Transcript for February 17 - 23

PAUL
Welcome to Idaho Skies for the third week of February. We’re your hosts, Paul…

RACHEL
…and Rachel.

PAUL
The moon passes between two star clusters and a planet on the night of the 17th.

RACHEL
Look high up in the sky after dark and you will see the Pleiades to the moon’s upper right and the Hyades to the moon’s left.

PAUL
Our solar system’s grandest planet, Jupiter, is the bright star above the moon.

RACHEL
This should be an attractive sight through your binoculars.

PAUL
The Idaho Falls Astronomical Society meets on the 19th.

RACHEL
The club holds its meeting at the Skyline Activity Center in Idaho Falls at 7 PM.

PAUL
Hey, Nicolaus Copernicus was born 540 years ago on the 19th.

RACHEL
Copernicus was a Polish cleric and astronomer who studied law and medicine before returning to Poland.

PAUL
A well educated 15th century man like Copernicus was familiar with the structure of the universe as proposed and perfected by the ancient Greeks.

RACHEL
We call this model of the solar system the geocentric model because it places Earth at the center of the universe.

PAUL
This was an obvious arrangement because we can see that the world is large and massive.

RACHEL
The motions of the sun, moon, and planets also seemed to support Earth’s central location.

PAUL
However, Copernicus developed justifications for putting the sun in the center of the universe. This is called the heliocentric model.

RACHEL
Copernicus was not the first person to develop a heliocentric model. Aristarchus, a Greek, proposed this model nearly 1500 years earlier.

PAUL
By Copernicus’ time, astronomers had long recognized the inability of the geocentric model to make accurate predictions about the planets’ positions.

RACHEL
Astronomers were therefore more willing to accept Copernicus’ arguments for a sun-centered universe.

PAUL
While Copernicus’ model made sense from a mathematical perspective, it still failed to predict accurate planetary positions.

RACHEL
That’s because his proposed planetary orbits were still circular. Since the planets actually orbit the sun in elliptical orbits, Copernicus’ heliocentric model was not able to predict planetary positions any better than the previous model.

PAUL
The Whittenberger Planetarium at the College of Idaho in Caldwell is again open to the public.

RACHEL
The presentation this month is about Mars and Mercury and begins at 7 PM on the 20th.

PAUL
You will need to make reservations to attend a planetarium show. So contact Kinga at 459-5211.

RACHEL
You’ll find more information at their website, www.collegeofidaho.edu/planetarium.

PAUL
Here’s a planetarium show for our listeners in eastern Idaho.

RACHEL
The planetarium is located on the BYU Idaho campus in Rexburg.

PAUL
The presentation is on the dawn of the space age and shows on the 21st.

RACHEL
The planetarium is located in room 107 of the Romney Science Building.

PAUL
Doors open at 6:30 and the show begins at 7 PM.

RACHEL
That’s Idaho Skies for the third week of February. Next week, it’s the 46th anniversary of the discovery of pulsars. We’ll also tell you about a very close passage between the star Spica and the moon.

PAUL
Be sure to follow us on Twitter at Idaho Skies for this week’s event reminders and sky maps. For Idaho Skies this is Paul…

RACHEL
and Rachel.

Idaho Skies is a production of NearSys and Radio Boise 89.9 FM Caldwell/Boise and 93.5 FM downtown, K228EK Garden City.

PAUL
Dark skies and bright stars.