Saturday: Jupiter is about one fist above the west-southwestern horizon at 6:00 p.m.
Sunday: 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 about a half a fist held upright and at arm’s length above the
southwest horizon at 6:30 a.m. Super bright Venus is one fist to the upper left
of Mars.
Monday: Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo
the lion, is one and a half fists above due east at 8:00 p.m.
Tuesday: 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 you can find it using binoculars. At 6:30 a.m., find Venus again,
the bright star point of light, one fist above the southeastern horizon. Move
your binoculars so Venus is in the upper lft portion of your field of view.
Vesta will be in the lower right.. Watch it over the next few days as it
moves down and to the left in the field of view.
Wednesday: 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.
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: The brightest star in the head of Draco the dragon
is called Eltanin, based on the Arabic At-Tinnin or “great serpent”. It is
currently about 150 light years away. Eltanin is moving towards our Solar
System. In 1.5 million years, it will be only 28 light years away and the
brightest star in the night sky, nearly as bright as Sirius is currently.
Eltanin is one fist above due north at 9:00 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.
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