Transcript for Feb 19 - 25

RACHEL
Welcome to Idaho Skies for the fourth week of January. We’re your hosts, Rachel…

PAUL
…and Paul.

RACHEL
The gibbous moon is due south at 3:45 AM on the morning of the 20th.

PAUL
If you have some free time and a pair of binoculars or small telescope, you can watch the moon cover a 7th magnitude star named Hipparcos 54260.

RACHEL
Magnitude 7 stars are fainter than we can see with our unaided eye, but easily bright enough to see in binoculars or a small telescope.

PAUL
The star will disappear on the bright side of the moon, or to our east just after 3:45 AM.

RACHEL
Happy birthday Buzz!

PAUL
Buzz Aldrin is 84 years young on the 20th.

RACHEL
Buzz was the second man to set foot on the Moon when Apollo 11 landed on July 20, 1969.

PAUL
English mathematician John Couch Adams was born 224 years ago on the 21st.

RACHEL
Why is Adams important to the history of astronomy?

PAUL
Well, after the 1781 accidental discovery of Uranus by William Hershel, astronomers noticed that the planet wasn’t orbiting the sun as Newton’s Laws predicted.

RACHEL
That gave astronomers two choices.

PAUL
Either Newton’s Laws failed at large distances from the sun or that an unseen planet was tugging on Uranus.

RACHEL
Adams assumed the latter and began calculating the position of this unknown planet beyond Uranus.

PAUL
Unfortunately, before Adams could convince English astronomers to search in his calculated position, French mathematicians and astronomers did the same thing.

RACHEL
Their calculated position was nearly identical to Adam’s and they found Neptune after less than an hour of searching.

PAUL
The Italians get the last laugh however.

RACHEL
That’s right. We have since learned that Galileo recorded Neptune in his notes about Jupiter’s moons, not realizing that the “star” near Jupiter was actually Neptune.

PAUL
As the moon rises on January 23rd, you’ll see the star Spica located just to its right.

RACHEL
The moon just missed covering Spica before it rose over Boise.

PAUL
Spica is the brightest star of the large and faint constellation, Virgo.

RACHEL
The constellation represents Demeter, the goddess of the harvest.

PAUL
And Spica represents a sheaf of wheat that she’s holding in her hand.

RACHEL
Spica is 260 light years away. So the light you see tonight left in 1754 or at the beginning of the French and Indian War.

PAUL
Look for Spica to the right of the rising moon just after it rises at 12:30 AM.

RACHEL
The planet Mars a little above the moon.

PAUL
Mars appears about as bright as Spica, but it has a noticeable yellow-orange tint.

PAUL
That’s Idaho Skies for the fourth week of January. Next week tiny innermost Mercury makes its last appearance for the year.

RACHEL
Be sure to read our blog for additional information. It’s at idahoskies dot blogspot dot com For Idaho Skies this is Rachel…

PAUL
and Paul.

RACHEL
Dark skies and bright stars.