Idaho Skies Transcript for the weekend of November 22nd

STEPHEN

Welcome to Idaho Skies for the weekend of November 22^nd. We’re your hosts, Stephen…

BENJAMIN

…and Benjamin.

STEPHEN

The moon appears as a thin crescent 6:30 on the morning of the 23^rd. Thin moon’s like this are cool to see and are even more attractive through binoculars. But wait, it gets even better on the Saturday morning. That’s because Mars and the brightest star of Virgo the Maiden are close at hand. 

BENJAMIN

Recall that Mars currently resides on the other side of the solar system. That means it will be much fainter than it typically appears. In fact, it might be faint enough that it’s famous orange-tint may not be apparent. But still, it’s worth looking for Mars now and watching how it gets brighter over the months.  

STEPHEN

Brighter than Mars will be Spica, the lucida of Virgo. You can’t misidentify the two. Mars will be fainter of the two and below the moon. Spica will be brighter, purer white in tint, and to the moon’s lower right. Spica is actually two stars so close together that their mutual gravities warp them into egg shapes.

BENJAMIN

Stargazers not wanting to get up early will want to look in the low southwest as it’s getting dark. This weekend, Jupiter passes close to Venus with their smallest gap occurring on Sunday evening. Venus will appear much brighter than Jupiter, so it’s easy to distinguish which planet is which.

STEPHEN

That’s Idaho Skies for the weekend of November 22^nd.  

BENJAMIN

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

For Idaho Skies this is Benjamin…

STEPHEN

…and Stephen.

BENJAMIN

Dark skies and bright stars.

Idaho Skies Transcript for the week of November 18th

PAUL

Welcome to Idaho Skies for the week of November 18^th. We’re your hosts, Paul…

STEPHEN

…and Stephen.

PAUL

The moon reaches third quarter this week. That means the moon only appears half full. But this time, it’s the western half of the moon that appears illuminated. Like the first quarter moon, shadows along the lunar terminator really bring out terrain features like craters and mountains. So concentrate your attention there. 

STEPHEN

There’s just one problem with observing the third quarter moon – it rises so late. You’ll need to go outside at around 1:00 AM to see the moon rise over the Boise mountain range. Stargazers observing the third quarter moon see a portion few people ever see. For example, its largest lunar maria, the Ocean of Storms.

PAUL

The Ocean of Storms fills the entire left edge of the moon. It’s the landing location of Apollo 12 back on late 1969. The crater of the ocean’s right edge is called Copernicus. It’s an impact scar 57 miles across. Astronomers estimate that the crater is relatively young at 800 million years old. That’s young for the moon.

STEPHEN

Moon watchers will find the third quarter moon inside Leo the Lion on the morning of the 20^th. Leo’s brightest star, Regulus is located to the moon’s right. The lion’s mane is the question mark of stars above Regulus. Farther away to the left is fainted Denebola. Denebola represents the base of Leo’s tail. 

PAUL

That’s Idaho Skies for the week of November 18^th.  

STEPHEN

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

For Idaho Skies this is Stephen…

PAUL

…and Paul.

STEPHEN

Dark skies and bright stars.

Idaho Skies Transcript for the week of November 11th

BENJAMIN

Welcome to Idaho Skies for the week of November 11^th. We’re your hosts, Benjamin…

DAN

…and Dan.

BENJAMIN

The full moon travels past two bright and large star clusters this week. The first cluster is the Pleiades. You probably know the Pleiades as the Seven Sisters, but astronomers have an official designation, M-45. M-45 is a close star cluster. So it appears large and bright in the night sky. The moon will make a distant pass of the cluster later this week.  

DAN

Get your binoculars and observe M-45. Be sure to compare the view of the Pleiades to your unaided eye and through binoculars. If you’re like most people, you’ll see six or maybe seven stars with just your eyes. However, with binoculars the number of stars explodes. You might see as many as two dozen glittering stars.

BENJAMIN

On the 13^th, our moon makes it way to the Hyades star cluster. The Hyades are closer to our solar system then the Pleiades. Unfortunately, the star cluster is sparser and therefore, less dazzling. Still, binoculars will show stargazers some two dozen stars in this cluster. But don’t be fooled by its brightest star. 

DAN

The ancients named the brightest star of Taurus Aldebaran. And it just so happens to appear in the same view as the Hyades. However, Aldebaran is only half as far away as the Hyades. So from Earth, it only looks like Aldebaran is a member of the Hyades. Because of its reddish tint, people consider Aldebaran to be the eye of Taurus the Bull.

BENJAMIN

That’s Idaho Skies for the week of November 11^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…

BENJAMIN

…and Benjamin.

DAN

Dark skies and bright stars.

Idaho Skies Transcript for the weekend of November 15th

DAN

Welcome to Idaho Skies for the weekend of November 15^th. We’re your hosts, Dan…

PAUL

…and Paul.

DAN

This weekend the moon passes through Gemini the Twins and ends up in Cancer the Crab. On Friday, the moon appears next to Castor’s knee and foot. Since Gemini rises in the east lying on its side, Castor is the top twin this weekend. Castor is also the name of the fainter of the two brightest stars making up Gemini.

PAUL

On Saturday night, you’ll find the moon closer to the head of Pollux, the lower and brighter star of the Heavenly Twins. It’s odd that astronomers named Pollux Beta Geminorum. Because calling a star the beta star of a constellation typically signifies that its second brightest star.   

DAN

While it doesn’t take a pair of binoculars to see Castor or Pollux, the moon’s neighbor on Sunday will. If you aim your binoculars at the moon at around 11:30 PM, you’ll find a scattering of stellar gems just below it. That’s the Beehive star cluster and it’s even visible without optical aid in very dark skies. 

PAUL

Many ancient cultures were aware of the Beehive. Some of them referred to this tiny cloudy spot as a manager. They called objects like the Beehive a nebula, which means small cloud. Galileo was the first to discover that optical aid turned the Beehive into a star cluster in 1609. 

DAN

That’s Idaho Skies for the weekend of November 15^th.

PAUL

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

For Idaho Skies this is Paul…

DAN

…and Dan.

PAUL

Dark skies and bright stars.

Idaho Skies for the Weekend of November 8th

STEPHEN

Welcome to Idaho Skies for the weekend of November 8^th. We’re your hosts, Stephen…

BENJAMIN

…and Benjamin.

STEPHEN

The Red Planet recently traveled to the other side of the sun from our perspective. That means it now reappears as a morning planet. So stargazers looking for Mars need to check out the low south-southeast sky at around 6:30 AM. However, don’t be surprised to by the faintness of Mars.

BENJAMIN

Mars is 230 million miles away. In addition, the planet has a dark surface that only reflects 29% of the sunlight shining on it. That means the small, dark, and distant Mars is decidedly faint these days. But that will change over the next two years. Earth and Mars are in a cosmic race. And Earth will soon catch up to and pass Mars.

STEPHEN

Astronomical events like this are called oppositions. They’re the times when two planets are their closest together. As a result, the planets are larger and brighter than usual. In fact, Mars will be 15 times bright in October 2020 than it is now. By the way, oppositions make good times to launch spacecraft to Mars.  

BENJAMIN

Mars is not large enough for binocular viewing, even at opposition. However, observers using amateur telescopes may be able to see the surface features on the red planet. These features include clouds on Mars’ largest volcano, Olympus Mons and other exotic-sounding locations like Syrtis Major.  

STEPHEN

That’s Idaho Skies for the weekend of November 8^th.  

BENJAMIN

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

For Idaho Skies this is Benjamin…

STEPHEN

…and Stephen.

BENJAMIN

Dark skies and bright stars.

Idaho Skies Transcript for the Week of November 4th

PAUL

Welcome to Idaho Skies for the week of November 4^th. We’re your hosts, Paul

STEPHEN

…and Stephen.

PAUL

The waxing gibbous moon appears in the south these evenings. Unfortunately, it’s a region of the sky that’s sparsely filled with stars. What is there tends to be faint. So many stars are not visible from town, let alone in dark skies south of Boise. There is one exception, however.

STEPHEN

That exception is Fomalhaut. Fomalhaut represents the mouth of the Southern Fish, or Piscis Austrinus. It’s not that this star is intrinsically bright that makes it so visible from Earth. It’s the fact that Fomalhaut is only 25 light years away. Only 26 visible stars are closer to the solar system than Fomalhaut.

PAUL

Fomalhaut means Mouth of the Fish, or Whale in Arabic. To the Persians, it was known as Hastorang and consisted one of four royal stars. Its Chinese name means North Gate of the Military Camp. And the natives of Northern Australia named it the White Cockatoo. What these people didn’t know is that the star has two other companion stars.

STEPHEN

Astronomers named brightest companion star of Fomalhaut TW Piscis Austrini. Although distant from Fomalhaut, its motion through space show it moves in the identical speed and direction as its brighter companion. The distance between them is nearly one light year. Its other companion is 2.5 light years away.  

PAUL

That’s Idaho Skies for the week of November 4^th.

STEPHEN

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

For Idaho Skies this is Stephen

PAUL

…and Paul.

STEPHEN

Dark skies and bright stars.