Idaho Skies Transcript for the Weekend of November 1st

BENJAMIN

Welcome to Idaho Skies for the weekend of November 1^st. We’re your hosts, Benjamin…

STEVEN

…and Steven.

PAUL

The moon continues its very low traverse of the sky this weekend. However, it will help stargazers locate Saturn.

BENJAMIN

Saturn, like the other visible planets, appears as a star. In this case, it’s a dim star with a slightly yellowish tint to it. And like the other planets, it’s resistant to twinkling. So look for the brightest star to the crescent moon’s left. That’s Saturn. Sadly, Saturn is not a binocular object like the moon.

STEVEN

The moon and Saturn are polar opposites of each other. Our moon is a small rocky world with virtually no air or water. Saturn is the second largest planet of the solar system and primarily made of gases, including water. Any solid surface on Saturn lies very deep within the planet.

BENJAMIN

When you look at the moon through binoculars or telescope, you’re seeing a rocky world. Its surface is blemished with crater impacts of frozen seas of magma, or lava rock. It’s different for Saturn. A telescope only shows a gaseous atmosphere that gradually thickens into a hot liquid of hydrogen and helium.

STEVEN

A telescope capable of magnifying at least 25 times is enough to show the rings of Saturn. It will also show you its largest moon, Titan. The rings are bright and broad, so there’s no mistaking them. Titan on the other hand is star-like. So look for a star near Saturn that shifts position the next day.

PAUL

Spend a little time this week checking out the waxing moon and Saturn. And don’t forget that Jupiter is closer to the lower west.    

BENJAMIN

That’s Idaho Skies for the weekend of November 1^st.

STEVEN

Be sure to read our blog for additional information. It’s at idahoskies.blogspot.com

For Idaho Skies this is Steven…

BENJAMIN

…and Benjamin.

STEVEN

Dark skies and bright stars.

Idaho Skies Transcript for the week of October 28th

STEVEN

Welcome to Idaho Skies for the week of October 28^th. We’re your hosts, Steven…

DAN

…and Dan.

PAUL

The moon is new on Monday. That means this week, we’ll see the moon reappear in the west-southwest after sunset.

STEVEN

However, you’ll need to wait a few days before it appears. That’s because the moon’s path across the sky is relatively flat with respect to the western horizon. The sun and planets follow a path across the stars called the ecliptic. For the most part, the ecliptic traverses the constellations making up the Zodiac.

DAN

The moon however orbits in a tilted orbit with respect to the ecliptic. The inclination is five degrees, so not too crazy. However, it’s still enough to make the moon deviate significantly from places in the sky where the planets can reside. There’s a name describing where the moon is relative to the ecliptic.

STEVEN

When the moon’s position in its tilted orbit is below the equator, we say the moon is running low. When the moon is on the half of its orbit that’s on its northernly side, we say the moon is riding high. Only when the moon is between these two extremes can we have solar and lunar eclipses.

DAN

The moon reappears on the 30^th, stargazers will find it very low in the southwest. More apparent will be Jupiter, a bright looking star. The moon will be to the lower left of Jupiter and a very thin crescent. These two objects, Jupiter and the waxing crescent moon will make ideal binocular objects.

PAUL

Enjoy moon watching this week. Because the moon runs low this week and its orbit is strongly tilted relative to the horizon, we won’t see it until its three days after full on Thursday evening.      

STEVEN

That’s Idaho Skies for the week of October 28^th.  

DAN

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

For Idaho Skies this is Dan…

STEVEN

…and Steven.

DAN

Dark skies and bright stars.

Idaho Skies Transcript for the weekend of October 25th

STEVEN

Welcome to Idaho Skies for the weekend of October 25^th. We’re your hosts, Steven…

BENJAMIN

…and Benjamin.

PAUL

This weekend gives stargazers opportunities to see three terrestrial planets. They’re Mercury, Venus, and Mars.

STEVEN

Let’s start with the innermost planets, Mercury and Venus. When Mercury or Venus appear their highest above the horizon, astronomers call it an apparition. Unfortunately, many apparitions of Mercury are not very good. That’s because it orbits the too closely and its orbit appears inclined to our horizon.

BENJAMIN

Our best view of Mercury is on the days around the 25^th. You’ll have many days to see Mercury, so there’s no problem its cloudy. Mercury won’t be very bright, Venus in fact will stand out more than Mercury. So look left of the Evening star at around 7:00 PM for Mercury.

STEVEN

Mars is not an evening planet right now. So only stargazers who observe the sky during the morning are going to locate the planet. Saturday morning would be a great time because the moon will be close by. Now Mars won’t be very bright, and the moon will be a very narrow crescent.

BENJAMIN

So look in the very low east at about 7:00 AM. The moon’s narrow crescent may be filled in with sunlight that has reflected off of Earth. Mars will be the faint star beneath the moon and slightly right. Their distance apart will be 1.5 degrees. That’s three times the moon’s apparent diameter. 

PAUL   

Stargazers with an interest in planets will enjoy this weekend. Don’t forget however, that Jupiter and Saturn will also be visible in the evening after dark. Just look in the low south and southeast.

STEVEN

That’s Idaho Skies for the weekend of October 25^th.

BENJAMIN

Be sure to read our blog for additional information. It’s at idahoskies.blogspot.com.

For Idaho Skies this is Benjamin…

STEVEN

…and Steven.

BENJAMIN

Dark skies and bright stars.

Idaho Skies Transcript for the week of October 21st

DAN

Welcome to Idaho Skies for the week of October 21^st. We’re your hosts, Dan…

BENJAMIN

…and Benjamin.

PAUL

Leo the Lion is a prominent spring-time constellation. However, early-rising stargazers will find that the Lion has lunar company on the morning of the 23^rd.

DAN

To identify Leo, look first for its brightest star, Regulus. Regulus, which is the brightest star below the moon is the 21^st brightest star. It’s a giant star that’s 79 light years away. Your binoculars will show two stars in place of the one your eye sees. A good telescope splits the second star into two stars.

BENJAMIN

Regulus is a giant star. It’s nearly four times more massive than the sun and three times wider. It also rotates more quickly than our sun. The sun, or Sol, takes 27 days to revolve once on this axis. Of course, this has nothing to do with the length of the month. Regulus, on the other hand, rotates once in 16 hours.

DAN

Rotating 41 times faster than the sun puts a strain on Regulus. So much in fact that the star bulges noticeably at its equator. If it rotated any faster, Regulus would tear itself apart. Its gravity would be unable to hold onto material at its equator. None of this is obvious in your binoculars, or course.

BENJAMIN

Once you’ve located Regulus, the rest of Leo is easy to find. Its mane is the backwards question mark of five stars above Regulus. The hind quarters of Leo are the three-star triangle to the left of Regulus. This means Regulus represents the heart of Leo. Maybe this is why Regulus means little king.

PAUL

So on Wednesday morning, take a few minutes to look for the moon and Regulus below it. The rest of Leo will be above and left of the moon.

DAN

That’s Idaho Skies for the week of October 21^st.

BENJAMIN

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

For Idaho Skies this is Benjamin…

DAN

…and Dan.

BENJAMIN

Dark skies and bright stars.

Idaho Skies Transcript for the weekend of October 18th

BENJAMIN

Welcome to Idaho Skies for the weekend of October 18^th. We’re your hosts, Benjamin…

STEVEN

…and Steven.

PAUL

Saturday night the moon appears close to a star cluster named M-35. It’s in the constellation of Gemini the Twins.

BENJAMIN

The Gemini brothers are named Castor and Pollux. Their mother was Leda, a mortal woman and wife of king Tyndareus. Her twin sons had two fathers, her husband the king and Zeus, the king of the Greek gods. Castor was mortal while his brother Pollux was immortal.

STEVEN

The constellation appears on its side during October. Its two brightest stars are located on the north end of the constellation and named after each twin. The brightest star and the one closer to the horizon is Pollux. While the slightly fainter star above Pollux is Castor.

BENJAMIN

Castor is called the alpha star of the constellation, even though it’s the second brightest. Castor appears as a single star, but is actually three pairs of binary stars. That means six stars are orbiting each other in the Castor star system. At 51 light years away, Castor appears as a triple star in a good telescope.

STEVEN

On the evening of the 19^th, a pair of binoculars aimed at the gibbous moon will also show you the M-35 star cluster. The cluster will appear as a hazy spot in dark skies. Its location will be left of the moon. However, you’ll want to shift your binoculars to the left to remove the moon form your field of view.      

PAUL

Be sure to check out Gemini the Heavenly Twins this weekend. They will appear to be lying on their side in October, but standing upright this spring.

BENJAMIN

That’s Idaho Skies for the weekend of October 18^th.

STEVEN

Be sure to read our blog for additional information. It’s at idahoskies.blogspot.com.

For Idaho Skies this is Steven…

BENJAMIN

…and Benjamin.

STEVEN

Dark skies and bright stars.

Idaho Skies Transcript for the week of October 14th

DAN

Welcome to Idaho Skies for the week of October 14^th. We’re your hosts, Dan…

STEVEN

…and Steven.

PAUL

The moon spends this week traveling past large star clusters. Although craters will not be very visible on the gibbous moon, the star clusters are still nice binocular targets.

DAN

The first star cluster is the called the Pleiades. You might know it as the Seven Sisters. The name Pleiades comes from the Greek verb for to sail. When the Pleiades rose just before sunrise, it was time for the Greek to begin sailing in the Mediterranean Sea. Until the weather was settled, it was too dangerous to sail.

STEVEN

The sisters are the daughters of the Greek titan, Atlas. Atlas choose the wrong side in the war between the older titans and the younger gods like Zeus. As a consequence, he was condemned to spend the rest of eternity supporting the heavens on his back. He was eventually rescued from this curse by being turned into stone.

DAN

The seven sisters are named Sterope, Merope, Electra, Maia, Taygeta, Celaeno, and Alcyone. The brightest is Alcyone. The distance to the star cluster is 444 light years. So the light you see tonight left in the year 1575. Astronomers have determined that the star cluster formed within the last 100 million years.     

STEVEN

Galileo was the first person to turn a telescope to the Pleiades. He was surprised to find some three dozen stars when most people can only six or seven member stars. You can see the cluster like Galileo did by aiming your binoculars at the star cluster this week. Can you see as many stars as Galileo?

PAUL

Enjoy viewing the Pleiades star cluster with your binoculars this week. And don’t forget to look at the Hyades star cluster, which the moon passes on the 16^th. 

DAN

That’s Idaho Skies for the week of October 14^th.  

STEVEN

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

For Idaho Skies this is Steven…

DAN

…and Dan.

STEVEN

Dark skies and bright stars.

Transcript for the Weekend of October 11th

STEVEN
Welcome to Idaho Skies for the weekend of October 11th. We’re your hosts, Steven...

BENJAMIN
...and Benjamin.

PAUL
Hey, the moon is full on Sunday the 13th. That makes this weekend a great time to learn about the difference between lunar maria and highlands. 

STEVEN
Current understanding suggests that the moon, or Luna, formed after the impact of a Mars-sized object with the newly born Earth. Since the impact was glancing, it blasted a lot of Earth’s outer layer, or mantle into space. The minerals in the mantle rock tend to have a low density.

BENJAMIN
The vaporized rock the impact let in orbit around Earth was low in iron. That created a moon that was light whitish in color, once it cooled, that is. We see this material in in the brighter parts of the moon. And since it originated with the impact, lunar areas that are brighter in color are around 3.8 billion years old.

STEVEN
Three point eight billion years ago, the solar system was still swarming with planetary building blocks, or planetesimals. These giant meteoroids occasionally slammed into the moon creating huge craters called impact basins. Impact basins also deeply cracked the lunar crust. 

BENJAMIN
After the moon’s surface cooled, its interior remained warm. Partly from the initial impact but also from radioactive decay. The warm interior created magma or lava that welled up into the impact basins. Layer after layer of dark lava filled the impact basins to create mostly dark circular features.

PAUL
So the moon started out as a light-colored body that was repeatedly smashed in horrific impacts. These then filled in with darker lava to create the lunar seas and the Man-on-the-Moon face we enjoy today.       

STEVEN
That’s Idaho Skies for the weekend of October 11th. 

BENJAMIN
Be sure to read our blog for additional information. It’s at idahoskies.blogspot.com

For Idaho Skies this is Benjamin...

STEVEN
...and Steven.

BENJAMIN
Dark skies and bright stars.

Transcript the Week of October 7th

STEVEN
Welcome to Idaho Skies for the week of October 7th. We’re your hosts, Steven...

DAN
...and Dan.

PAUL
Autumn skies are filled with constellations representing watery themes. Unfortunately, they contain stars that are mostly dim.

STEVEN
The moon swims through these constellations this week. The first constellation of note is Capricornus. This constellation represents a chimera of a goat and fish. Hence, it’s called the sea goat. In dark skies. Capricorn looks like a grinning mouth. Over two thousand years ago, the sun was in Capricornus on the first day of winter. 

DAN
East of Capricornus is an even fainted constellation named Aquarius. The aqua in Aquarius obviously means water in Latin. The last half of the name means carrier. So Aquarius is the water carrier of bearer. He’s depicted as pouring a jar or vase of water, with the vase being a circle of stars.

STEVEN
The water of Aquarius flows south into the mouth of the Southern Fish which astronomers call Piscis Austrinus. The brightest star of Piscis Austrinus is visible below the moon on the evening of the 9th. The star’s name is Fomalhaut. It’s close to the solar system compared to other stars.

DAN
Fomalhaut is a young star; astronomers estimate it’s only 400 million years old. Fomalhaut has the distinction of the being the first solar system imaged from Earth. Back in 2008, the Hubble Space Telescope was able to see a planet orbiting Fomalhaut. The planet is roughly Jupiter size.         

PAUL
Don’t be surprised you can’t see many stars in the south these evenings. But do take advantage of the moon on the 9th to find the brightest star, Fomalhaut.

STEVEN
That’s Idaho Skies for the week of October 7th.

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

For Idaho Skies this is Dan...

STEVEN
...and Steven.

WHO
Dark skies and bright stars.