Saturday: “You know Aries and Cancer and Draco and Libra. Leo and Pisces and Virgo and Hydra. But do you recall, the pointiest asterism of all? Triangulum, the three-sided asterism, had a very pointy shape. And if you didn’t know it, you could say it poked an ape.” Sorry. Some stores have started sending out their Christmas catalogs and that has put me in the mood to modify some Christmas songs. Anyway, Triangulum is a small constellation between the more prominent Andromeda and Aries. Its main feature is a skinny triangle oriented parallel to the ground and two and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the east-northeastern horizon at 10:00 p.m.
Sunday: Mars is a half a fist below the moon and four fists
above the eastern horizon at 5:30 a.m.
Monday: Later this week, you will read about Fomalhaut, the
second brightest star with a planet. First, let’s learn about the brightest
star known to have a planet. It is Pollux, in the constellation Gemini. Pollux
is about a half a fist above the moon and about four and a half fists above due
east at 5:30 a.m., right below its “twin” star Castor. Read more about Pollux
at https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/meet-pollux-red-giant-exoplanet/.
Tuesday: Jupiter is about a half a fist below the moon and
one and a half fists above the eastern horizon at 5:30 a.m.
Wednesday: Fomalhaut, the southernmost bright star visible
from the northern USA, is one fist above the south-southeastern horizon at
11:00 p.m. In 2008, Fomalhaut and its surroundings became the first star system
with an extrasolar planet to be directly imaged. See the family photo at https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081114.html.
Thursday: The moon is almost directly between the Earth and
the Sun today. That means you won’t be able to see it. But that does not mean
it doesn’t exist. Contrary to the belief of toddlers and immature politicians,
just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. (Note a
double negative statement followed by a triple negative statement. I’m not
unsorry about that.) Now, back to the science. What would happen to the Earth
if the moon really didn’t exist? In that 2013 blockbuster Oblivion, aliens
destroy the moon and Tom Cruise survives. In real life, the long-term effects
on the Earth would be devastating to life as we know it. The moon stabilizes
the spin axis of the Earth keeping the seasons fairly uniform over time. For
more information on what would happen to the earth if the moon were destroyed,
go to https://www.popsci.com/what-would-happen-if-moon-suddenly-disappeared/.
For more information on Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Cruise.
Friday: Saturn is two fists above the east-southeastern
horizon at 10:30 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.
All times are Pacific Time unless noted.
