Idaho Skies Transcript for the week of October 28th

STEVEN

Welcome to Idaho Skies for the week of October 28^th. We’re your hosts, Steven…

DAN

…and Dan.

PAUL

The moon is new on Monday. That means this week, we’ll see the moon reappear in the west-southwest after sunset.

STEVEN

However, you’ll need to wait a few days before it appears. That’s because the moon’s path across the sky is relatively flat with respect to the western horizon. The sun and planets follow a path across the stars called the ecliptic. For the most part, the ecliptic traverses the constellations making up the Zodiac.

DAN

The moon however orbits in a tilted orbit with respect to the ecliptic. The inclination is five degrees, so not too crazy. However, it’s still enough to make the moon deviate significantly from places in the sky where the planets can reside. There’s a name describing where the moon is relative to the ecliptic.

STEVEN

When the moon’s position in its tilted orbit is below the equator, we say the moon is running low. When the moon is on the half of its orbit that’s on its northernly side, we say the moon is riding high. Only when the moon is between these two extremes can we have solar and lunar eclipses.

DAN

The moon reappears on the 30^th, stargazers will find it very low in the southwest. More apparent will be Jupiter, a bright looking star. The moon will be to the lower left of Jupiter and a very thin crescent. These two objects, Jupiter and the waxing crescent moon will make ideal binocular objects.

PAUL

Enjoy moon watching this week. Because the moon runs low this week and its orbit is strongly tilted relative to the horizon, we won’t see it until its three days after full on Thursday evening.      

STEVEN

That’s Idaho Skies for the week of October 28^th.  

DAN

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

For Idaho Skies this is Dan…

STEVEN

…and Steven.

DAN

Dark skies and bright stars.