STAR GAZER
THE INTERNATIONAL EDITION
Lorain County JVS NASA CORE / 15181 Route 58 South / 440/775-1400
/ FAX 440/775-1460 / nasaco@leeca.org / http://core.nasa.gov
Horkheimer: Greetings greetings, fellow star gazers. And as most
of you star gazers know one of winter's favorite constellations
is Taurus the Bull. And if you've been a regular star gazer viewer
then you also know that The Pleiades, the Seven Sisters, always
accompany him across the heavens as they ride upon one of his
massive shoulders. But this winter Taurus has another rider and
quite a wonderful one at that. Let me show you.
O.K., we've got our skies set up for this Saturday March the 8th, just after it gets dark out facing south where you'll immediately see our old friend the most famous constellation of winter, Orion the Hunter noticeable by the three evenly spaced stars which mark his belt. Two stars above mark his shoulders , two stars below his knees. And as legend tells us, Orion the Hunter has a club in one hand and a shield in the other to ward off the charging enormous cosmic bull, Taurus, who is depicted in the heavens only by his face with its fierce red eye Aldebaran and his long gigantic horns. Plus the top part of one of his massive shoulders upon which the Seven Daughters of Atlas, The Pleiades, the Seven Sisters, always ride; placed there legend says, "to protect them from the amorous advances of the giant hunter." and whoever placed them there did a pretty good job because Orion hasn't caught up with them yet.
Now on Saturday evening you'll notice that just below the Seven Sisters is an exquisite 5 day old waxing Moon which may shed enough light to make the Seven Sisters a little difficult to see. So you may want to get out your binoculars to take a look at both the Moon and the Pleiades close by. On the next night, Sunday the 9th, a 6 day old Moon will be just past the Pleiades and to the right of Taurus' fierce eye Aldebaran. But then the next night, Monday the 10th, a slightly fatter Moon will be parked between Taurus' 2 giant horns and just to the right of a brilliant object which usually is not there. An object which is taking a free ride across the heavens with Taurus this winter. It is the 75,000 mile wide, 6th planet from the Sun and the most beautiful of them all in my estimation, the ringed planet Saturn which is still at its best for viewing in almost thirty years because its ring system is tilted so wide open to us which means that if you're lucky enough to have even the smallest cheapest telescope or a friend who has one, you will see Saturn better now than you have in almost thirty years.
In fact astronomer Fred Schaaf says that the
rings are now tilted so much that you can actually follow their
outer edge all the way around and see the far edge sticking out
from behind Saturn's south pole. And he also advises that if you
look at Saturn through your telescope on Thursday the 13th you'll
see the shadow of the planet itself cast upon the rings. Plus
you can even see a major division between the rings, a dark line
called Cassini's Division named for the Italian astronomer who
discovered it in 1675. Once again, on the 8th, a waxing Moon approaches
the Seven Sisters, on the 9th it's just past them, on the 10th
it's parked smack dab between the horns of Taurus and just below
Saturn, and on the 11th just beyond the ringed planet which is
currently getting a free ride along with the Seven Sisters on
the monster bovine. And that's no bull. I'm Jack Horkheimer, Keep
Looking Up!
How did you like this episode?
Please give us your comments. (Click
Here)
Horkheimer: The Seven Sisters always ride across the heavens on
the shoulder of Taurus the Bull but recently Taurus has acquired
another rider. On Saturday the 8th look south for Orion and his
uplifted shield warding off the charging bull who is depicted
only by his face with its red eye Aldebaran and his giant horns
plus the top of one of his shoulders upon which the Seven Sisters
ride. Below which is a waxing Moon which on the 9th will be just
past the Seven Sisters and on the 10th will be parked next to
a brilliant object not usually there, 75,000 mile wide Saturn,
whose rings are now tilted so much that you can see their far
edge sticking out from behind Saturn's south pole. And that's
no bull. Keep Looking Up!
How did you like this episode?
Please give us your comments. (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
Lorain County JVS NASA CORE / 15181 Route 58 South / 440/775-1400 / FAX 440/775-1460 / nasaco@leeca.org / http://core.nasa.gov
Horkheimer: Greetings, greetings fellow star gazers
and happy Vernal Equinox which is what astronomers call the first
day of spring and which begins next week Thursday, March 20th
at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time or your local equivalent. Now
although we all know what spring is, have you ever wondered why
we call spring 'spring'? Well, the word spring is simply short
for the phrases spring of the leaf and spring of the year. Spring
of the leaf is pretty obvious because at this time of the year
leaves do literally spring up out of branches and grass springs
up out of the ground. But what does spring of the year mean?
Well, believe it or not before 1752 the New Year began on March 25th when spring began in America and England. In other words, the New Year began that is sprang up, at the same time the leaves and grass did. In fact, when George Washington, Ben Franklin and America's founding fathers were young men they all wished each other Happy New Year on March 25th until Parliament declared that henceforth beginning in 1752 the New Year would be celebrated on January 1st. At any rate I actually think it's more logical to have the New Year begin with the beginning of spring when all of nature seems to begin again.
But lest we forget, the first day of spring is actually an astronomical event and marks one of the two days when our Sun is smack dab on the celestial equator, the other day being the first day of autumn, and these two days are called the equinoxes, equi meaning equal and nox meaning night because on these two days the hours of daylight equal the hours of night. When this happens in September we call it the autumnal equinox and when it happens in March we call it the vernal equinox, vernal meaning green. Which is appropriate because in mid-northern latitudes the landscape is really springing up green. Now although most people today don't keep track of the Sun and its movements throughout the seasons like our ancestors did, nevertheless we can observe the effect the Sun has on us every first day of spring and fall in a very modern way.
You see the Sun rises due east and sets due
west on only two days of the year the equinoxes. So if you are
driving to work at sunrise, going east on a due east/west highway
you will actually be able to see the Sun rise directly over the
yellow line in the middle of the road. And conversely if you're
driving west on an east/west highway at sunset you will see the
Sun set directly over the yellow line in the road. In fact I would
venture to say that there'll be more sun visors down on the first
day of spring and the first day of autumn than on any other days
of the year. So Happy Vernal Equinox, Happy First Day of Spring
and for those of you who are really old fashioned, Happy New Year!
And remember if you're driving due east at sunrise or due west
at sunset next Thursday keep those sun visors down. I'm Jack Horkheimer,
Keep Looking Up!
How did you like this episode?
Please give us your comments. (Click
Here)
Horkheimer: Next Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time
spring officially begins but do you know why we call spring, spring?
Well spring is simply short for the phrases "spring of the
leaf" and " spring of the year". "spring of
the leaf" is obvious because leaves do literally spring up
out of branches at this time. But the phrase "spring of the
year" goes way back. You see before 1752 the New Year began
on March 25th in America and England, the New Year sprang up at
the same time as the leaves. In fact when George Washington and
Ben Franklin were young they all wished each other "Happy
New Year" on the first day of spring until Parliament declared
that beginning in 1752 the New Year would be celebrated on Jan.
1st. So Happy First Day of Spring and Happy Old New Year! Keep
Looking Up!
How did you like this episode?
Please give us your comments. (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 GazerLorain County JVS NASA CORE / 15181 Route 58 South / 440/775-1400 / FAX 440/775-1460 / nasaco@leeca.org / http://core.nasa.gov
Horkheimer: Greetings greetings, fellow star gazers.
And as most of you regular star gazers know, the closest and brightest
planet for the past few months has been Venus; visible every morning
in the south east before dawn and accompanied by a planet which
was very distant and dim at the beginning of this year but which
will be very close and very bright later this year, Mars which
all this month is brightening incredibly and which by the end
of this month will switch places with Venus as being the closest
planet of them all. Let me show you. O.K., we've got our skies
set up for this upcoming Sunday the 23rd, one hour before sunrise
facing south where you will see a wonderful waning gibbous Moon
just above the brightest star of Scorpius, Antares. A star whose
name literally means "the rival of Mars" because when
Mars is at just the right distance from Earth Mars and Antares
look as alike as peas in a pod. They looked exactly alike during
the last week of February but since then Mars has been rapidly
approaching and by August when it's at its closest in 60,000 years
will blow Antares away in brilliance.
To show you just how much it's really taken off since the end of february, let's compare Mars and the planet currently closest to us as to how far away they were at the beginning of this month and how far away they will be at month's end. So look just to the left of Mars east southeast and you'll see the most brilliant planet of them all, incredibly close and incredibly bright, Venus. Now usually Venus which is planet #2 or Mercury which is planet #1 are closest to Earth. But every once in a while Mars does a whopping switcheroo and will be even closer than the two. On March 1st Mars was 142 million miles. Away while Venus was only 96 million miles away but because Venus is steadily moving away from us and Mars is steadily moving towards us, just coincidentally, by month's end on the 31st they will be exactly the same distance from Earth, 116 million miles away. Which means that Mars will be 26 million miles closer on March 31st than it was on the 1st. That's almost a million miles closer a day. And believe it or not on April 1st Mars will take the title "closest planet to Earth" away from Venus and that's no April Fool's joke.
And if you've been watching Mars since the
beginning of this month you will easily notice that by March 31st
Mars will be 60% brighter! And by August will be brighter than
every star and planet except Venus. Now it can never become as
bright as Venus, simply because it can never come quite as close
and because Mars is a tiny 4,000 mile wide planet which doesn't
reflect light very well whereas Venus is an 8,000 mile wide planet
and reflects like a bright mirror. So how do you know you've found
Mars for sure so you can watch it brighten throughout the rest
of the month? Well simple, use the Moon for a finder. On the 23rd
the Moon will be just above Antares, on the 24th it will be directly
between Mars and Antares but Ta Da! On the 25th it will be just
below Mars and on the 26th just beyond it. Please compare Mars
and Antares on a weekly basis because by august you'll be blown
away at the difference between them.. I'm Jack Horkheimer, Keep
Looking Up!
How did you like this episode?
Please give us your comments. (Click
Here)
Horkheimer: For the past few months the closest
and brightest planet has been Venus. But because Mars is racing
toward Earth for its closest meeting in 60,000 years, by the end
of this month Mars will switch places with Venus as the closest
planet. On March 1st Mars was 142 million miles away while Venus
was only 96 million. But since then Venus has been moving away
from us while Mars has been moving toward us so that by March
31st they will be exactly the same distance away, 116 million
miles. Then Ta Da!, on April 1st Mars will take the title "closest
planet to Earth" away from Venus. And that's no April Fool's
joke! So get out every morning and watch Mars steadily brighten.
I'm Jack Horkheimer, Keep Looking Up!
How did you like this episode?
Please give us your comments. (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 GazerLorain County JVS NASA CORE / 15181 Route 58 South / 440/775-1400 / FAX 440/775-1460 / nasaco@leeca.org / http://core.nasa.gov
Horkheimer: Greetings greetings, fellow star gazers. And before you all shout "Sirius is the brightest star we see most often" let me just say guess again because while Sirius is the brightest star we can see with the naked eye from planet Earth, there is another star, not quite as bright, in fact it is only the 6th brightest star in the sky but it is the brightest star we see most often from the northern hemisphere. And that's because it is the brightest star closest to the North Star, which makes it visible more nights of the year from the northern hemisphere than Sirius or any other bright star. Let me show you:
O.K., we've got our skies set up facing north any April evening just after it gets dark and to find this star which we see more often than any other bright star simply locate the Big Dipper right in front of you, then shoot an imaginary arrow through the two stars that mark the rim of the cup in the direction opposite the handle and you'll land smack dab on the bright golden yellow giant star called Capella which is the brightest star of the constellation Auriga the Charioteer. Now Capella is not the eye or shoulder of Auriga, or even a star in his chariot. Strangely enough Capella means "the goat star". You see hundreds of years ago Auriga was depicted not only as a charioteer but also as a goat herder. In fact if you imagine that Capella is a nanny goat you can see her 3 kid goats very close by. Indeed, many modern star maps still call these 3 dim stars "The Kids".
Now although Capella looks like a single bright
golden yellow star to both the naked eye and through a telescope,
nothing could be farther from the truth. You see 104 years ago
in 1899 an instrument called the spectroscope revealed that Capella
is 2 giant stars, each of them several times larger than our Sun,
but separated by only 70 million miles. That's 23 million miles
closer than our Earth is to our Sun. And things got even stranger
a few years later when 2 more stars were discovered to be part
of the Capella system, 2 tiny red dwarf stars a trillion miles
away from Capella. So when we look at golden yellow Capella we
are actually seeing 2 giant yellow stars orbiting each other plus
2 red dwarf stars orbiting each other. And if you'd like to make
a scale model astronomer Robert Burnham, Jr. says that the 2 giant
yellow stars would be 2 balls 13 and 7 inches in diameter 10 feet
apart and the 2 red dwarfs would be 2 balls only 3/4 of an inch
in diameter 420 feet apart from each other but 21 miles away from
the yellow giants. Wow! So go outside any night this April just
after dark, shoot an arrow through the rim stars of the Big Dipper's
cup and you'll land right on the strange and marvelous quadruple
star system which we see as a single star, golden yellow Capella,
the goat star. Which once again proves that when it comes to star
gazing what you see ain't necessarily so. I'm Jack Horkheimer,
Keep Looking Up!
How did you like this episode?
Please give us your comments. (Click
Here)
Horkheimer: Look north any April evening just
after dark, find the Big Dipper and shoot an imaginary arrow through
the 2 stars that mark the rim of the cup and you'll land on one
of the strangest stars in the heavens, yellow-gold Capella, the
brightest star of Auriga the Charioteer and the 6th brightest
star we can see. Through Earth's best telescopes it looks like
a single bright star but 104 years ago an instrument called a
spectroscope revealed that Capella is actually 4 stars 2 giant
stars many times larger than our Sun and closer to each other
than our Earth is to the Sun, and 2 tiny red dwarf stars a trillion
miles away. Four stars for the price of one! Wow! I'm Jack Horkheimer,
Keep Looking Up!
How did you like this episode?
Please give us your comments. (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
Lorain County JVS NASA CORE / 15181 Route 58 South / 440/775-1400 / FAX 440/775-1460 / nasaco@leeca.org / http://core.nasa.gov
Horkheimer: Greetings, greetings fellow star gazers.
During the first half of April the tiny planet Mercury makes its
best evening appearance of the year and the Moon not only pays
it a visit but also visits the two largest planets Saturn and
Jupiter. Plus a cosmic beehive of stars is parked right along
side the king of the planets. Let me show you. O.K., we've got
our skies set up for Thursday April 3rd 40 minutes after Sunset
facing west and if you have a clear flat horizon you'll see an
exquisite young crescent Moon complete with earthshine just above
the tiny 3,000 mile wide 1st planet out from the Sun, Mercury.
And although Mercury will be very low it will get a little bit
higher each night and reach its highest point above the horizon
on April 16th. So look for it night after night and always just
after it gets dark out because Mercury always sets shortly after
the Sun does.
On Friday Mercury will be a bit higher as will a slightly fatter Moon also with earthshine. And on Saturday the 5th the Moon will be even higher still and parked right along side The Pleiades, the Seven Sisters. On Sunday, the ever growing Moon will be between The Pleiades and the second biggest planet of them all, 75,000 mile wide Saturn. And on Monday the 7th it will be parked right along side it. On the 8th it will be past Saturn and on the 9th, at first quarter, will be just underneath Pollux, one of the two stars who along with his brother Castor are the twins of Gemini. And then on Thursday April 10th a 1 day past first quarter Moon will pe parked right along side the king of the planets, 88,000 mile wide, Jupiter. But parked even closer and right next to Jupiter will be a tiny cluster of stars that has several names. It's officially called Praesepe which means 'The Manger' but it's more popularly known as 'The Beehive Cluster' because through a pair of binoculars or a telescope it looks like a beehive. In fact you'll actually see Jupiter and The Beehive in the same eyepiece through a small telescope at low power.
Now The Beehive has quite a history. It was
well known in ancient China and in 1610 Galileo was the first
to ever look at it through a telescope and he astonished everyone
when he wrote that he counted over 40 stars in this tiny cluster.
But today with even a cheap pair of binoculars you'll be able
to count even more. And in a good telescope you'll see over 200.
Astronomer Stephen James O'Meara gets really enthused about The
Beehive because he says that at least 1/5th of all the stars here
are actually double stars. But what really blows me away is the
size of this cluster because it is a whopping 12 light years in
diameter. And so far away that it takes its light over 500 years
to reach us. So there you have it. Our Moon visits three planets,
Mercury, Saturn and Jupiter which is parked alongside the magnificent
cosmic Beehive. And that's the buzz. I'm Jack Horkheimer, Keep
Looking Up!
How did you like this episode?
Please give us your comments. (Click
Here)
Horkheimer: Jupiter is still at its brightest
for the year and is parked right along side a cosmic beehive.
On the 10th the Moon will be parked along side 88,000 mile wide
Jupiter. But parked even closer to Jupiter is a tiny cluster of
stars called 'The Beehive'. It looks like a fuzz ball to the naked
eye but with binoculars you'll see dozens of stars and in a telescope
over 200. 1/5th of all its stars are double stars. And far from
being tiny, this cluster of suns is a whopping 12 light years
in diameter. And so far away it takes 500 years for its light
to reach us. That's the buzz about The Beehive. I'm Jack Horkheimer,
Keep Looking Up!
How did you like this episode?
Please give us your comments. (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
![[SmilinJack]](jack1sm.jpg)
Return to the [STAR
GAZER Main Page]