The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of July 3, 2021

Saturday: Venus is a half a fist held upright and at arm’s length above the west-northwestern horizon at 10:00 p.m. Mars is about a half a fist to the upper left of Venus.  Venus doesn’t have tectonic plates like Earth does. But that doesn’t mean that its surface is static. Planetary scientists have been studying a Venus lowland that moves like blocks of ice on a frozen lake. While more data is needed, this seems to be a type of crust activity that is between a solid crust and a planet with plate tectonics. For more information about this, go to https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/venus-surface-is-fragmented-like-pack-ice/.

Sunday: The bright supergiant star Antares is one and a half fists above the southern horizon at 10:30 p.m.

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 the Sun is its greatest tomorrow, 152.1 million kilometers. This is called aphelion from the Greek prefix “apo” meaning “apart” and Helios, the Greek god of the Sun.

Tuesday: 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 wait for a VERY long time, Eltanin will be the brightest star in the entire 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 the brightest star.

Wednesday: Saturn is one fist above the southeastern horizon and Jupiter is a half a fist above the east-southeastern horizon at midnight.

Thursday: 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 western horizon at 11:00 p.m. 

Friday: Mizar is a star in the middle of the Big Dipper handle. Don’t confuse Mizar with its rhyming brother Izar in the constellation Bootes. Izar is also a binary star with about the same apparent brightness. And both were featured in different episodes of Star Trek. Izar was featured in the Star Trek episode “Whom Gods Destroy” from the original series. It is the base of Fleet Captain Garth, a former big shot in the federation and one of Kirk’s heroes before he went insane. Garth kidnaps Kirk and Spock before eventually being outsmarted. Mizar doesn’t play as big a role in its episode. It is the star of the homeworld of one of the alien species in The Next Generation episode “Allegiance”. Izar is one fist above the bright star Arcturus and five and a half fists above the west-southwestern horizon at 11:00 p.m. Mizar is five and a half fists above the northwest horizon at this time.

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.

The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of June 26, 2021

 Saturday:  The Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn are low in the southeastern sky at midnight. Saturn is one fists above the southeastern horizon, a half a fist to the upper left of the Moon. Jupiter is the bright point of light two fists to the left of the Moon. 

Sunday: Nearly 400 years ago, Galileo viewed the Pleiades star cluster through his telescope and saw that the seven or so stars in the region visible to the naked eye became many more. There are two main types of star clusters. Open star clusters, like the Pleiades and the Beehive, are groups of a few dozen to a few thousand stars that formed from the same cloud of gas and dust within our galaxy. Stars in open star clusters are young as far as stars go. Globular clusters are groups of up to a few million stars that orbit the core of spiral galaxies such as our own Milky Way. One of the most well known star clusters is the globular cluster in Hercules, an object that is fairly easy to find with binoculars. First find Vega, the bright bluish star five and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the eastern horizon at 11:00 p.m. Two fists above Vega, and close to straight overhead, is a keystone shape. Aim your binoculars at the upper left hand star of the keystone, the star closest to straight overhead. The globular cluster is one third of the way to the rightmost star of the keystone. It looks like a fuzzy patch on the obtuse angle of a small obtuse triangle. If you don’t know what an obtuse angle is, you should not have told your teacher, “I’ll never need to know this stuff”.

Monday: Venus is a half a fist above the northwestern horizon. Mars is a fist to the upper left of Venus.

Tuesday: Hot enough for you? If not, astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer Space telescope have discovered a planet so hot that molecules can’t even remain intact. This planet, called KELT-9b, is an ultra-hot Jupiter with a surface temperature of 7,800 degrees Fahrenheit. Hydrogen gas molecules are ripped apart on the hot day side and recombine on the much cooler night side. For more information about this discovery, go to https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/news/1626/for-hottest-planet-a-major-meltdown-study-shows/. 

Wednesday: Happy Asteroid Day (http://www.asteroidday.org/), the day we celebrate avoiding the destruction of the Earth by an undiscovered asteroid. There are a million asteroids in the Solar System with the potential to strike Earth and destroy a city. Astronomers have discovered only 1% of them. Asteroid Day is an effort to educate the public and encourage policy makers to fund this important effort. King Tut may have celebrated an ancient Asteroid Day by asking his assistants to make a dagger out of a broken-off asteroid that landed on Earth. Astronomers discovered that the blade of the knife contained much more nickel than is found in terrestrial iron, an amount consistent with iron meteorites, especially with one found in the year 2000 in the Kharga region in northern Egypt. For more information about the dagger, go to http://goo.gl/BHBivd.

Thursday: The bright star Arcturus is five fists above the southwestern horizon at 10:30 p.m.

Friday: About six years ago astronomers using a radio telescope in Australia discovered the source of fleeting radio signal bursts that had been a mystery for 17 years. And they didn’t have to probe the depths of deep space. They only had to probe the depths of… the observatory kitchen. It turns out the signal came from opening the microwave door prematurely. Read more about The Microwave Emission here: http://goo.gl/Ftb04C. Sheldon Cooper used similar methods of science when he discovered a can opener instead of magnetic monopoles in the season three premiere of “The Big Bang Theory” http://goo.gl/kAEoOD.

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.

The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of June 19, 2021

Saturday: The bright star Spica is about a half a fist held at arm’s length to the lower right of the Moon. They are three fists above the south-southeastern horizon at 10:00 p.m.

Sunday: Today is Father’s Day, the day to celebrate the person who gave you a father: your grandmother. In fact, celebrate this with your child by getting them the book “Woman in Science” by Rachel Ignotofsky (http://www.readwomeninscience.com/). This creatively drawn book highlights the contributions of 50 pioneers of science from Hypatia to Katherine Johnson, the main character in the recent movie “Hidden Figures”.

Monday: Last night, the Sun reached its highest declination (the official name for sky latitude) of 23.5 degrees above the celestial equator. The celestial equator is the line that divides the northern sky from the southern sky. In Ellensburg, the Sun is about seven fists held upright and at arm’s length above the south horizon at 1:00 p.m. (noon standard time). Contrary to popular belief, the Sun is never straight overhead in Ellensburg or anywhere else in the 48 contiguous states. The northernmost portion of the world where the Sun can be directly overhead is 23.5 degrees north latitude. In ancient times, the Sun was in the constellation Cancer the crab on the first day of summer. Hence, 23.5 degrees north latitude has the nickname "Tropic of Cancer". Because the Earth wobbles like a spinning top, the Sun's apparent path through the sky changes slightly over time. Now, the Sun is in the constellation Taurus the bull on the first day of summer. However, citing the high cost of revising all of the science books, geographers are not changing the name of 23.5 degrees north latitude to "Tropic of Taurus". The first day of summer is often called the summer solstice. However, astronomers refer to the summer solstice as the point in the sky in which the Sun is at its highest declination above the celestial equator. Summer starts when the Sun is at the summer solstice point. This year, that happens tonight at 8:30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time.

Tuesday: Saturn is one fist above the southeastern horizon and Jupiter is a half a fist above the east-southeastern horizon at 12:30 a.m.

Wednesday: At 10:00 p.m., Venus is about a half a fist above the west-northwestern horizon. Mars is a fist to the upper left of Venus. You’ll find it in the midst of the Beehive Cluster, one of the closest star clusters to Earth. It consists of about 350 stars, about 50 of which can be seen with binoculars on a dark night. 

Thursday: “Mom, I can’t sleep. It is too light out!” A poor excuse you say? Good astronomy skills, I say. The latest sunset of the year happens this weekend. Surprisingly, the earliest sunrise and the latest sunset do not both happen on the longest day of the year, the day of the summer solstice. The earliest sunrise occurs just before the longest day and the latest sunset occurs just after the longest day. This phenomenon relates to the angle of the Sun’s path near rising and setting. In Ellensburg, that angle is about 66 degrees above the southern horizon at noon near the first day of summer. Because of the Earth’s orbit, which causes the Sun’s apparent motion, the angles are not symmetric. The asymmetries in orbital angles leads to the asymmetry in rise and set times. This year, the sun sets at about 9:01 p.m. between June 22 and June 29 as viewed from Ellensburg, WA. Find sunset data for your location at https://www.timeanddate.com/. 

Friday: Don’t wait until next weekend to watch those wimpy firecracker shows. Find the hypergiant star Rho Cassiopeiae. Astronomers think that Rho Cassiopeiae will likely go supernova (explode) in the near future. Of course, for stars, “near future” might mean today. It might mean 20,000 years from now. Rho Cassiopeiae is in the constellation Cassiopeia the queen. At 11:00 tonight, Cassiopeia looks like the letter “W” about two and a half fists above the north-northeastern horizon. Rho Cassiopeiae is about a finger’s width to the right of the rightmost star in the “W”. Once you find it you’ll be thinking, “Big deal, I can hardly see it.” Although it is barely visible to the naked eye, it is actually very bright. It is the 20th most luminous star in the sky, a whopping 550,000 times more luminous than the 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 https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.

The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of June 12, 2021

Even though the CWU commencement ceremony will be virtual this year, your graduate deserves a gift. Why not get her or him a star? I don’t mean from one of those organizations that offer to “register the name of YOUR star with the U.S. Patent Office”. No company owns the right to name stars after people. Besides, the stars that those companies “name” are so dim you can’t find them. In this column, I’ll pick a constellation and representative star for each of the four colleges at CWU. Then, I’ll briefly tell the story of the constellation and relate that story to the aspect of public service CWU graduates from that college are uniquely qualified to engage in based on my version of sky interpretation. If different couples can have “their” song, then your favorite college graduate can have her or his star. Celebrate with your favorite CWU 2021 graduate at the virtual ceremony shown here: http://www.cwu.edu/commencement/. 

Saturday: College of Arts and Humanities: You are the people who interpret the world in unique ways. Then, you share those ways with others. According to Greek mythology, Orpheus charmed everyone he met when he played the lyre or harp. After his wife died tragically, he journeyed to the underworld to charm its inhabitants in an effort to win his wife back to the living world. Your service reminder: use your talent to bring joy to others. The constellation Lyra and its bright star Vega should remind you of the power of the arts. Vega is five and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the eastern horizon at 11:00 p.m.

Sunday: "Do I have to wake up yet? It's so early!" This next week gives us the earliest sunrises for the northern part of the United States, including Ellensburg.  "Wait, I thought this happened on the longest day of the year, which hasn't occurred yet." Because the Earth's orbit is not a perfect circle, the sunrise and sunset time is not symmetric. The earliest sunrise occurs before the longest day and the latest sunset occurs after the longest day. Go to http://earthsky.org/?p=4027 to read more about this phenomenon. 

Monday: College of Business. You are the future movers and shakers. The future CEOs. The future big donors to Central. Auriga represented a king of Athens who happened to be mobility impaired. Instead of sitting around waiting for others to transport him, he took the initiative to invent the four-wheeled chariot. He solved a problem for a special need. Your service reminder: address the problems of those in the most need. To remind you of that, look to the constellation Auriga. Its bright star Capella is about a half a fist above the north-northwestern horizon at 11:00 p.m.

Tuesday: College of Education and Professional Studies. You are the teachers. The craftspeople. The technical experts. Bootes, the herdsman, was such a person. Bootes’ job was to guide the northern constellations to the feeding place and the watering hole. He and his dogs were especially in charge of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, the greater and lesser bears. Your service reminder: guide others to a better place in life. Look to the constellation Bootes and its bright star Arcturus to remind you of this. Arcturus is five and a half fists above the southwestern horizon at 11:00 p.m.

Wednesday: At 9:45, Venus, the brightest planet in the night sky, is a half a fist above the west-northwest horizon. The stars Pollux and Castor, in the constellation Gemini, are about one fist straight above Venus. Mars is two fists to the upper left of Venus.

Thursday: College of the Sciences. You are the people who will systematically study how the world works. Agriculture is an important scientific application. Each year, farmers must use the findings of science to be successful. Who better to represent the College of the Sciences than Virgo, the goddess of the harvest? Virgo looms large in the sky holding an ear of wheat in her hand. Your service reminder: study the practical aspects of the scientific world. The ear of wheat, and your service reminder, is represented by the bright star Spica. Spica is two and a half fists above the southwestern horizon at 11:00 p.m. 

Friday: Finally, Jupiter and Saturn are starting to make their way into the evening sky. Well, the evening sky for night owls. At 1:00 a.m. Saturn is one fist above the southeastern horizon. Jupiter, the much brighter of the two, is a half a fist above the east-southeastern horizon.

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.

The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of June 5, 2021

Saturday: According to an Australian Aboriginal legend, a young man was undergoing an initiation rite that required that he avoid contact with women. But the two wives of his brother liked him so they seduced him. When his brother found out, he set fire to the house they were in. The young man and the two women escape by casting a spear into the Milky Way and pulling themselves into the sky. What does this have to do with astronomy? In the legend, the man becomes a bright, pulsating red star and the women become two dimmer white stars above and below him.  What does this have to do with you? You can see the bright red pulsating star called Antares making its way into the evening sky. It is one fist above the south-southeastern horizon at 10:00 p.m. What stands out about this story is that aboriginal culture must have been paying attention to variations in star brightness long before the “official” discovery of variable stars in the late sixteenth century. For more about aboriginal star observations, go to http://tiny.cc/h4iytz. 

Sunday: Venus is a half a fist above the west-northwestern horizon at 9:30 p.m. Mars is two fists above the western horizon. It makes a line with the stars Pollux and Castor, both of which are a little brighter than Venus.

Monday: It looks so peaceful up there. But life is not peaceful for Jupiter. According to a recent study by astronomers, Jupiter gets hit by a 5-20 meter diameter asteroid 10 to 65 times a year. For comparison, the object that exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in 2013 was 20 meters in diameter. Earth gets hit by a 20-meter asteroid about once every 50 years. For more information, go to https://goo.gl/RxPc5G. Jupiter is two and a half fists above the southeastern horizon at 4:30 a.m. Saturn is two fists to the right of Jupiter.

Tuesday: The bright star Arcturis is six fists above due south at 10:15 p.m. Cor Caroli is the medium bright star about three fists to the upper right of Arcturus, halfway between Arcturus and the Big Dipper Cup. About halfway between Arcturus and Cor Caroli is M3, an eight billion year old globular cluster of 500,000 stars. You’ll need binoculars to find it. It looks like an out-of-focus star right next to an in-focus star just below it. For more information about M3, go to https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/hello-messier-3/.

Wednesday: Summer is nearly here. How do I know? Because the days are very long. Because the temperature is rising. Because the school year is ending. (Wait. How can we tell that with the kids at home more?) Also, because the Summer Triangle is fairly high in the eastern sky at 11:00 p.m. Vega, the third brightest star visible from Ellensburg, is about five fists above the east horizon. Deneb, at the tail of Cygnus the swan is about four fists above the east-northeast horizon. The third star in the triangle, Altair in Aquila the eagle, is two above the east horizon.

If you want to put somebody off, tell her to wait until Deneb sets. At Ellensburg’s latitude of 47 degrees, Deneb is a circumpolar star meaning it never goes below the horizon.

Thursday: There is an annular solar eclipse today. That doesn’t mean it is a yearly occurrence. Annular refers to the ring shape of the Sun. The Moon will be directly between the Earth and the Sun. But it will be relatively far from the Earth meaning it will not appear large enough to fully block the Sun. If you want to see this, you’ll need to go to Northern Canada, Greenland, or the Arctic Ocean. If you want to read about it, go to https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/2021-june-10. This is one of my favorite astronomy websites.

Friday: I hope that you have never been in a collision. It can be scary and dangerous. The biggest collision in our celestial neighborhood will occur in a few billion years when our Milky Way Galaxy will collide with the Andromeda Galaxy. Here’s an article about what it will look like: http://tiny.cc/19iytz If you can’t stay up a few billion years to see the collision, stay up until late at night to see the Andromeda Galaxy. First find the Great Square of Pegasus. At 3:00 a.m., the left hand corner of the square is about three fists above the east-northeast 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 nearly a trillion 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 https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.