Idaho Skies Transcript for January 16th and 17th

PAUL
Welcome to Idaho Skies for January 16th and 17th. We’re your hosts, Paul…

RACHEL
…and Rachel.

PAUL
Watch the moon drift between two star clusters on the 16th and 17th.

RACHEL
On the 16th, stargazers will find the moon below the Pleiades and to the right of the Hyades. Both star clusters are large, so you only need binoculars to enjoy them. The Pleiades will appear as a tiny dipper while the Hyades appear as a large sideways V. That’s a big difference in size and shape. I guess this just goes to show that star clusters are like snow flakes; no two are alike. 

PAUL
On the night of the 17th, stargazers will find the moon on the other side of the Hyades. The moon and the brightest star in the Hyades will be close together. So close that you can see both at the same time through binoculars. The star’s name is Aldebaran, which is Arabic for the follower. It gets this name because it rises after both the Pleiades and Hyades star clusters. 

RACHEL
Aldebaran is 65 light years away. Did you know that Earths’ first starship was sent to this star? Actually, the spacecraft is the Pioneer 10 and its mission was to explore Jupiter. It did this back in 1973 during a fly-by mission. The immense gravity of Jupiter than flung the tiny spacecraft in the direction of Aldebaran. In about two million AD, the long defunct Pioneer 10 will sail past Aldebaran.

PAUL
Aldebaran is the 14th brightest star in the sky and the 9th brightest for stargazers living in Idaho. It’s an old and large star. Aldebaran has a core filled with helium ash and it’s surrounded with a shell of fusing hydrogen. Its high internal temperature has caused Aldebaran to swell up into a red giant star. In fact, this star has a diameter 44 times greater than the sun’s. This means that if it replaced the sun, little Mercury would be treading just outside the star’s surface. 

RACHEL
That’s Idaho Skies for the 16th and 17th of January.

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.