STAR GAZER
THE INTERNATIONAL EDITION

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Includes episodes 0944, 0945, 0946, 0947, 0948

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Notice : These are working drafts of the scripts for STAR GAZER.
Changes may well be made as production requires.

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"Star Gazer" is available with iTunes,
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STAR GAZER 5 MINUTE

Episode # 09-44 / 1665th Show
To Be Aired : Monday 11/02/2009 through
Sunday 11/08/2009

"The Lost Rings Of Saturn Return And
An Aging Moon Visits Two Planets And
Virgo's Brightest Star"

Horkheimer: Greetings, greetings fellow star gazers. Next week an aging waning crescent Moon will slowly shrink and as it does so will pay a visit to the prettiest ringed planet whose lost rings are now returning, plus the brightest star of the constellation Virgo, and the brightest planet of them all, which will soon disappear from easy view. Let me show you.

O.K., we've got our skies set up for Thursday morning November 12th which some say is the beginning of Indian Summer about 30 minutes before sunrise facing southeast where you will see an exquisite 25 day old crescent Moon. And just off to its left the planet whose lost rings have now returned, our old friend Saturn. Now the reason I say its lost rings have now returned is because twice in Saturn's 30 year orbit about the Sun, about every 15 years, our Earth and Saturn line up in such a way that we see its rings from an edge on position at which time they completely disappear from view through most telescopes for a few nights. But then as both planets keep moving and changing their distance and aspect to one another we start seeing more and more of one or the other side of Saturn's rings.

Now the rings completely disappeared in September. Before September we were looking at the bottom or southern side of Saturn's rings for several years. But now we are just starting a several year ever-expanding view of looking at the top side or northern side of Saturn's rings. And we will see more and more of them as time goes by. Now without Saturn's rings, Saturn is only 75,000 miles wide. Add its rings and it's actually twice as wide as Jupiter from one edge to the other, 176,000 miles wide. But they are only 30 feet thick. That's why they can disappear from view when we see them edge on. Wow!

Now on Friday morning November 13th a slightly skinnier Moon will be well past Saturn and on its way to the brightest star in Virgo the virgin, Spica, which may be hard to see in twilight. But if you wait for 24 hours more you can use the Moon to find it because on Saturday the 14th an even skinnier Moon will be almost beside it. Finally on Sunday morning the 15th one of the skinniest Moons you'll ever see, if you have a clear flat horizon, will be just to the side of, also horizon hugging , brightest planet of them all, Venus, which will soon disappear from sight.

Venus is of course much smaller than Saturn, only 8,000 miles wide, the same size as our Earth. But compared to Spica, Venus and Saturn are puny. In fact Spica is 8 times wider than our own million mile wide Sun. And is a much hotter star burning with a fierceness 23, 000 times our Sun's light intensity. So there you have it. A chance to use an aging waning crescent Moon to find two planets and a wonderful star. Thursday the 12th, the Moon visits Saturn, on Friday the 13th between Saturn and Spica, Saturday the 14th almost next to Spica, and on Sunday the 15th hugging the horizon with dazzling Venus. Keep looking up!

How did you like this episode?
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"Star Gazer" is available with iTunes,
for downloading with Quicktime
and we're now on YouTube

Check Out WPBT's Version

"The Lost Rings Of Saturn Return And
An Aging Moon Visits Two Planets And
Virgo's Brightest Star"

Horkheimer: Next week an aging crescent Moon will visit two planets and Virgo's brightest star. Thursday November 12th 30 minutes before sunrise face southeast and an exquisite crescent Moon will be just off to the side of Saturn the planet which lost its rings because they were invisible when they were edge on in September but which are now beginning to return. On Saturday the 14th the Moon will be right next to Spica the brightest star of Virgo. And on Sunday the 15th one of the skinniest Moons you'll ever see, will hug the horizon with Venus. Venus is 8,000 miles wide, Saturn is 75,000 miles wide, but Spica is a whopping 8 million miles wide! Use the Moon to find them, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Keep looking up!

How did you like this episode?
Please give us your comments. (Click Here)

For GRAPHICS for this script (Click) Here

* This week's Sky At A Glance and Planet Roundup from Sky & Telescope.
This week's Sky At A Glance displays current week only.

Starry Night Deluxe was used to produce this episode of Star Gazer

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