STAR GAZER
THE INTERNATIONAL EDITION
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Horkheimer: Greetings, greetings fellow star gazers. Every holiday I like to pick out something special in the night sky that's easy for you to find because usually everyone stays up a little bit later than usual. So this Memorial Day weekend I've selected three objects which are super easy to find just after it gets dark out; two bright stars and one fabulous planet. Let me show you.
O.K., we've got our skies set up for this weekend just after it gets dark out facing north where you'll easily be able to see the seven bright stars we call the Big Dipper. Four stars mark its cup and three stars mark its handle. To find the brightest of our three objects we simply use the handle of the Big Dipper and an old trick most of you regular viewers know. Simply draw a line through the handle of the Big Dipper, extend that line in the same curve or arc and you'll arc to one of the brightest stars of late spring and summer Arcturus. Remember? Arc to Arcturus. To find the other two objects use the two stars which mark the side of the Dipper's cup closest to the handle; shoot an arrow through them and you'll land on my favorite planet Saturn and the heart star of Leo the Lion Regulus. And if you're not sure which is which Saturn will be brighter. So now that you've found these three celestial beauties let's find out how different they are from each other.
Saturn is a planet and does not make its own light like stars do. In fact it reflects light from the closest star which is our Sun and belongs in our Sun's family and is thus a part of our solar system. Now although it's nine and a half times wider than our planet Earth it is still a small object cosmically speaking, only 75,000 miles wide. Regulus on the other hand is a star, which like our Sun makes its own light. But it puts our Sun to shame size-wise. Indeed while our Sun is almost a million miles wide Regulus is five times larger! Arcturus however outdoes both Regulus and our Sun and is a whopping five times larger than Regulus, which means that it is 25 times larger than our Sun. Wow!
It's even more amazing however when we compare the distances of these three objects. Saturn for instance will be only 865 million miles away Memorial Day weekend which means that it will take its light only 78 minutes to reach us. By contrast Regulus is so incredibly much farther away that it takes its light 78 years to reach us. Arcturus, however, is about twice as close as Regulus and it takes its light only 37 years to reach us, which is still pretty impressive. So if you happen to be 37 years old, when you look at Arcturus this weekend you'll be seeing the light that left it the year you were born, 1971. And if you're 78 years old you'll be seeing the light that left Regulus the year you were born, 1930. But you'd have to have been born only one hour and 18 minutes ago to see the light that left Saturn at the moment of your birth. So this Memorial Day weekend find the Big Dipper, arc to Arcturus then zero in on Saturn and Regulus. Keep looking up!
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Horkheimer: This Memorial Day weekend you can find two fabulous stars and a marvelous planet easy as pie. Just after dark face north to find the Big Dipper. A line through the handle will lead to Arcturus. Shoot an arrow through the two cup stars closest to the handle and you'll land on ringed Saturn and the brightest star of Leo, Regulus. But the fun begins when you compare the three. Saturn is only 75,000 miles wide whereas Regulus is 5 times larger than our million mile wide Sun. Arcturus however outdoes them both and is a whopping 5 times larger than Regulus and 25 times larger than our Sun. So find these three fabulous objects just after dark this Memorial Day weekend. Keep looking up!
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* This week's Sky At A Glance
and Planet Roundup from Sky & Telescope.Starry Night Deluxe was used to produce this episode
of Star Gazer![[SmilinJack]](jack1sm.jpg)
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