Sunday, February 16, 2014

Transcript for February 16-22

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

RACHEL
…and Rachel.

PAUL
The 18th is the 84th anniversary of Clyde Tombaugh’s discovery of Pluto.

RACHEL
Clyde was a Kansas farm boy with an interest in astronomy.

PAUL
The astronomers at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona were so impressed with his work that they invited him to join their staff.

RACHEL
His task was to take photographs of the sky in search of a 9th planet in our solar system.

PAUL
This required Clyde to take and search hundreds of photographs through the Observatory’s 13 inch telescope.

RACHEL
Each photograph contained thousands of star images and one of those stars could be the planet he was seeking.

PAUL
Clyde searched for the unknown planet by comparing two photographs of the same star field taken several days a part.

RACHEL
If the photographic plates contained an image of the 9th planet, the planet would shift in position while the stars remained stationary.

PAUL
On the 18th of February, he found one star that turned out to be Pluto.

RACHEL
Today astronomers have cataloged over a thousand Pluto-like bodies in the frozen depths of our solar system.

PAUL
The 19th is the 541st anniversary of Nicolas Copernicus' birth.

RACHEL
The public knows Copernicus for his model of a sun-centered solar system.

PAUL
Copernicus was not the first person to propose the heliocentric model.

RACHEL
That’s right, some ancient Greeks and Arabs had done the same centuries prior.
Copernicus was fortunate in proposing this model when many learned people were more willing to accept a sun centered solar system.

PAUL
On the 19th, Mars and the star Spica pose together with the moon.

RACHEL
Spica will be noticeably whiter in color and below the moon.

PAUL
Mars will have a more yellow color and appear to the moon’s left.

RACHEL
If you have the free time, go outside at 3:00 AM on the 21st.

PAUL
You’ll find the moon low in the southeast sandwiched between the star Zubenelgenubi and the planet Saturn.

RACHEL
Zubenelgenubi is the brightest star to the moon’s right and a pair of binoculars will show that this is a double star.

PAUL
Saturn is brighter and located farther away to the moon’s left.

RACHEL
And a small telescope will show Saturn’s rings and brightest satellite, Titan.

PAUL
Titan will appear three ring diameters away from Saturn to its lower left through your telescope.

RACHEL
That’s Idaho Skies for the third week of February. The moon forms an attractive grouping with Venus, the Morning Star next week. 

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.

PAUL
Dark skies and bright stars.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Transcript for February 2 - 8

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

RACHEL
… and Rachel.

PAUL
Do you own a telescope with quality optics, a sharp focus, and steady stand?

RACHEL
Then you should be able to use it to observe the shadows cast by Jupiter’s satellites.

PAUL
Your opportunity this month begins early on the morning of the 6th.

RACHEL
The shadow of Callisto, Jupiter’s second largest satellite appears at 1:25 AM near the bottom of Jupiter.

PAUL
It appears at the bottom of Jupiter because telescopes invert images.

RACHEL
You’ll be able to watch the shadow drift across the face of Jupiter until 4:30 AM.

PAUL
Jupiter is the bright star high in the west at 1:30 AM.

RACHEL
An event easier to observe event involving Earth’s moon takes place on the evening of the 6th.

PAUL
That’s when the moon passes the Pleiades star cluster.

RACHEL
The moon then passes the Hyades star cluster the next night.

PAUL
Get you binoculars out for the 7th, since the moon will be just edging into the Hyades.

RACHEL
Novelist Jules Verne was born 186 years ago on the 8th.

PAUL
He’s considered one of the fathers of the science fiction genre.

RACHEL
Jules Verne is probably the third most translated author in the world.

PAUL
Many of the elements from his story, From the Earth to the Moon match those in the Apollo 11 mission to the moon.

RACHEL
For example, in Verne’s novel and Apollo 11, the United States launched the first manned vehicle to the moon.

PAUL
Verne’s spacecraft closely resemble the Apollo 11 spacecraft in size and shape.

RACHEL
Both spacecraft carried a crew of three.

PAUL
Both Verne’s spacecraft and Apollo 11 were launched from Florida.

RACHEL
Both spacecraft returned to Earth by splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.

PAUL
Now there were a few problems with Verne’s depiction.

RACHEL
First off, Verne’s spacecraft was launched using a giant cannon.

PAUL
A cannon capable of propelling a spacecraft to the moon would crush and flatten its crew.

RACHEL
The second problem in Verne’s story is that he thought his astronauts would only experience weightlessness at the gravitational midpoint between the moon and Earth.

PAUL
That’s where the gravities of Earth and the moon would be equal and opposite in direction.

RACHEL
In reality, the Apollo 11 astronauts experience weightlessness the entire journey because they are traveling just as fast as the spacecraft.

PAUL
Still, Verne’s story, From the Earth to the Moon is a reasonable science fiction for the middle of the 19th century.

PAUL
That’s Idaho Skies for the first week of February. Next week, the moon helps you locate a very nice star cluster using your binoculars.

RACHEL
Be sure to follow us on Twitter at Idaho Skies for this week’s event reminders and sky maps.

For Idaho Skies this is Rachel…

PAUL
and Paul.

RACHEL
Dark skies and bright stars.

February's Star


This month look for the star, Rigel, the bright white star in the lower right corner of the constellation of Orion the Hunter. Rigel’s name comes from the Arabic, ar-Rijl, which means “the foot”. Astronomers know Rigel as Beta Orionis, indicating that it is the second brightest star in Orion. Actually though, Betelgeuse, the red-orange star in Orion is slightly fainter than Rigel, making Rigel the brightest star in Orion. Overall, Rigel is the 7th brightest star in our skies. It’s a blue supergiant star, 17 times more massive than our Sun, 70 times larger, and 40,000 times brighter. At a distance of 777 light years, the light that you see tonight left Rigel in 1237.

Orion is due south at 9:30 PM in the beginning of February, making it well placed for observing. While looking for Rigel, take a moment to look at the middle star in Orion’s sword. This is the famous Orion Nebula, a great stellar nursery. Here, hundreds of stars are being born within a swirling cloud of dust and gas. Images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope show that many of these stars are surrounded in a disk of dust and gas. Perhaps in some 4 billion years, an intelligence on a planet around one of these stars will look up their night sky and wonder about the possibility of life around the stars visible in the night sky. By then, unfortunately, our Sun will be a white dwarf star and slowly cooling down after having incinerated some of its planets, possibility even one called Earth.