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.
No comments:
Post a Comment