Idaho Skies Transcript for October 18th and 19th

PAUL
Welcome to Idaho Skies for October 18th and 19th. We’re your hosts, Paul...

RACHEL
...and Rachel.

PAUL
Mars and Venus had an encounter with the moon on the 17th.

RACHEL
These two planets are Earth’s closest neighbors.

PAUL
And prior to the Space Age, they were the topics of endless speculation.

RACHEL
Venus was always appeared as a shiny orb while Mars showed surface details through a telescope.

PAUL
Early astronomers were certain Venus was so bright on account of its perpetual cloud cover.

RACHEL
And once astronomer knew the distance to Venus, they could tell the planet was roughly the size of Earth.

PAUL
Several explanations for the cloud cover over Venus where proposed.

RACHEL
One explanation was that the clouds were covering a swampy Earth-like planet.

PAUL
Or that Venus might be an ocean planet filled with seltzer water.

RACHEL
Mars, astronomers determined, was smaller than Earth.

PAUL
And its greater distance from the sun meant it had a surface temperature colder than Earth’s.

RACHEL
The apparent changes in its surface features lead some to believe that the planet was cover in plant life.

PAUL
And that the surface changes were due to plants responding to the changing seasons.

RACHEL
All that changed in 1962 and 1964.

PAUL
On December 14th, 1962, the Mariner 2 spacecraft fly past Venus.

RACHEL
And on November 28th, 1964, Mariner 4 flew past Mars.

PAUL
We learned that Venus was indeed a hellishly hot world where no liquid water could exist.

RACHEL
And that Mars had an atmosphere too thin and too cold to support plant life.

PAUL
That’s Idaho Skies for the 18th and 19th of October.

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.