Idaho Skies Transcript for December 27th and 28th

PAUL
Welcome to Idaho Skies for December 27th and 28th. We’re your hosts, Paul...

RACHEL
...and Rachel.

PAUL
The planet Uranus was discovered in 1781 by English astronomer William Herschel.

RACHEL
Herschel wasn’t born in England, he was born in the Electorate of Hanover, or what is now a part of Germany.

PAUL
Since 1774, Herschel had been observing the skies with his large telescopes.

RACHEL
These were handmade and of very good quality for their time.

PAUL
On March 13th, 1781, Herschel realized a star he was looking at was not a point of light like the other stars.

RACHEL
At first, he thought his discovery was a new comet.

PAUL
But soon, he discovered his comet moved like the other planets and not like other comets.

RACHEL
Hershel’s discovery of Uranus made him famous overnight.

PAUL
That’s because no planets had been discovered since the times of antiquity.

RACHEL
Astronomy was not Herschel’s first job.

PAUL
That’s right; he was originally a composer and music director.

RACHEL
However, after his discovery of Uranus, King George the Third made him the Royal Astronomer.

PAUL
This allowed Herschel to become a full time astronomer with the assistance of his sister, Caroline.

RACHEL
On the 27th, you too can discover Uranus for yourself.

PAUL
Do so by aiming your binoculars at the moon at 8:00 PM.

RACHEL
Then shift the moon to the left edge of your binoculars in the 7:30 position.

PAUL
Then look for the brightest star six degrees to the moon’s upper right.

RACHEL
Remember that binoculars have a view 7.5 degrees wide.

PAUL
That star you see is Uranus and you can be certain of it if you see a squashed rectangle between the moon and Uranus.

RACHEL
You’ll find a helpful star map on our Twitter account.

PAUL
That’s Idaho Skies for the 27th and 28th of December.

RACHEL
Be sure to follow us on Twitter @IdahoSkies for this week’s event reminders and sky maps.

For Idaho Skies this is Rachel...

PAUL
...and Paul.

RACHEL
Dark skies and bright stars.