Saturday: Jupiter is two fists held upright and at arm’s length above the east-southeast horizon at 4:30 a.m. It will be easy to find since it is the brightest object in that portion of the sky. Uranus typically is not so easy to find. But for the next few mornings, Uranus will be about a pinky width to the left of Jupiter and be easy to spot with binoculars. It will look like a pale blue star compared to Jupiter.
Sunday: There are so many bright planets visible in the early evening sky, they deserve a tribute song. Since the movie “Grease” is being re-released this summer, how about this song sung to the tune of “Sandra Dee”: “Look at me, I’m evening sky. Lousy with planets moving by. Won’t go to bed ‘til my planet needs are fed. I can’t, I’m evening sky.” Those planet needs can be fed at 10 p.m. when Venus is one fist above the west-northwest horizon, Mars is three and a half fists above the west-southwest horizon and Saturn is four fists above the southwest horizon.
Monday: “Hey baby! What’s your sign?”
“Ophiuchus, of course”
The Sun is in the same part of the sky as the stars of Ophiuchus from about November 29 to December 17. This is what astrologers mean when they say the Sun is “in” a constellation. Thus, if you were born between these dates, you should be an Ophiuchus. The fact that the horoscopes never list Ophiuchus is a major flaw of astrology. Astrology says that some of our characteristics are based on the location of the Sun at our birth. How can astrologers leave out three weeks from their system? That is like a scientist saying she can explain the results of her experiment every month of the year except early December. Ophiuchus was a mythical healer who was a forerunner to Hippocrates. According to myth, he could raise people from the dead. Maybe that is why he is ignored by astrology. Raising people from the dead is much less impressive than giving highly personal advice such as “Today is a good day to be careful in love.”
Rasalhague (pronounced Ras’-al-hay’-gwee), the brightest star in Ophiuchus, is four fists above the east-southeast horizon at 11 p.m. Its name comes from the Arabic words for “head of the serpent charmer” or Ras Alhauge. The rest of Ophiuchus spreads out down and to the right of Rasalhague.
Tuesday: The month of June is named after Juno, the queen of the Roman gods and the mythological protector of the Roman state. In ancient Rome, the month began when the crescent moon was first seen in the evening sky from Capitoline Hill in Rome. If we still started months this way, June wouldn’t begin until about two weeks from now.
Wednesday: Although Venus is brighter, Arcturus is probably the first star you’ll see tonight. It is nearly six fists above the southeast horizon at 9:15 p.m.
Thursday: 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 a couple dozen. Now we know there are about 100 stars in this open star cluster. There are two main types of star clusters. Open star clusters 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. The stars in the Pleiades are about 100 million years old, much younger than our five billion year old Sun. Globular clusters are groups of up to a few million stars that orbit the core of spiral galaxies such as our own Milky Way. June’s “Hot Topic” for astronomy is star clusters. Go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/topics_jun.htm for more information.
Friday: 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 fists above the east horizon at 11 p.m. Two fists above Vega is a keystone shape. Aim your binoculars at the upper left hand star of the keystone. 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”. Go to http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/observe_jun.htm for more information about the Hercules globular cluster.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 5/22/10
Saturday: Saturn is one fist held upright and at arm’s length above the Moon at 10 p.m.
Sunday: Ophiuchus (pronounced O-fee-u’-kus) the serpent holder rises just before sunset this evening. By 11, p.m., the leading star, Yed Prior or “the preceding star of the hand” is three fists held upright and at arm’s length above the southeast horizon.
Monday: Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo, is about one fist above the Moon at 10 p.m.
Tuesday: The constellation Aquila the eagle is starting its migration across the summer evening sky this month. Aquila, marked by its bright star Altair, rises above the east horizon at about 11 p.m. Not all animal migrations are fully understood by scientists. We might be inclined to attribute bird migrations to instinct. This answer certainly did not satisfy the theologian C. S. Lewis. In his short work “Men Without Chests”, he wrote “to say that migratory birds find their way by instinct is only to say that we do not know how migratory birds find their way”. In science (and theology), Lewis is telling us to look for real causes and not simply labels such as instinct. The cause for Aquila’s migration is the Earth orbiting the Sun. As the Earth moves around the Sun, certain constellations move into the evening sky as others get lost in the glare of the setting Sun.
Wednesday: Mercury is at greatest western elongation this morning. This means Mercury is farthest from the Sun in the morning sky for this orbit. Typically, that means it is a good time to view Mercury. But, Mercury still remains low in the morning sky for this western elongation. It is less than a half a fist above the east-northeast horizon at 5 a.m.
Thursday: Tonight’s full moon is in the constellation Scorpius the scorpion. Since this is the time for “May flowers”, the May full moon is called the Full Flower Moon. At 11 p.m., the bright star Antares is about a finger width to the right of the Moon.
Friday: Cygnus the swan flies tonight. Deneb, the brightest star in the constellation, whose name means “tail” in Arabic, is two fists above the northeast horizon at 10 p.m. Cygnus’ wings make a vertical line one half a fist to the right of Deneb. Its head, marked by the star Albireo, is two fists to the right of Deneb. While Deneb is at the tail of Cygnus, it is at the head of the line of bright stars. It is 160,000 times more luminous than the Sun making it one of the brightest stars in the galaxy. It does not dominate our night sky because it is 2,600 light years away, one of the farthest naked eye stars. If Deneb were 25 light years away, it would shine as bright as a crescent moon. Compare that to Vega, which is 25 light years away. Vega is three and a half fists above the east-northeast horizon at this time.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Ophiuchus (pronounced O-fee-u’-kus) the serpent holder rises just before sunset this evening. By 11, p.m., the leading star, Yed Prior or “the preceding star of the hand” is three fists held upright and at arm’s length above the southeast horizon.
Monday: Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo, is about one fist above the Moon at 10 p.m.
Tuesday: The constellation Aquila the eagle is starting its migration across the summer evening sky this month. Aquila, marked by its bright star Altair, rises above the east horizon at about 11 p.m. Not all animal migrations are fully understood by scientists. We might be inclined to attribute bird migrations to instinct. This answer certainly did not satisfy the theologian C. S. Lewis. In his short work “Men Without Chests”, he wrote “to say that migratory birds find their way by instinct is only to say that we do not know how migratory birds find their way”. In science (and theology), Lewis is telling us to look for real causes and not simply labels such as instinct. The cause for Aquila’s migration is the Earth orbiting the Sun. As the Earth moves around the Sun, certain constellations move into the evening sky as others get lost in the glare of the setting Sun.
Wednesday: Mercury is at greatest western elongation this morning. This means Mercury is farthest from the Sun in the morning sky for this orbit. Typically, that means it is a good time to view Mercury. But, Mercury still remains low in the morning sky for this western elongation. It is less than a half a fist above the east-northeast horizon at 5 a.m.
Thursday: Tonight’s full moon is in the constellation Scorpius the scorpion. Since this is the time for “May flowers”, the May full moon is called the Full Flower Moon. At 11 p.m., the bright star Antares is about a finger width to the right of the Moon.
Friday: Cygnus the swan flies tonight. Deneb, the brightest star in the constellation, whose name means “tail” in Arabic, is two fists above the northeast horizon at 10 p.m. Cygnus’ wings make a vertical line one half a fist to the right of Deneb. Its head, marked by the star Albireo, is two fists to the right of Deneb. While Deneb is at the tail of Cygnus, it is at the head of the line of bright stars. It is 160,000 times more luminous than the Sun making it one of the brightest stars in the galaxy. It does not dominate our night sky because it is 2,600 light years away, one of the farthest naked eye stars. If Deneb were 25 light years away, it would shine as bright as a crescent moon. Compare that to Vega, which is 25 light years away. Vega is three and a half fists above the east-northeast horizon at this time.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 5/15/10
Saturday: Venus is a half a fist held upright and at arm’s length to the upper left of the Moon at 9 p.m. While the planet was named for the Roman goddess of love and beauty, it is not a loving place. The surface of the planet is 460 degrees Celsius (860 degrees Fahrenheit), hot enough to melt lead. The barometric pressure on the surface is over 90 times greater than on Earth’s surface. Most missions to Venus have failed either before sending back data or after only a few minutes of sending back data. Not a very neighborly attitude from our nearest planetary neighbor. The next planned Venus explorer is the Japanese mission called Akatsuki, still in development. For an effective introduction to Venus and many other significant solar system objects including the eight planets, Pluto and the Sun, go to http://sse.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/.
Sunday: Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo, is known as the Horn Mansion one of 28 mansions, or constellations, in the Chinese sky. Spica is about three fists above the south horizon at 11 p.m.
Monday: Late spring and early summer is a good time to look for star clusters. Last week, you learned about M3, the third object cataloged by French astronomer Charles Messier over 200 years ago. One of the best clusters is the globular cluster in the constellation Hercules, also called M13. (Hummm. Guess what number that object is in Messier’s catalog.) Globular clusters are compact groupings of a few hundred thousand stars in a spherical shape 100 light years across. (For comparison, a 100 light year diameter sphere near out Sun would contain a few hundred stars.) The globular cluster in Hercules is six fists above due east at 11 p.m. First find Vega, the bright bluish star about four fists above the east-northeast horizon. Two fists to the upper right of Vega is a keystone shape. Aim your binoculars at the two stars that form the uppermost point of the keystone. The globular cluster is one third of the way south of the uppermost star on 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”.
Tuesday: When it is sitting low in the western sky, many people mistake the star Capella for a planet. It is bright. It has a slight yellow color. But, Capella is compelling on its own. It is the fourth brightest star we can see in Ellensburg. It is the most northerly bright star. It is a binary star consisting of two yellow giant stars that orbit each other every 100 days. At 10 p.m., Capella is two fists above the northwest horizon. If you miss it tonight, don’t worry. Capella is the brightest circumpolar star meaning it is the brightest star that never goes below the horizon from our point of view in Ellensburg.
Wednesday: Mars, looking like a bright orange star, is about a half a fist above the Moon at 10 p.m. They are four fists above the west-southwest horizon.
Thursday: The first quarter Moon is in the constellation Leo the lion, about a half a fist below the bright star Regulus.
Friday: Jupiter is two fists above the east-southeast horizon at 5 a.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo, is known as the Horn Mansion one of 28 mansions, or constellations, in the Chinese sky. Spica is about three fists above the south horizon at 11 p.m.
Monday: Late spring and early summer is a good time to look for star clusters. Last week, you learned about M3, the third object cataloged by French astronomer Charles Messier over 200 years ago. One of the best clusters is the globular cluster in the constellation Hercules, also called M13. (Hummm. Guess what number that object is in Messier’s catalog.) Globular clusters are compact groupings of a few hundred thousand stars in a spherical shape 100 light years across. (For comparison, a 100 light year diameter sphere near out Sun would contain a few hundred stars.) The globular cluster in Hercules is six fists above due east at 11 p.m. First find Vega, the bright bluish star about four fists above the east-northeast horizon. Two fists to the upper right of Vega is a keystone shape. Aim your binoculars at the two stars that form the uppermost point of the keystone. The globular cluster is one third of the way south of the uppermost star on 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”.
Tuesday: When it is sitting low in the western sky, many people mistake the star Capella for a planet. It is bright. It has a slight yellow color. But, Capella is compelling on its own. It is the fourth brightest star we can see in Ellensburg. It is the most northerly bright star. It is a binary star consisting of two yellow giant stars that orbit each other every 100 days. At 10 p.m., Capella is two fists above the northwest horizon. If you miss it tonight, don’t worry. Capella is the brightest circumpolar star meaning it is the brightest star that never goes below the horizon from our point of view in Ellensburg.
Wednesday: Mars, looking like a bright orange star, is about a half a fist above the Moon at 10 p.m. They are four fists above the west-southwest horizon.
Thursday: The first quarter Moon is in the constellation Leo the lion, about a half a fist below the bright star Regulus.
Friday: Jupiter is two fists above the east-southeast horizon at 5 a.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 5/9/10
Saturday: Say good bye to the nice doggy. “Good bye doggy. We’ll see you in a few weeks in the morning.” Sirius, the Dog Star, is less than a half a fist held upright and at arm’s length above the southeast horizon at 9 p.m. As the Earth revolves around the Sun, different groups of stars are in line behind the Sun. Soon Sirius and the rest of the constellation Canis Major will be lost in the glare of the Sun. As the Earth continues its revolution, those constellations behind the Sun move into the early morning sky.
Sunday: Jupiter is a half a fist to the lower right of the moon. They are about a fist above the east horizon at 5 a.m. That’s right. You have to get up early to see the morning sky objects in the mid to late spring and summer.
Monday: Give me an “M”. Give me a “3”. What does that spell? “M3.” “Big deal,” you say. It was a big deal to French comet hunter Charles Messier (pronounced messy a). M3 was the 3rd comet look-alike that Messier catalogued in the late 1700s. M3 is a globular cluster, a cluster of over 100,000 stars that is 32,000 light years away. It is too dim to be seen with the naked eye but is fairly easy find with binoculars. First find Arcturus five and a half fists above the southeast horizon at 10 p.m. (See Wednesday’s entry to learn how to find Arcturus.) Move your binoculars up a little so two stars of nearly identical brightness are in your field of view. When the top star is in the lower left part of your field of view, there should be a fuzzy patch near the center of your field of view. This is M3.
Tuesday: Mars is four and a half fists above the west-southwest horizon at 10 p.m.
Wednesday: This is a good time of the year to find the Big Dipper. It is nearly straight overhead at 10 p.m. The cup is to the west and the handle is to the east. You can always use the Big Dipper to find some other bright stars. First, follow the curve, or arc, of the Big Dipper down three fists into the southern sky. This is the bright star, Arcturus, the second brightest nighttime star we can see in Ellensburg. Next, continue on a straight line, or spike, another three fists down toward the south horizon to the star Spica. Spica is the tenth brightest nighttime star we can see in Ellensburg. You now know how to use the Big Dipper handle to “arc” to Arcturus and “spike” to Spica.
Thursday: Tonight’s Moon is new. Don’t bother looking for it. The new moon is the phase where the Moon is directly between the Earth and the Sun. Hence the side of the Moon facing Earth is not receiving any sunlight and cannot be seen. The term “new” comes from the moon seeming to be reborn with light every lunar cycle.
Friday: Saturn is four and a half fists above the south horizon at 10 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Jupiter is a half a fist to the lower right of the moon. They are about a fist above the east horizon at 5 a.m. That’s right. You have to get up early to see the morning sky objects in the mid to late spring and summer.
Monday: Give me an “M”. Give me a “3”. What does that spell? “M3.” “Big deal,” you say. It was a big deal to French comet hunter Charles Messier (pronounced messy a). M3 was the 3rd comet look-alike that Messier catalogued in the late 1700s. M3 is a globular cluster, a cluster of over 100,000 stars that is 32,000 light years away. It is too dim to be seen with the naked eye but is fairly easy find with binoculars. First find Arcturus five and a half fists above the southeast horizon at 10 p.m. (See Wednesday’s entry to learn how to find Arcturus.) Move your binoculars up a little so two stars of nearly identical brightness are in your field of view. When the top star is in the lower left part of your field of view, there should be a fuzzy patch near the center of your field of view. This is M3.
Tuesday: Mars is four and a half fists above the west-southwest horizon at 10 p.m.
Wednesday: This is a good time of the year to find the Big Dipper. It is nearly straight overhead at 10 p.m. The cup is to the west and the handle is to the east. You can always use the Big Dipper to find some other bright stars. First, follow the curve, or arc, of the Big Dipper down three fists into the southern sky. This is the bright star, Arcturus, the second brightest nighttime star we can see in Ellensburg. Next, continue on a straight line, or spike, another three fists down toward the south horizon to the star Spica. Spica is the tenth brightest nighttime star we can see in Ellensburg. You now know how to use the Big Dipper handle to “arc” to Arcturus and “spike” to Spica.
Thursday: Tonight’s Moon is new. Don’t bother looking for it. The new moon is the phase where the Moon is directly between the Earth and the Sun. Hence the side of the Moon facing Earth is not receiving any sunlight and cannot be seen. The term “new” comes from the moon seeming to be reborn with light every lunar cycle.
Friday: Saturn is four and a half fists above the south horizon at 10 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 5/1/10
What's up in the sky 5/1/10
Saturday: The Kittitas Environmental Education Network (KEEN) invites you to “Get Intimate with the Shrub Steppe” (GISS) at Helen McCabe Park this morning and early afternoon. The CWU Astronomy club will have opportunities for safe solar viewing as well as information about the sky. Go to http://www.kittitasee.net/events/giss2010.html for more information about the entire event. I invite you to Get Intimate with Super Spectacular Saturn (GISSS) tonight. Saturn is four and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the south horizon at 10 p.m. With a small telescope, you can see the rings of Saturn and at least one of its moons – Titan. With a good pair of 10X50 binoculars and a tripod, Titan will be visible. The “10X” in 10X50 indicated the binoculars have a magnification of ten times. The “50” means that the diameter of the lenses on the front are 50 millimeters. 10X50 is a common size for binoculars.
Sunday: Wake up early this morning for a nice spring shower – a meteor shower. The Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks just before dawn on Thursday morning. But since this meteor shower has a fairly broad peak range, there will be many more meteors than in the typical pre-dawn sky throughout the week. Meteor showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to originate. The meteors appear to come from a point in the constellation Aquarius near the star Eta. This point is about one fist above the east horizon at 4 a.m. Although dawn is starting to light the sky, you could be rewarded with a few bright, fast meteors. The Eta Aquarid meteors slam into the Earth at about 40 miles per second. They often leave a long trail. The Eta Aquarid meteors are small rocks that have broken off Halley’s Comet.
Monday: Jupiter is a little less than one fist above the east horizon at 5 a.m. Yes, 5… A… M. No one said sky watching was for the faint hearted.
Tuesday: Are you a henpecked husband? King Cepheus was. He was so captivated by his wife Cassiopeia’s beauty that he let her rule their home. You can tell who is boss by looking in the northern sky at 10 p.m. Cassiopeia is the prominent W-shaped grouping of stars two fists above the north horizon. Cepheus is the much dimmer house-shaped grouping of stars about a fist to the right of Cassiopeia.
Wednesday: Happy Birthday dear Hubble Telescope. Happy birthday to you. The Hubble Space Telescope turned 20 years old last week. NASA is celebrating by introducing a new website with a Hubble timeline, movies and an album of iconic Hubble pictures - http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/Hubble20/.
Thursday: Do people think you have a magnetic personality? The star Cor Caroli understands how you feel. Cor Caroli has one of the strongest magnetic fields among main sequence stars similar to our Sun. This strong magnetic field is thought to produce large sunspots that cause the brightness of Cor Caroli to vary. Cor Caroli is nearly straight overhead at 10:30 p.m.
Friday: Mars is four and a half fists above the west-southwest horizon at 10 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Saturday: The Kittitas Environmental Education Network (KEEN) invites you to “Get Intimate with the Shrub Steppe” (GISS) at Helen McCabe Park this morning and early afternoon. The CWU Astronomy club will have opportunities for safe solar viewing as well as information about the sky. Go to http://www.kittitasee.net/events/giss2010.html for more information about the entire event. I invite you to Get Intimate with Super Spectacular Saturn (GISSS) tonight. Saturn is four and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the south horizon at 10 p.m. With a small telescope, you can see the rings of Saturn and at least one of its moons – Titan. With a good pair of 10X50 binoculars and a tripod, Titan will be visible. The “10X” in 10X50 indicated the binoculars have a magnification of ten times. The “50” means that the diameter of the lenses on the front are 50 millimeters. 10X50 is a common size for binoculars.
Sunday: Wake up early this morning for a nice spring shower – a meteor shower. The Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks just before dawn on Thursday morning. But since this meteor shower has a fairly broad peak range, there will be many more meteors than in the typical pre-dawn sky throughout the week. Meteor showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to originate. The meteors appear to come from a point in the constellation Aquarius near the star Eta. This point is about one fist above the east horizon at 4 a.m. Although dawn is starting to light the sky, you could be rewarded with a few bright, fast meteors. The Eta Aquarid meteors slam into the Earth at about 40 miles per second. They often leave a long trail. The Eta Aquarid meteors are small rocks that have broken off Halley’s Comet.
Monday: Jupiter is a little less than one fist above the east horizon at 5 a.m. Yes, 5… A… M. No one said sky watching was for the faint hearted.
Tuesday: Are you a henpecked husband? King Cepheus was. He was so captivated by his wife Cassiopeia’s beauty that he let her rule their home. You can tell who is boss by looking in the northern sky at 10 p.m. Cassiopeia is the prominent W-shaped grouping of stars two fists above the north horizon. Cepheus is the much dimmer house-shaped grouping of stars about a fist to the right of Cassiopeia.
Wednesday: Happy Birthday dear Hubble Telescope. Happy birthday to you. The Hubble Space Telescope turned 20 years old last week. NASA is celebrating by introducing a new website with a Hubble timeline, movies and an album of iconic Hubble pictures - http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/Hubble20/.
Thursday: Do people think you have a magnetic personality? The star Cor Caroli understands how you feel. Cor Caroli has one of the strongest magnetic fields among main sequence stars similar to our Sun. This strong magnetic field is thought to produce large sunspots that cause the brightness of Cor Caroli to vary. Cor Caroli is nearly straight overhead at 10:30 p.m.
Friday: Mars is four and a half fists above the west-southwest horizon at 10 p.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 4/24/10
Saturday: You know Metis and Thebe and Adrastea and Amalthea. Io and Ganymede and Callisto and Europa. But do you recall? There are 63 Jovian moons in all. Less than 50 years ago, Jupiter was thought to have only 12 moons. But, astronomers are red-nosed with delight that the advent of supersensitive electronic cameras has caused the number of discovered moons to rapidly increase. Jupiter’s 63 moons range in size from Ganymede, with a diameter of 5,262 kilometers, to S/2002 J12 and S/2003 J9, with a diameter of only one kilometer. Our moon has a diameter of 3,475 kilometers. (One kilometer is 0.62 miles.) Saturn is second place in the moon race with 61 (up from 60 last year at this time). Uranus is next with 27. Then comes Neptune with 13, Mars with 2, and Earth with 1. Even dwarf planets have moons. Pluto has 3, Eris has 1, and Haumea has 2. Eris is an outer solar system object that was discovered in 2005 and named in September of 2006. Because it is larger than Pluto, people called it the tenth planet for a while. Haumea, the newest dwarf planet, was discovered in 2004 and officially named a dwarf planet on September 17, 2008. Jupiter, the moon leader, is just above the east horizon at 5 a.m. Go to http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/A_Guide_to_Planetary_Satellites.html for more information about moons.
Sunday: Saturn is four and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the south horizon at 10 p.m., about a fist above the Moon.
Monday: The Seven Sisters will be taking lessons from a love goddess for the next few nights. Venus, named for the Roman goddess of love, is near the Pleiades, an open star cluster also called the Seven Sisters for the rest of the week. They are a fist above the west-northwest horizon at 9 p.m.
Tuesday: Do you like pop music? You don’t? So, so what. In the first draft of a song on her latest album “Funhouse”, the singer P!nk wrote “Waiter just took my full moon, and gave it to Jessica Simps”. Coincidence? I think not. Some Native American tribes called the April full moon the full pink moon because its arrival coincided with the blooming of wild ground phlox, a pink wild flower. Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo, must like P!nk because it is about a fist above the moon at 10 p.m.
Wednesday: Mars is five fists above the southwest horizon at 10 p.m.
Thursday: Antares is about a fist to the lower left of the Moon just before midnight tonight
Friday: Hydra the sea serpent rears its ugly head in the southwest sky at 10 p.m. First find Procyon. This bright star is two and a half fists above the west-southwest horizon. Next, find Saturn and Regulus right next to each other, five fists above the southwest horizon. Now, draw an imaginary line between Procyon and Regulus. Just below the midway point of that line, you should see a clump of stars that make the shape of a crooked house. This is the head of Hydra.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Sunday: Saturn is four and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the south horizon at 10 p.m., about a fist above the Moon.
Monday: The Seven Sisters will be taking lessons from a love goddess for the next few nights. Venus, named for the Roman goddess of love, is near the Pleiades, an open star cluster also called the Seven Sisters for the rest of the week. They are a fist above the west-northwest horizon at 9 p.m.
Tuesday: Do you like pop music? You don’t? So, so what. In the first draft of a song on her latest album “Funhouse”, the singer P!nk wrote “Waiter just took my full moon, and gave it to Jessica Simps”. Coincidence? I think not. Some Native American tribes called the April full moon the full pink moon because its arrival coincided with the blooming of wild ground phlox, a pink wild flower. Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo, must like P!nk because it is about a fist above the moon at 10 p.m.
Wednesday: Mars is five fists above the southwest horizon at 10 p.m.
Thursday: Antares is about a fist to the lower left of the Moon just before midnight tonight
Friday: Hydra the sea serpent rears its ugly head in the southwest sky at 10 p.m. First find Procyon. This bright star is two and a half fists above the west-southwest horizon. Next, find Saturn and Regulus right next to each other, five fists above the southwest horizon. Now, draw an imaginary line between Procyon and Regulus. Just below the midway point of that line, you should see a clump of stars that make the shape of a crooked house. This is the head of Hydra.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
The Ellensburg sky for the week of 4/17/10
Saturday: Mars is five fists held upright and at arm’s length above the southwest horizon at 10 p.m. Less than a pinky width below Mars is the Beehive Cluster, an open star cluster of about 50 stars, all about 570 light years from Earth. The Beehive Cluster is a great object to look at through binoculars because it is big, taking up as much space in the sky as nine full moons. For the next few nights, Mars is an excellent marker.
If you get up before sunrise or stay up very late any night this week, be on the lookout for meteors coming from nearly straight overhead near dawn. The Lyrid meteor shower is active this week.
Sunday: The nighttime stars take little more than an instant to rise. The Moon takers about two minutes to rise. That’s absolutely speedy compared to the constellation Virgo which takes four hours to rise. The first star in Virgo rises at 4:30 in the afternoon today. Spica, the brightest star in the constellation, rises at 7:30. By 9 p.m., Spica is a fist and a half above the southeast horizon. The northern section of Virgo will be marked by the planet Saturn for the next few months. Saturn is three and a half fists above the southeast horizon at 9 p.m.
Monday: How many of you know your 12 nearest neighbors? I thought so. Why don’t you go out and meet them right now. I’ll wait. Yes, of course bring them cookies. No, not those stale ones you hate.
Are you back? That means you obviously didn’t meet your 12 nearest stellar neighbors. Including the Sun, there are 12 stars within 10 light years of Earth. The most well known are the Sun (obviously); Proxima Centauri, the nearest star other than the Sun; Alpha Centauri, a bright binary star visible from the tropics and the Southern Hemisphere; and Sirius, the brightest star in the nighttime sky. Sirius is the largest and most luminous star in our neighborhood. It is one and a half fists above the southwest horizon at 9 p.m.
Tuesday: The Lyrid meteor shower peaks over the next two nights. The meteors appear to come from a point to the right of the bright bluish star Vega in the constellation Lyra the lyre. This point is about three fists above the east-northeast horizon at midnight tonight and close to straight overhead near dawn. The best time to look is just before dawn since that is when the radiant, or point from which the meteors appear to come, is high in the sky. For most of the next two nights, the nearly first quarter Moon will be below the horizon meaning the sky will be dark enough to see dim meteors. This shower produces about 15 meteors, tiny rocks that hit the Earth and burn up in the atmosphere, every hour during the peak. The Lyrid meteor shower has historical interest because it was one of the first ones observed. Chinese records say “stars fell like rain” in the shower of 687 B.C.
Wednesday: Vega is two fists above the northeast horizon at 11 p.m.
Thursday: This month, Astronomers Without Borders is organizing “30 Nights of Star Peace” to promote staring the night sky across national borders, one section of the world at a time. For the next three nights (4/22-4/24), 108 to 144 degrees west longitude is celebrating Star Peace. Ellensburg is 120 degrees west longitude. If the only thing you do is look up at the night sky and spot Mars six fists above the southwest horizon at 9 p.m., please recognize that some of your neighbors in Canada and Mexico are doing the same thing. Go to http://www.starpeace.org/ for more information.
Friday: Jupiter is just creeping out of the glare of the rising Sun. It is about a half a fist above the east horizon at 5:15 a.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
If you get up before sunrise or stay up very late any night this week, be on the lookout for meteors coming from nearly straight overhead near dawn. The Lyrid meteor shower is active this week.
Sunday: The nighttime stars take little more than an instant to rise. The Moon takers about two minutes to rise. That’s absolutely speedy compared to the constellation Virgo which takes four hours to rise. The first star in Virgo rises at 4:30 in the afternoon today. Spica, the brightest star in the constellation, rises at 7:30. By 9 p.m., Spica is a fist and a half above the southeast horizon. The northern section of Virgo will be marked by the planet Saturn for the next few months. Saturn is three and a half fists above the southeast horizon at 9 p.m.
Monday: How many of you know your 12 nearest neighbors? I thought so. Why don’t you go out and meet them right now. I’ll wait. Yes, of course bring them cookies. No, not those stale ones you hate.
Are you back? That means you obviously didn’t meet your 12 nearest stellar neighbors. Including the Sun, there are 12 stars within 10 light years of Earth. The most well known are the Sun (obviously); Proxima Centauri, the nearest star other than the Sun; Alpha Centauri, a bright binary star visible from the tropics and the Southern Hemisphere; and Sirius, the brightest star in the nighttime sky. Sirius is the largest and most luminous star in our neighborhood. It is one and a half fists above the southwest horizon at 9 p.m.
Tuesday: The Lyrid meteor shower peaks over the next two nights. The meteors appear to come from a point to the right of the bright bluish star Vega in the constellation Lyra the lyre. This point is about three fists above the east-northeast horizon at midnight tonight and close to straight overhead near dawn. The best time to look is just before dawn since that is when the radiant, or point from which the meteors appear to come, is high in the sky. For most of the next two nights, the nearly first quarter Moon will be below the horizon meaning the sky will be dark enough to see dim meteors. This shower produces about 15 meteors, tiny rocks that hit the Earth and burn up in the atmosphere, every hour during the peak. The Lyrid meteor shower has historical interest because it was one of the first ones observed. Chinese records say “stars fell like rain” in the shower of 687 B.C.
Wednesday: Vega is two fists above the northeast horizon at 11 p.m.
Thursday: This month, Astronomers Without Borders is organizing “30 Nights of Star Peace” to promote staring the night sky across national borders, one section of the world at a time. For the next three nights (4/22-4/24), 108 to 144 degrees west longitude is celebrating Star Peace. Ellensburg is 120 degrees west longitude. If the only thing you do is look up at the night sky and spot Mars six fists above the southwest horizon at 9 p.m., please recognize that some of your neighbors in Canada and Mexico are doing the same thing. Go to http://www.starpeace.org/ for more information.
Friday: Jupiter is just creeping out of the glare of the rising Sun. It is about a half a fist above the east horizon at 5:15 a.m.
The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week.
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