Saturday: Most
constellations don’t look like the object their name refers to. That’s because
most constellations don’t have such a simple to object to emulate as Triangulum
does. Triangulum is shaped like a… wait for it…. Wait for it…. A thin isosceles
triangle. Mothallah is the only named star in the constellation. In Latin this
star is called Caput Trianguli, the head of the triangle. Triangulum is six
fists held upright and at arm’s length above the south horizon at 8 p.m. It is
pointing down and to the right with Mothallah being the southernmost star at
this time of night. The Triangulum Galaxy can be seen with binoculars about a
half a fist to the right of Mothallah.
Sunday: It’s
getting too cold to see frogs in the wild. But this is a great time to see
frogs in the sky. Ancient Arabs referred to the stars that we now call
Fomalhaut and Diphda as ad-difdi al-awwal and ad-difda at-tani. This means the
first frog and the second frog, respectively. Both frogs are low in the
southern sky at 8 p.m. Fomalhaut is one fist above the horizon and one fist to
the east of due south. The slightly dimmer Diphda a little more than two fists
above the horizon and one fist to the west of due south.
Monday: If
you are a fan of science fiction, you may have heard of Tau Ceti. It’s a real
Sun-like star with many fake civilizations. In 2012, astronomers discovered
strong evidence of five real planets orbiting Tau Ceti. But before you go
looking for Barbarella, read the latest research reports. Astronomers think
these planets are made from different materials than Earth and would be
regularly bombarded with comets and asteroids, destroying any life and space
babes that arise. Tau Ceti is two and a half fists above due south at 10 p.m.,
one and a half fists to the left of Diphda.
Tuesday: The
Leonid meteor shower peaks tonight and tomorrow morning. These meteors appear
to come from a point in the constellation Leo the lion. This point is about one
fist held upright and at arm’s length above the east-northeast horizon at
midnight tonight. You can follow this point throughout the night and into the
morning, as it will remain about one fist above the bright star Regulus. The first
quarter moon will be doing its part to stay out of the way meaning even the
dimmer meteors will be visible. The Leonid meteors are particles from the tail
of Comet Tempel-Tuttle, a comet discovered by Ernst Tempel and Horace Parnell
Tuttle in 1866. These are exceptionally fast moving meteors – over 150,000 miles
per hour! Go to http://goo.gl/GkLiw7
to read everything you need to know about the Leonid meteor shower. As your
Mother might say, dress warm and sit in a comfortable chair for maximum
enjoyment.
Wednesday:
When you think of space, the first image that comes to mind is a few large,
massive bodies surrounded by a lot of empty space. After all, it is called
“outer space”, not “outer stuff”. But that so-called empty space is filled with
powerful radiation and high-speed sub-microscopic particles. Much of this is
dangerous to life. However, many planets, including Earth, have a shield
against radiation and particles called a magnetic field. Jupiter’s magnetic
field is the strongest of all the planets. Find Jupiter four and a half fists
above the southeast horizon at 6:30 a.m. At this same time, Venus is three
fists above due southeast and Mars is a fist to the upper right of Venus.
Thursday:
The brightest star in the nighttime sky is making its way into the evening sky.
Sirius is a little more than a half a fist above the southeast horizon at 11
p.m.
Friday: The
Nature of Night event takes place tomorrow 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.
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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