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

Saturday: Have you ever sat around waiting for a long distance call from another state? Another country? How about another star system? In 2019, astronomers thought they heard a radio signal from a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, our Sun’s nearest neighbor at about 4.2 light years away. This signal showed many signs of being extraterrestrial in origin, including coming from a specific location in the sky, having a pure tone, and changing in frequency similar to something moving exactly towards or exactly away from the Earth. However, a more recent analysis showed that the signal was more like a crank call. Read more about the discovery and undiscovery at https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/the-true-nature-of-the-candidate-et-signal-from-proxima-centauri/. Proxima Centauri is part of the three star Alpha Centauri system, the third brightest star in the sky. You need to go down to the southern tip of Texas or Florida to see Alpha Centauri.

Sunday: Halloween. The pumpkins. The candy. The children going door-to-door dressed up as their favorite Saturnian astronomers: Carolyn Porco and Christiaan Huygens. At least they should because Halloween is, in part, an astronomical holiday. Halloween is a “cross-quarter date”, a day approximately midway between an equinox and a solstice. Historically, the Celts of the British Isles used cross-quarter dates as the beginnings of seasons. For the Celts, winter began with Halloween. So when all those little Saturn fans come to your door tonight night, honor the Celts and give them a wintry treat. If they ask you for a trick, point out Jupiter and Saturn. Jupiter is nearly three fists held upright and at arm’s length above due south at 8:00 p.m. Saturn is about one and a half fists to the lower right of Jupiter.

Monday: Happy Celtic New Year! Many historians think that November 1, known for the festival of Samhain, was the ancient Celtic New Year’s Day. Samhain, Old Irish for “summer’s end”, was a harvest festival that may have contributed to some of the customs of our current “holiday” of Halloween.

Tuesday: Venus is nearly a fist above the south-southwestern horizon at 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday: The waning crescent moon, the planet Mercury, and the bright star Spica make a small triangle in the east-southeastern sky, a half a fist above the horizon at 7:00 a.m. Just a few minutes later, Mars will rise right below the triangle.

Thursday: Uranus will be in opposition tonight. That doesn’t mean that Uranus always says no. Opposition means that Uranus is on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun. When an object is in opposition, it is at its highest point in the sky during the darkest time of the day. Thus, opposition is typically the best time to observe an object. Uranus is about five fists above the southeast horizon at 11 p.m. Unless you have an exceptionally dark sky, you’ll need binoculars to see it. First find the moderately bright reddish star Menfar, which is exactly four fists above due southeast. Once Menfar is in your field of view, move your binoculars up about one or two fields of view until you see four points of light of similar brightness that make a tall diamond. The top point of light is Uranus. For more about Uranus and other interesting Solar System phenomena, go to https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-blogs/explore-night-bob-king/uranus-queues-up-for-opposition/ 

Friday: You’ve heard of moons. You may have heard of dwarf planets. Did you know that they can share similar features? The five largest moons of Uranus have the same heat signatures as the largest dwarf planets such as Pluto and Eris. That means they are relatively dense and don’t immediately radiate away all of their daytime-absorbed heat at night. Read more about Uranian moons at https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/uranian-moons-are-like-dwarf-planets/.
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 October 16, 2021

Today: The bright star Antares is about a finger width below the much brighter Venus at 7:00 p.m. Both points of light are a half a fist held upright and at arm’s length above the southwestern horizon.

Sunday: Jupiter is nearly three fists above due south at 9:00 p.m. Saturn is a fist and a half to the lower right of Jupiter.

Monday: Rho Cassiopeiae is the most distant star that can be seen with the naked eye by most people. It is about 8,200 light years away. That means that the light that reaches your eyes from that star left over 8,000 years ago, before the beginning of time according to the Byzantine calendar. Rho Cassiopeiae is six fists above the northeastern horizon at 8:00 p.m., just above the zigzag line that marks the constellation Cassiopeia.

Tuesday: The October full moon is called the Full Hunter's Moon. The traditional Northern Hemisphere harvest time has ended so this is the month that many groups of people turned to hunting to build up their food supplies before winter. Also, since the Moon is full, it lights the sky the entire night, extending the time for night time activities.

Wednesday: The Orionid meteor shower consists of the Earth colliding with pieces of the remains of Halley's Comet's tail. This shower peaks after midnight for the next two nights. This is not a meteor shower that typically results in a meteor storm. There will be about 15-20 meteors per hour, many more meteors than are visible on a typical night but not the storm that some showers bring. The Moon is just past full, meaning it will be above the horizon during the peak time. The best time to observe will be near dawn. Meteor showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to originate. These meteors appear to come from a point in Orion, the hunter. This point is about one fist above due east at midnight. You can follow this point throughout the night as it will remain one fist above the prominent reddish star Betelgeuse (pronounced Bet'-el-jews). The Orionid meteors are fast - up to 40 miles per second. If you fall asleep tonight, you can catch the tail end of the shower every night until early November. For more information, go to https://earthsky.org/?p=27937. 

Thursday: Mercury is a half a fist above the eastern horizon at 6:30 p.m.

Friday: Along with the not-so-subtle drug reference in their name, The Doobie Brothers could have made an astronomy reference in their song lyrics if they would have written: “Old Earth water, keep on rollin’, Mississippi moon won’t you keep on shining on me.” Astronomers now think that some of the water on Earth may be older than the Solar System. The chemical signature of the water indicates it came from a very cold source, just a few degrees above absolute zero. The early Solar System was much warmer than this meaning the water came from a source outside the Solar System. For more information about the old Earth water, go to http://goo.gl/QsEu5P.

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 October 2, 2021

 

Saturday:  The CWU campus is mostly open. However, for fall quarter, the First Saturday Planetarium Shows will be online. The Physics Department is hosting the First Saturday VIRTUAL planetarium show today from noon to 1:00 p.m. CWU professor Bruce Palmquist will give a show called “What’s up in the fall sky,” featuring stars, constellations, planets, and other interesting objects visible in the autumn sky. There will be a virtual planetarium show on the first Saturday of every month for the rest of the school year. Stay at home, practice good physical distancing, and visit http://tiny.cc/oyrjuz to register for the show and to attend online using Zoom.

Sunday: Since Halloween is later this month; the stores are filled with bags of candy clusters. Use this reminder to take time to look at a star cluster. The Hyades cluster is an open star cluster that represents the V-shaped face of Taurus the bull. It is one of the biggest and nearest star clusters with about 200 stars 150 light years away. The Hyades cluster was the first cluster to be the subject of detailed motion studies. These studies allowed astronomers to pinpoint the distance to the Hyades and provide important information about the scale of the universe. Aldebaran, nearly two and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the eastern horizon at midnight, is a foreground star and not a part of the Hyades cluster.

Monday: Jupiter is nearly three fists above the south-southeast horizon at 9:00 p.m. Saturn is one and a half fists to the lower right of Jupiter.

Tuesday:  Uranus is a little more than three fists above the eastern horizon and two fists below the bright, orange-ish star Hamal. Tonight it is to the left of a star of similar brightness. You’ll know you have found the planet when you revisit that location for the next few nights and see that the point of light has moved up and to the right.

Wednesday: Coffee. First scientists say it’s good for you. Then they say it is bad for you. Recently, the same argument was applied to an exomoon, a moon orbiting a planet outside our Solar System. No, astronomers are not debating whether exomoons are good for you. Of course they are. But there are conflicting reports over whether the initial exomoon observation shared a year ago was real or just a blip in the data. Astronomers studied the light of a star as a Jupiter-sized planet and then its Neptune-sized moon blocked it. This transit method is one of the most popular ways to observe exoplanets… and maybe exomoons. Read more about the debate at https://www.sciencealert.com/the-first-known-exomoon-is-called-into-question-in-follow-up-studies.  

Thursday: The Draconid meteor shower peaks for the next three nights with tomorrow night being the best. The meteors appear to come from a point in the head of Draco, the dragon constellation. This point is nearly straight overhead at 7:00 p.m. tonight. This point remains near the trapezoid-shaped head of Draco throughout the night. Unlike most meteor showers, this one is best observed in the early evening rather than after midnight. Call this the “early to bed” meteor shower. Draconid meteors are slow moving which means you will have an easy time differentiating true Draconid meteors, from Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, from the stray grains of dust that happen to enter the Earth’s atmosphere every day and night. Could this be the year for a great show by the Draconids? The thin waxing crescent Moon will not affect viewing. For everything you need to know about the Draconid meteor shower, go to https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-draconid-meteor-shower/. 

Friday: Venus is one fist to the left of the Moon at 7:00 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 https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.