STAR GAZER
THE INTERNATIONAL EDITION

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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

Episode # 10-04 / 1677th Show

To Be Aired : Monday 1/25/10 through Sunday 1/31/2010

"Mars At Its Closest, Biggest And Brightest For The Year
Plus The Closest, Biggest And Brightest Full Moon
Of The Year!"

Horkheimer: Greetings, greetings fellow star gazers. And talk about a week of superlatives! Not only is the red planet Mars at its closest, biggest and brightest for this year and next, but we'll also have the closest, biggest and brightest full Moon for all of 2010. Let me show you.

O.K., we've got our skies set up for any night this week and next a couple hours after Sunset facing east where you will see Mars, a dazzling rouge gold steadily glowing light, brighter than any star in the sky except Sirius, the brightest star we can see and which you can compare to Mars simply by turning to the right and looking southeast. Notice however that while Sirius is just slightly more dazzling it shines a brilliant cold bluish white while Mars glows a warm yellow gold with a hint of rouge red. And as I mentioned before whereas Mars was 69 million miles away on January 1st, this wed. Jan 27 it is 7 million miles closer, and at its very closest at a distance of only 62 million miles away! Two nights later on Friday the 29th, it is directly opposite the Sun as seen from Earth or as astronomers say at opposition.

So if you've never been able to find Mars before you can find it now just by looking east. It will be directly above Leo the Lion, which is identifiable by a sickle shaped group of stars which mark his front and a triangle of stars which mark his rear. And because it is directly opposite the Sun it will be visible all the hours the Sun is not, which means it will rise in the east just after the Sun sets in the west and will slowly travel up the heavens and reach its highest point at midnight and then will slowly descend the heavens and set in the west as the Sun rises in the east. So you can see it all night long.

Now although Mars is at its very brightest this week it will still be very bright throughout February. But because it is only half the size of our planet Earth, 4,000 miles wide, it never gets really big in a telescope like Jupiter, which is 88,000 miles wide. Through a telescope you'll see more of its northern hemisphere, which is tilted toward Earth right now. In fact it is springtime in Mars' northern hemisphere right now. So you'll be able to watch Mars' northern polar icecap, which will look like a white dot, slowly shrink as the weeks go by and spring turns into summer. Go to our website regularly because we'll be featuring some really good views by planetary photographer, Dr. Don Parker of Coral Gables Florida.

And now to see the closest, biggest and brightest full Moon of the year simply go outside Saturday night January 30th just after sunset, face east and you can watch it rise. It will be only 221,560 miles away, which is 31,000 miles closer than the farthest full Moon of this year on August 24. In fact it will look 13 % bigger and 30% brighter. Now because full Moons always look bigger when they are closer to the horizon, this full Moon will look its biggest just after sunset on Saturday and just before sunrise Sunday. So get thee out for both the Moon and Mars at their closest, biggest and brightest for the year! Keep looking up!

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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

"Mars At Its Closest, Biggest And Brightest For The Year
Plus The Closest, Biggest And Brightest Full Moon Of The Year!"

Horkheimer: This week Mars is at its closest, biggest and brightest for 2010 and 2011. Plus this weekend you'll see the closest, biggest and brightest full Moon of the year. Mars is only 62 million miles away this week. To find it, look east a couple hours after sunset. It will look like a brilliant rouge gold light just above the stars of Leo and is brighter than every star in the sky except the brightest star Sirius. And through a small telescope you'll be able to see its north polar icecap. This weekend this year's closest full Moon will look 13 % bigger and 30% brighter than this year's farthest. What a week! Both the Moon and Mars at their closest and brightest! 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.

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

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