitoring the brightness of over 156,000 stars in the constellations Cygnus the swan and Lyra the lyre. This region is midway between the bright stars Deneb and Vega. It is about the size of your hand held at arm’s length and is about six fists held upright and at arm’s length above due east at 11 p.m. For more information about the Kepler mission, go to http://kepler.nasa.gov/.

Sunday: Venus and Jupiter shine like two asymmetric headlights; low in the western sky at 10 p.m. Venus is the brighter of the two, on the left. At the same time, Saturn is two and a half fists above due south.

Monday: Hot enough for you? Don’t blame the Earth-Sun distance. Surprisingly, the overall temperature of the Earth is slightly higher in July, when the Earth is farthest from the Sun, than in January, when it is closest. That’s because in July, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun. (This is the real cause of the seasons.) The Northern Hemisphere has more land than the Southern Hemisphere. Thus, in July, the large amount of Northern Hemisphere land heats up the entire Earth about two degrees Celsius warmer than in January. In January, the watery Southern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun. But, water does not heat up as fast as land so the Earth is a few degrees cooler. The distance between the Earth and Sun is its greatest today, 152.1 million kilometers. This is called aphelion from the Greek prefix “apo” meaning “apart” and Helios, the Greek god of the Sun.

Tuesday: The nine-year wait is almost over. Next Tuesday morning at 4:49 PDT, the New Horizons mission will make its closest approach to Pluto. As the spacecraft approaches Pluto, the ever less distant images are causing astronomers to ask new questions. What are those equally spaces spots on the equator of Pluto? Why are Pluto and its largest Moon Charon so different in color? Is that really a giant crater on Pluto? For answers to these and other questions, many of which have not even been asked yet, go to http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/. While you are waiting, watch this NASA documentary about the mission: https://youtu.be/EJxwWpaGoJs. Pluto is in the constellation Sagittarius, one and a half fists above the southeast horizon at 11 p.m. It is too dim to be seen with anything smaller than a fairly large backyard telescope.

Wednesday: This morning’s last quarter Moon is in the constellation Pisces the fish.

Thursday: Look straight up at midnight. The head of Draco the dragon will be looking straight down on you. The brightest star in the head is called Eltanin. If you chose to wait a VERY long time, Eltanin will be the brightest star in the night sky. Currently 154 light years away, it is moving towards Earth and will be only 28 light years away in about 1.3 million years, claiming the title as brightest star.

Friday: Mercury peeks up above the northeast horizon at 4:30 a.m., just ahead of the rising Sun.

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.