Transcript for February 20th and 21st

PAUL
Welcome to Idaho Skies for February 20th and 21st. We’re your hosts, Paul...

RACHEL
...and Rachel.

PAUL
John Glenn became one of America’s biggest heroes 55 years ago on February 20th 1962.

RACHEL
Glenn was the third Mercury astronaut launched and the first to orbit Earth.

PAUL
Unlike Shepard and Grissom before him, an Atlas missile carried Glenn’s Mercury spacecraft into space.

RACHEL
The more powerful Atlas missile gave Glenn’s capsule the speed it needed to remain in Earth orbit.

PAUL
Which is 17,500 miles per hour.

RACHEL
His mission lasted for five hours and he orbited Earth three times.

PAUL
His successful mission demonstrated that the United States knew how to send humans into space.

RACHEL
Unfortunately, we lost this American hero last December at the age of 95.

PAUL
Are you looking for Saturn?

RACHEL
Then let the moon show you Saturn on the morning of the 20th.

PAUL
Saturn appears as the creamy yellow-white star to the lower left of the moon.

RACHEL
You’ll need a telescope or at least a spotting scope to see Saturn’s rings and largest satellite, Titan.

PAUL
And the magnification of the telescope needs to be at least 25 power.

RACHEL
What if our listeners only have a pair of binoculars handy?

PAUL
Then take they should take some time and scan the region left of Saturn for fuzzy star clusters and nebulae.

RACHEL
These are clusters and nebulae, which are located near center of our Milky Way galaxy.

PAUL
That’s Idaho Skies for the 20th and 21st of February.

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

For Idaho Skies this is Rachel...

PAUL
...and Paul.

RACHEL
Dark skies and bright stars.