Idaho Skies Transcript for March 12th and 13th

PAUL
Welcome to Idaho Skies for March 12th and 13th. We’re your hosts, Paul...

RACHEL
...and Rachel.

PAUL
March 13th is a rather important astronomical day for two reasons.

RACHEL
Let’s start with March 13th 1781 when astronomer William Herschel discovered what he thought was a new comet.

PAUL
Comet discoveries were one of the major goals of astronomers back then.

RACHEL
And almost none of them seriously considered there could be additional planets in the solar system.

PAUL
Especially since no one had discovered a new planet in thousands of years.

RACHEL
But it wasn’t long before Herschel noticed that his new comet didn’t have the fuzzy appearance he expected.

PAUL
That’s when Herschel realized he actually had discovered the solar system’s 7th planet.

RACHEL
He wanted to name it after the current king of England, but the astronomical community quashed that idea.

PAUL
Instead, astronomers gave it the Roman name of Uranus.

RACHEL
In mythology, Uranus is the father of the Roman god Saturn and the grandfather of Jupiter.

PAUL
One hundred and forty-nine years after Herschel’s discovery of Uranus, astronomer Clyde Tombaugh announced his discovery of a new planet in 1930.

RACHEL
Some astronomers predicted the existence of this planet because of discrepancies in the position of Uranus (oops, I meant Neptune).

PAUL
These orbital discrepancies didn’t actually exist; astronomers had made errors in their calculations.

RACHEL
But the existence of this planet couldn’t be denied.

PAUL
From a recommendation by Venetia Burney, astronomers named the new planet Pluto.

RACHEL
We’ve since learned that Pluto is not actually a planet.

PAUL
It’s one of thousands of icy bodies orbiting the outer reaches of the solar system.

RACHEL
Lose one planet; gain a belt of thousands of icy bodies.

PAUL
Sounds like a fair trade to me.

RACHEL
That’s Idaho Skies for the 12th and 13th of March.

PAUL
Be sure to follow us on Twitter @IdahoSkies for this week’s event reminders and sky maps.

For Idaho Skies this is Paul...

RACHEL
...and Rachel.

PAUL
Dark skies and bright stars.