Sunday:
International Dark Sky Week is just ending https://www.darksky.org/. But that doesn’t
mean that we can ignore our obligation to minimize stray light for the next 51
weeks. Lights that are aimed upward illuminate the atmosphere and obscure dim
objects. Having too much light shining where it shouldn’t is considered light
pollution. And just like other forms of pollution, light pollution can be
hazardous to our health and the health of other animals. That’s right. Harmful.
Watch this episode SciShow for more information: https://youtu.be/_nlFcEj41Xk.
Monday: Tonight at
9 p.m., the Moon forms a quadrilateral with three other prominent objects in
the western sky. The open star cluster called the Pleiades is one fist to the
upper right of the Moon. Mars is less than one fist above the Moon. The bright
star Aldebaran is one fist to the upper left of the Moon. The center of the
quadrilateral is two and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above due
west. Did you look up the word quadrilateral yet? “Quad” or “quadri” is Latin
for “four” and “laterus” is Latin for “sides”.
Tuesday: Deneb is
about one finger-width above due north at 8:33 p.m. It almost looks like a
bright yard light or streetlight many kilometers away.
Wednesday: You
probably didn’t know this but several British New Wave bands were really into
astronomy. Take the band “Dead or Alive” (please). The original lyrics to their
song “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) were actually: “You spin me right
round, baby, right round, like the Whirlpool Galaxy, right round, round,
round.” (Well, that’s what I thought they were.) The Whirlpool Galaxy was the
first galaxy observed to have a spiral shape. Since then, astronomers have
discovered many galaxies, including our own Milky Way Galaxy, have a spiral
shape. Go to http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0506a/ for more
information about the Whirlpool Galaxy. Go to your small telescope to find the
Whirlpool Galaxy in the night sky. It is in the constellation Canes Venatici,
the hunting dogs. At 10 p.m., find Alkaid, the end star of the Big Dipper
handle, six fists above the north-northeast horizon. The Whirlpool Galaxy is
two fingers to the upper right of Alkaid.
Thursday: At 6
a.m., Jupiter is two fists above the south horizon, Saturn is two fists above
the south-southeast horizon and Venus is a half a fist above the east horizon.
Friday: Art and
science mix at noon today in Opticks, a live Networked Performance between the
Earth and Moon. Media artist Daniela de Paulis and her collaborators convert
images to radio waves and transmit them to the Moon. The waves bounce off of
the moon, return to Earth and are converted back into optical images. The
effect is sort of like painting your image as seen in a dirty mirror. For more
information, go to https://astronomerswithoutborders.org/gam2019-programs/astroarts/4674-opticks-echoes-from-the-moon.html.
In 1979, The Police
released the song called “Walking on the Moon”. Tomorrow at 1:00 p.m., The
Virtual Telescope project will host an online lunar observing session. This is
your opportunity to see the Moon close-up. Go to https://astronomerswithoutborders.org/gam2019-programs/online/4693-walking-on-the-moon.html to access the
observing session.
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 https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.
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