Transcript: March 27th to April 2nd

PAUL
Welcome to Idaho Skies for the fourth week of March. We’re your hosts, Paul...

RACHEL
...and Rachel.

PAUL
Zubenelgenubi is an easy to resolve double star.

RACHEL
And you’ll find it residing on the moon’s right after midnight on the 27th.

PAUL
The distance between the moon and Zubenelgenubi is 5 degrees.

RACHEL
Which is about the distance spanned by your fist when your arm is fully extended.

PAUL
Since most binoculars have a field of view of 5 degrees, Zubenelgenubi and the moon also fit within your binoculars at the same time.

RACHEL
But just barely.

PAUL
Looking for Mars?

RACHEL
Well, it’s the bright orangish star located below the moon on the morning of the 28th.

PAUL
The other orangish, but slightly fainter star below Mars is Antares.

RACHEL
In Greek, Antares means anti-Ares.

PAUL
Or the rival of Ares.

RACHEL
Ares is the Greek name for the Roman god of war, Mars.

PAUL
So it’s fitting to see Mars and Antares so close together.

RACHEL
You’ll find the moon parked above what appears to be a creamy white star on the morning of the 29th.

PAUL
You’ll notice however that this star doesn’t twinkle.

RACHEL
This is a dead give-away that the star is actually a planet.

PAUL
More specifically, it’s Saturn, the 6th planet in the solar system.

RACHEL
You can’t see the rings of Saturn through binoculars.

PAUL
Nor its largest satellite Titan, even though it’s farther away from Saturn than its rings.

RACHEL
The reason you can’t see the rings is that they’re too small.

PAUL
The reason you can’t see Titan in binoculars is that it’s too close to the glare of Saturn.

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However, a small telescope capable of magnifying 25 times is sufficient to see both the rings and Titan.

PAUL
That means even some spotting scopes can show you Titan and Saturn’s rings.

RACHEL
Even though binoculars can’t show much with Saturn, they’re still very useful for casual star gazing.

PAUL
For example, they’ll let you see several star clusters and nebulae surrounding the center of our Milky Way galaxy.

RACHEL
On the 31st, the moon gives you a convenient starting point to find these attractive astronomical objects.

PAUL
You’ll need to go outside at about 5:00 AM and scan the region to the right of the moon.

RACHEL
Make sure you scan up and down the Milky Way also.

PAUL
Since this region of the sky surrounds the galaxy’s core, it’s packed with astronomical objects large and bright enough to see through binoculars.

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Some of the objects will appear as fuzzy clouds and others will be sprinkled with stars.

PAUL
That’s Idaho Skies for the fourth week of March. Next week we’ll talk about a monster residing in the center of the Milky Way.

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

For Idaho Skies this is Rachel...

PAUL
...and Paul.

RACHEL
Dark skies and bright stars.