Idaho Skies Transcript for December 7th, 8th, and 9th

PAUL
Welcome to Idaho Skies for December 7th, 8th, and 9th. We’re your hosts, Paul...

RACHEL
...and Rachel.

PAUL
The moon was new on the afternoon of the 6th.

RACHEL
So very observant stargazers might be able to find a 34-hour old moon during dusk on the 8th. However, you’ll need a very clear and flat southwestern horizon if you want to see this very thin crescent moon. Binoculars will be of help also. But please do not go scanning the horizon with binoculars until after the sun sets. It’s too easy to actually scan across the sun before it sets.   

PAUL
What might help you find the moon is Saturn. Saturn is the faint star in the low southwest at 7:00 PM on the 8th. It will be the only noticeable star this close to the horizon, but will benefit from your use of binoculars. Saturn will disappear from the evening sky in another two weeks, so around the 8th would be a good time to look for this planet before it becomes a morning planet in mid-January next year.

RACHEL
Once you locate Saturn in your binoculars scan a little bit to its right for the moon. The distance between Saturn and the moon is three degrees, or less than half the field of view your binoculars. So if you place Saturn on the left edge of your binoculars, the moon will be almost exactly in the center. Even though the moon and Saturn appear close together, they’re no where near one another. 

PAUL
That’s right. The moon is only 244,000 miles away from us. Saturn on the other hand is one billion miles away, or 4,170 times farther away. We lose a sense of distance when looking at the night sky. Therefore, it’s not surprising that ancient cultures pictured the sky as a dome over the land. One of the great discoveries of astronomy is that the distance to astronomical objects is, well, astronomical. 

RACHEL
That’s Idaho Skies for the 7th, 8th, and 9th of December.

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

For Idaho Skies this is Paul...

RACHEL
...and Rachel.

PAUL
Dark skies and bright stars.