STAR GAZER
THE INTERNATIONAL EDITION
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Horkheimer: Greetings, greetings fellow star gazers. And have we ever got cosmic fun for you because all month long you can play the Mars / Sirius game which will show you just how fast things can change in the heavens. Let me elucidate.
O.K., we've got our skies set up for the first two weeks of January around 10 p.m. facing south where directly in front of you, you'll see the seven brightest stars of Orion the Hunter. Two bright stars mark his shoulders, two bright stars mark his knees and three stars lined up in a row mark his belt. And although these stars are super bright they are not as bright as the star just below Orion which you can find by shooting an imaginary arrow down through his belt to the left because it will land smack dab on Sirius the star which marks the eye of Orion's bigger dog, Canis Major. Sirius is a very special star because it is the brightest star we can see with the naked eye.
Now astronomers measure a star's brightness in magnitudes. Sirius is magnitude -1.4 but don't let the minus fool you because minus is actually brighter than plus in astronomy. And now here is where the game part comes in. After you've found Sirius, find Mars, which is super easy because all you have to do is face east. Look for the bright sickle shape of stars, which marks the front of Leo the Lion and the bright triangle of stars, which marks his rear. And just in front of Leo's face you'll see brilliant dazzling rouge gold Mars. Now at the beginning of January it will be much dimmer than Sirius, only -.8, which still makes it brighter than any of the stars of Leo. But it still has a way to go to rival Sirius, which is where the real fun comes in. Because if you go out at least once a week and compare Mars and Sirius you will see that Mars grows rapidly and dramatically brighter. And it should because it covers a lot of distance during January. Indeed on January 1st Mars was 69 million miles away but it will zoom over a million miles closer to Earth every week and on January 29th will be 7 million miles closer at a distance of only 62 million miles. Wow!
And here's something else that's really nifty about the Mars / Sirius game. Each successive night in January Mars will be just a little bit higher and at the end of January will rise in the east just after the sun sets in the west; so you won't have to stay out so late to see it! It will however be visible in the sky all night long! Rising in the east at sunset, slowly traveling up the sky until it reaches its highest point at midnight, then slowly traveling down the sky and setting in the west at sunrise. And please mark these two dates on your calendar. On Wednesday January 27th Mars will make its closest approach to Earth for all of 2010 and 2011. And two nights later on Friday the 29th it will officially reach opposition which means that it will be directly opposite the Sun as seen from Earth. So get thee out any night during January. First face south and find Sirius, then face east to find Mars and watch Mars race closer each night until at month's end it will be almost as bright as the brightest star in the heavens! Keep looking up!
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Horkheimer: Mars is racing toward us and you can have real fun watching it grow brighter each night if you play the Mars / Sirius game. Around 10 p.m. face south. Look for Orion the Hunter then shoot an arrow through his three belt stars and it will land on Sirius the brightest star you can see with the naked eye. Next face east and you'll see rouge gold Mars just above the stars of Leo the Lion. Compare Mars' brightness with Sirius once or twice a week and by the end of January when Mars is at its closest for 2010 and 2011 it will be almost as bright as Sirius. And that is because Mars will be 7 million miles closer at the end of January than it was on January 1st. Start your Mars / Sirius watch now! Keep looking up!
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* 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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