Transcript for November 16th to 17th

PAUL
Welcome to Idaho Skies for November 16th and 17th. We’re your hosts, Paul…

RACHEL
…and Rachel.

PAUL
An easy way to learn how to identify Gemini the Twins is to wait until the moon appears near it…

RACHEL
…which happens on the 16th this month.

PAUL
Stargazers will find the moon located between the feet of Gemini.

RACHEL
The rest of Gemini appears as a row of two stars…

PAUL
…and the rows appear to the left of the moon.

RACHEL
A good time for stargazers to look for Gemini is around 10:00 PM.

PAUL
Hey, what’s that bright star below the moon on the 17th?

RACHEL
Why it’s Procyon, the brightest star in Canis Minor, or the Little Dog.

PAUL
Canis Minor is one of Orion’s faithful hunting dogs.

RACHEL
Wow, Procyon is a very bright star.

PAUL
Yes, but it appears that way only because it’s one of the closest stars to the solar system and not because its one of the brightest stars in the galaxy.

RACHEL
Did you know that a nearly invisible companion star orbits Procyon?

PAUL
Yes I did. It’s nearly invisible because it’s a white dwarf.

RACHEL
White dwarf stars have intensely bright surfaces, but they’re only the size of Earth.

PAUL
So even though their surfaces are blindingly bright, they’re too small to generate a lot of light.

RACHEL
When the sun runs out of hydrogen fuel in five billion years, it too will become a white dwarf star.

PAUL
And its gravity will crush it down by a factor of 100.

RACHEL
Then a sugar cube sized piece of the sun will weigh as much as a car on Earth.

PAUL
That just goes to show that atoms are mostly empty space.

RACHEL
That’s Idaho Skies for the 16th and 17th of November.

PAUL
Be sure to follow us on Twitter at Idaho Skies for this week’s event reminders and sky maps.

For Idaho Skies this is Paul…

RACHEL
…and Rachel.

PAUL
Dark skies and bright stars.