The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of January 30, 2021

Saturday: 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 https://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. If that is too much work for you, just go outside. Mars is nearly six fists held upright and at arm’s length above the southwest horizon at 7:00 p.m.

Sunday: At 6:00 p.m., Mercury is less than a fist above the west-southwest horizon. 

Monday: Goodnight room. Goodnight mini-moon. Goodnight cow jumping over the Moon. This past November, Earth captured a mini-moon, a 1960s-era rocket. But tonight, it makes one last close pass, a chance to say “goodbye mini-moon” before it escapes Earth’s gravitational pull and no longer orbits Earth. For more on how you can see the mini-moon online today, go to https://earthsky.org/space/2020-so-mini-moon-asteroid-or-space-junk. 

Tuesday: Today is Groundhog Day, an important day for pop culture astronomers and Bill Murray movie fans. If Punxsutawney Phil doesn’t see his shadow tomorrow 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.

Wednesday: If you want to look at the ten brightest objects in the Solar System as seen from Earth, start with the asteroid Vesta at number 10. It is the second largest and brightest asteroid. You can’t see it with the naked eye but it is easy to see using binoculars. At 10:00 p.m., find the bright star Denebola, one fist above the eastern horizon, at the tail end of Leo the lion. Put Denebola at the left side of your binocular field of view. Vesta will be near the middle, just above a little triangle of stars. Watch it over the next few days as it moves upward in the field of view

Thursday: Winter is a good time to see the thick band of the Milky Way galaxy. It arches high in the early evening sky at 8:00 p.m. starting in the southeast by Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. Climbing from Sirius through the "horns" of Taurus to the bright star Capella nearly straight overhead, it drops down toward M-shaped Cassiopeia in the north and the tail of Cygnus the swan and its bright star Deneb, in the northwest. 

Friday: CWU encourages physical distancing. But astronomy learning lives on! The Physics Department is hosting a First Saturday VIRTUAL planetarium show tomorrow from noon to 1:00 p.m. Former CWU and current Green River College professor Tony Smith will give a show called “Love in the Sky”. The show will feature love stories as told through celestial mythologies. Hmm. Why would the February show be about love? There is a virtual planetarium show on the first Saturday of nearly every month of the school year. Register at https://rebrand.ly/Feb2021FirstSaturday.

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.