Idaho Skies Transcript for March 14th and 15th

RACHEL
Welcome to Idaho Skies for March 14th and 15th. We’re your hosts, Rachel...

PAUL
...and Paul.

RACHEL
Our solar system has two inferior planets.

PAUL
Whoa, isn’t that rather judgmental?

RACHEL
Not at all. Inferior planets are those that orbit closer to the sun than Earth.

PAUL
Oh, so you mean Mercury and Venus.

RACHEL
That’s right. And both of them are visible tonight.

PAUL
But they’re rather close to the western horizon, so you’ll need to look for them shortly after sunset.

RACHEL
Look for Venus first, as it’s the brightest and easiest to find.

PAUL
The Evening Star is very very low in the west.

RACHEL
Mercury is fainter than Venus and located to the planet’s upper right.

PAUL
This week is special for Mercury because it reaches its greatest eastern elongation on the 15th.

RACHEL
So on that morning, the planet will be 18 degrees from the sun.

PAUL
This means it’s nearly at its highest elevation above the horizon.

RACHEL
And so sets at its latest time.

PAUL
But for Mercury, this doesn’t mean a whole lot.

RACHEL
Since the planet orbits so closely to the sun, it never gets all that high anyways.

PAUL
Don’t let that stop you however from taking a few minutes to observe Mercury this week.

RACHEL
You’ll see its position with respect to Venus change significantly every night.

PAUL
Not many people have observed Mercury, including the 16th century astronomer Nicolas Copernicus.

RACHEL
So join an exclusive astronomical club and find Mercury sometime this week.

PAUL
That’s Idaho Skies for the 14th and 15th of March.

RACHEL
Be sure to read our blog for additional information. It’s at idahoskies.blogspot.com.

For Idaho Skies this is Rachel...

PAUL
...and Paul.

RACHEL
Dark skies and bright stars.