Monday, January 30, 2017

Idaho Skies for February 2017

February 1 – 7
The solar system’s largest asteroid is Ceres and it’s quite easy to find on the night of the 2nd. To see it, point your binoculars at the moon and then look ½ degree straight down the moon’s terminator, or boundary between day and night. There will be two stars below the moon and Ceres is the star to the right and slightly closer to the moon. Ceres was the first asteroid discovered by astronomers (on January 1st, 1801 in fact) and it is 590 miles across. Right now, the Dawn spacecraft is orbiting this dwarf planet. Dawn discovered that Ceres is rich in water. Its surface has bright patches that are the result of a briny solution welling up to the surface. All that water means it would be a great place to put a refueling station for spacecraft sometime in the future.   


 The moon is at the first quarter phase on the 3rd. So if it’s warm that night, take your binoculars out and scan up and down the terminator of the moon. You’ll be delighted in the number of craters you’ll see through binoculars. This is especially true in the southern hemisphere of the moon.     

The first spacecraft to soft land on another world did so on February 3rd, 1966. The spacecraft’s named was Luna 9 and the Soviet space program launched it. The 218 pound spacecraft set down on the moon at a speed of 14 mph and was cushioned from the impact with a landing bag. Luna 9 transmitted a total of nine images from the moon. The funny thing however, is who the first people were to release the Luna 9 images to the world. British astronomers at the Jodrell Bank radio telescope detected transmissions from Luna 9 and realized that the signal had the same format of a fax machine. So they attached a fax machine to their radio telescope and were able to print images of the lunar surface before the Soviet Union scientists could release the images to the world. Ouch! That had to sting a little bit.  

You’ll find the first quarter moon between two nice star clusters on the 4th. The star clusters are the Pleiades and Hyades, which are very attractive in your binoculars. This means the moon’s presence makes this an excellent astronomical opportunity for your binoculars.


 The moon is 3 degrees away from the bright star Aldebaran on the 5th. Many stargazers know this is the brightest star in Taurus the Bull and that it has an orangish color. At an angular distance of three degrees, the moon is close enough to the Aldebaran and the Hyades star cluster to create an attractive vista in this part of the heavens.


Can you picture Orion batting a ball over his head? You should be able to on the night of the 6th. Why? Because that’s when the gibbous moon appears above the constellation. Be sure to spend a little time scanning the sword of Orion, or the two stars visible below the middle of his belt. The fuzzy cloud you’ll see is the Orion Nebula, a region of glowing dust and gas in which new stars are forming today.

The moon passes through the feet of Gemini the Twins on the 7th. This makes the night of the 7th a great time to learn how to identify this constellation. The brightest star in Gemini is named Pollux and its slightly fainter twin is Castor. Pollux and Castor will appear on the left end of the two horizontal rows of stars.    


 February 8 – 14
The moon rises in a weak eclipse on the 10th. By weak eclipse, I mean a penumbral eclipse, or one in which the moon passes just though the outer rim of Earth’s shadow. It gets dark enough to see the eclipse by 7:00 PM and the eclipse ends at 7:30. Therefore, stargazers don’t have much time to observe this event. Binoculars will be helpful in seeing the subtle shading of Earth’s shadow on the upper portion of the moon.


 The penumbral eclipse also means the moon is full on the 10th. The full moon in February is often called the Snow Moon for obvious reasons. Looking at the full moon through binoculars is a blinding sight, but not in the literal sense. Enjoy.

There’s a bright star below and left of the moon on the 10th. Can you guess which one it is? Why it’s Regulus, the brightest star in Leo the Lion. Regulus, like Aldebaran, is a royal star. There are a total of four royal stars, Antares and Fomalhaut being the other two. The ancient Persians regarded these stars are guardians of their respective quadrants of the sky. One person responsible for bringing these stars and their function to our attention was the Persian prophet Zarathustra.



February 15 – 21
Jupiter appears as the bright star beneath the moon on the morning of the 15th. You’ll need to go outside just after midnight if you want to see Jupiter. However, since that’s a work day, you might prefer to get up a few minutes earlier on the morning of the 15th instead. The moon is nearly third quarter, meaning your binoculars will show craters along the terminator of the moon. And of course, Jupiter's four major satellites will be well placed for viewing. From Jupiter and going left, the satellites are Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede.  





The moon’s at the last quarter phase on the 18th. That means anytime after midnight will be a good time to go moon viewing with your binoculars. Along the terminator will be a mass of visible craters, especially in the southern hemisphere. 


John Glenn became America’s newest hero on February 20th 1962. Glenn was the third Mercury astronaut launched and the first to orbit Earth (three times). Unlike Shepard and Grissom before him, an Atlas missile launched Glenn’s Mercury spacecraft into space. The more powerful Atlas gave his capsule the speed it needed to remain in Earth orbit. His mission lasted for five hours and showed that the United States knew how to send humans into space. Unfortunately, we lost this American hero last December at the age of 95.

Are you looking for Saturn? Then let the moon show you where to look for Saturn on the morning of the 20th. Saturn appears as the creamy yellow-white star to the lower left of the moon. You need a telescope or at least a spotting scope to see Saturn’s rings and largest satellite, Titan. If you have the time, scan the region left of Saturn for fuzzy star clusters and nebulae.



Beginning the 20th is a good time to start looking for earthshine as you drive to work. The crescent moon is visible in the low east. Earthshine will be the faint illumination on the moon’s upper right.  

February 22 – 31

Thirty years ago on the 23rd, a blue super giant star in the Large Magellanic Cloud collapsed. Actually, this collapse occurred 168,000 years earlier, but it took light from the explosion that long to reach our solar system. The collapse of a massive star is called a supernova and this one was named SN 1987A by astronomers. SN 1987A is the brightest and closest supernova since the invention of the telescope over 400 years ago. It‘s still the best opportunity astronomers have to study the supernova process and its after effects. In fact, it turns out that neutrino detectors on Earth detected a burst of 25 neutrinos from the explosion some three hours earlier. The neutrinos, which are subatomic particles that rarely interact with matter, were able to escape the collapse and reach Earth hours earlier. This detection of neutrinos on Earth was the beginning of neutron astronomy. Now, astronomers know that a burst of neutrinos from space are the sign of an impending supernova explosion.   

The moon is new on the morning of the 26th. So don’t expect to see the moon again until the 28th.

After dark on the 26th, look in the low west for brilliant Venus. Most stargazers will know that Mars is the dimmer yellowish-orange star to the upper left of Venus. However, did you know the planet Uranus is there also? To see Uranus, aim your binoculars first at Mars. Uranus is the star ½ of a degree to the lower left of Mars. That means Uranus is about 1/15th the distance across your binocular’s field of view. Uranus is brighter than any star that close to Mars, so you can’t miss it.  

   



When the moon becomes visible again on the 28th, it will be in the presence of Venus and a comet. The comet’s name is Encke and it orbits the sun once every three years and four months. The comet is not known for being spectacular, but could very well be visible in binoculars. To find it, aim your binoculars at Venus, the brightest star in the low west. Then scan six degrees below Venus, or most of the field of view of your binoculars. You’re looking for a hazy spot with a possible extension upwards. 


This Month’s Sources

Astronomical Phenomena of the Year 2017, The Nautical Almanac Office and Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office
Astronomy Calendar of Celestial Events for Calendar Year 2017, http://www.seasky.org/astronomy/astronomy-calender-2016.html
Luna 9, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_9

Night Sky Explorer

Dark Skies and Bright Stars,

Your Interstellar Guide

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