Idaho Skies Transcript for May 4th, 5th, and 6th

RACHEL
Welcome to Idaho Skies for May 4th, 5th, and 6th. We’re your hosts, Rachel…

PAUL
…and Paul.

RACHEL
Hey stargazers, get your binoculars out on the morning of the 4th.

PAUL
That’s when you’ll find the waning gibbous moon surrounded by nebulae and star clusters.

RACHEL
These star clusters and nebulae lie between Earth and the star-dense heart of the Milky Way galaxy.

PAUL
Which is why this region of the sky is also so rich in star clusters and nebulae.

RACHEL
If you’re lucky enough to live under dark skies, you’ll see the Milky Way stretch from the low northeast to the south.

PAUL
Ancient people where uncertain about what the Milky Way actually was.

RACHEL
It was Galileo and his new telescope who discovered that the Milky Way was countless millions of faint stars.

PAUL
In places, those stars are packed especially close together.

RACHEL
We call those star clusters and they can be from tens to hundreds of light years across.

PAUL
They’re the product of stellar nurseries where stars are born in a massive clouds of dust and gas.

RACHEL
So scan the area left, above, and right of the moon with binoculars looking for small fuzzy patches.

PAUL
Calling all meteor watchers, the Eta Aquarid meteor shower reaches its peak activity late on the 6th and early on the 7th.

RACHEL
This is a meteor shower that favors observers in the southern hemisphere, since it radiates from our low southeast.

PAUL
However, American observers can usually see between 15 and 20 meteors per hour from this shower.

RACHEL
Except this year, the nearby waning gibbous moon will wash out many of the fainter meteors.

PAUL
That’s Idaho Skies for the 4th, 5th, and 6th of May.

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.