Transcript for April 3 - 9

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

RACHEL
… and Rachel.

PAUL
The moon is at last quarter on the 2nd.

RACHEL
That means the moon appears as a half moon. In this case, it will be the left half or the western side of the moon that is illuminated.

PAUL
Most people haven’t observed the last quarter moon. So if you have the chance, spend a few minutes with the moon on the morning of the 2nd.

RACHEL
Through your binoculars, you’ll notice that several large dark maria cover the last quarter moon. Some of the maria are marked with bright craters.

PAUL
The brightest craters are Copernicus, Kepler, and Aristarchus.

RACHEL
Copernicus, Kepler, and Aristarchus were astronomers who advocated for the sun-centered view of the universe.

PAUL
Father Riccioli, a church astronomer, named these craters and the lunar seas surrounding them.

RACHEL
He was not a fan of the heliocentric theory, so the names of the lunar seas imply less than ideal weather.

PAUL
The craters of Copernicus, Kepler, and Aristarchus are located in the Ocean of Storms and the Sea of Rains.

RACHEL
Did you know that it wasn’t until the 1960s that astronomers and geologists finally settled on an explanation for the formation of craters?

PAUL
Many astronomers and geologists initially thought that volcanic activity was the cause of moon craters.

RACHEL
Instrumental in our modern understanding of crater formation was the work of geologist Eugene Shoemaker.

PAUL
By studying Meteor Crater in Arizona, Shoemaker convinced other geologists that craters are formed by meteor impacts.

RACHEL
April 5th is the 40th anniversary of the launch of Pioneer 11.

PAUL
This spacecraft is a 569 pound robotic explorer of the outer solar system. It was originally designed as a flyby mission of Jupiter.

RACHEL
However, after a successful encounter of Jupiter by its predecessor, Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11 flew past Jupiter and was then redirected to Saturn.

PAUL
During its flyby of Saturn in 1979, the spacecraft narrowly avoided a collision with the moon Epimetheus, an unknown satellite at the time.

RACHEL
Pioneer 11 was the first spacecraft to fly past Saturn. It was a trailblazer for Voyager 1, which would fly past Saturn a year later.

PAUL
NASA was uncertain about the safety of flying Voyager near the rings of Saturn, so they used Pioneer 11 to test the trajectory.

RACHEL
Today this dead spacecraft is 8 billion miles from the sun. That’s nearly three times farther away than the orbit of Pluto.

PAUL
That’s Idaho Skies for the first week of April. Next week we’ll explain how a Greek astronomer over 2,000 years ago developed the system we use to classify the brightness of stars. 

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.