Transcript the Week of October 7th

STEVEN
Welcome to Idaho Skies for the week of October 7th. We’re your hosts, Steven...

DAN
...and Dan.

PAUL
Autumn skies are filled with constellations representing watery themes. Unfortunately, they contain stars that are mostly dim.

STEVEN
The moon swims through these constellations this week. The first constellation of note is Capricornus. This constellation represents a chimera of a goat and fish. Hence, it’s called the sea goat. In dark skies. Capricorn looks like a grinning mouth. Over two thousand years ago, the sun was in Capricornus on the first day of winter. 

DAN
East of Capricornus is an even fainted constellation named Aquarius. The aqua in Aquarius obviously means water in Latin. The last half of the name means carrier. So Aquarius is the water carrier of bearer. He’s depicted as pouring a jar or vase of water, with the vase being a circle of stars.

STEVEN
The water of Aquarius flows south into the mouth of the Southern Fish which astronomers call Piscis Austrinus. The brightest star of Piscis Austrinus is visible below the moon on the evening of the 9th. The star’s name is Fomalhaut. It’s close to the solar system compared to other stars.

DAN
Fomalhaut is a young star; astronomers estimate it’s only 400 million years old. Fomalhaut has the distinction of the being the first solar system imaged from Earth. Back in 2008, the Hubble Space Telescope was able to see a planet orbiting Fomalhaut. The planet is roughly Jupiter size.         

PAUL
Don’t be surprised you can’t see many stars in the south these evenings. But do take advantage of the moon on the 9th to find the brightest star, Fomalhaut.

STEVEN
That’s Idaho Skies for the week of October 7th.

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.

WHO
Dark skies and bright stars.