Transcripts for Janaury 3 - 9

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

PAUL
...and Paul.

RACHEL
Hey, are you looking for Mars?

PAUL
That’s good, because it’s easy to find on the morning of the 3rd.

RACHEL
Mars will be the orangish star below the moon that morning.

PAUL
And it will be difficult to confuse with Spica, which will be the whitish star to the right of the moon.

RACHEL
Some of our listeners know that Spica is the brightest star of Virgo the Maiden.

PAUL
But did you know it was 260 light years away?

RACHEL
Let’s compare that to the distance to Mars.

PAUL
Sure, Mars is currently located on the other side of the solar system.

RACHEL
That means it’s a mere 153 million miles away.

PAUL
Or about 13 light minutes away.

RACHEL
So this makes Spica over 10 million times farther away from Earth than Mars.

PAUL
Now for some astronomical news closer to home.

RACHEL
The first significant meteor shower of the year occurs on the night of the 3rd and the morning of the 4th.

PAUL
The Quadrantid meteor shower is an above average shower that produces upwards of 40 meteors per hour.

RACHEL
Meteors in this shower will originate from the low north-northeast

PAUL
There’s one problem however and that’s the moon.

RACHEL
Its third quarter, so once it rises, its light will make the fainter meteors difficult to see.

PAUL
Fortunately for our listeners, the moon doesn’t rise until 3:00 AM.

RACHEL
That leaves everyone with 8 hours of meteor viewing.

PAUL
So dress warmly, relax in a lawn chair, and look skyward while enjoying the warm beverage of your choice.

RACHEL
Venus and Saturn are currently approaching each other, from Earth’s perspective.

PAUL
You’ll see them as a bright white star and its fainter creamy white companion in the low east before sunrise.

RACHEL
Even better, the moon joins the pair on the morning of the 6th.

PAUL
Venus will be the brightest star to the lower left of the moon.

RACHEL
And Saturn will be the fainter star further below Venus.

PAUL
Hey, what’s that orangish star directly below the moon?

RACHEL
Why it’s Antares, the brightest star in Scorpius the Scorpion.

PAUL
To see this fine grouping, you’ll want to look in the low southeast at 7:00 AM on the 6th.

RACHEL
The moon isn’t quite finished with Venus and Saturn.

PAUL
That’s right. On the morning of the 7th, you’ll find the crescent moon below Saturn and Venus.

RACHEL
What makes this grouping so special is that the moon is 2 days from new.

PAUL
And when the moon is that close to new, it’s a very thin crescent.

RACHEL
So get your binoculars out and see if you can detect any of its nearly edge-on craters.

PAUL
On the morning of the 9th, Venus and Saturn will be in conjunction.

RACHEL
In astronomy, conjunction occurs when two objects are separated from one another in only the north-south direction.

PAUL
Think of this as two objects having the same longitude on Earth.

RACHEL
Except in astronomy, a line of longitude goes by the name of right ascension.

PAUL
During the conjunction, Venus and Saturn are only ½ of a degree apart from one another.

RACHEL
Which is the apparent diameter of the moon.

PAUL
Be sure to go out between 6:00 and 7:00 AM on the 9th to see the conjunction between Venus and Saturn.

RACHEL
That’s Idaho Skies for the first week of January. We’ll give you some news regarding the new moon next week.

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

For Idaho Skies this is Paul...

RACHEL
...and Rachel.

PAUL
Dark skies and bright stars.