Idaho Skies Transcript for March 7th and 8th

PAUL
Welcome to Idaho Skies for March 7th and 8th. We’re your hosts, Paul...

RACHEL
...and Rachel.

PAUL
Stargazers outside late on the 8th and early on the 9th will have an easy time locating Mars.

RACHEL
That’s because Mars is the yellowish-orange star at the moon’s lower left.

PAUL
Did you know that Mars is approaching opposition this year?

RACHEL
Opposition? What’s that?

PAUL
Opposition is the astronomical term for when a planet appears opposite the sun in our sky.

RACHEL
This can only occur for planets that orbit the sun beyond Earth’s orbit.

PAUL
It’s a time when Earth is on the line between the sun and the planet at opposition.

RACHEL
At opposition, the planet rises at sunset and sets are sunrise.

PAUL
And at opposition, an outer planet is it’s closest to Earth.

RACHEL
Meaning it appears brighter than normal in our night-time sky.

PAUL
Mars is best viewed later this year, but its opposition’s isn’t helpful to stargazers who don’t have a serious telescope.

RACHEL
That’s because Mars is so small that even at its closest, its disk is still pretty small.

PAUL
However, in a good telescope and calm skies, astronomers can observe faint markings on the disk of Mars.

RACHEL
These marking have names like Syrtis Major and Nix Olympia.

PAUL
Astronomers are also able to see clouds on Mars.

RACHEL
And ice caps at the planet’s polar regions.

PAUL
These marking fooled some astronomers into thinking that Mars was more Earth-like than it really is.

RACHEL
Spacecraft have taught us that Mars is still a pretty neat place.

PAUL
But it would have been more exciting if it were Barsoom.

RACHEL
And humans were sharing adventures with Green Martians like Tars Tarkas. 

PAUL
That’s Idaho Skies for the 7th and 8th of March.

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.