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 I told
you last week, on Thursday night May 15th North America will experience
the first of two total lunar eclipses of 2003. And this week we're
going to tell you why we're calling it "The Night of the
Scorpion Moon" and give you even more exciting details.
O.K., we've got our skies set up for Thursday night May 15th, 10 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time facing southeast where you will see a brilliant white full Moon just above the head of Scorpius the Scorpion and smack dab between his claws. But the important thing to remember is this; you must convert all eclipse times to your local time which means that the Moon will be much higher in the sky for people in the Eastern Time zone than for those farther west. In fact, much of Scorpius will be below the horizon for many people when the eclipse begins.
Now as I explained a total lunar eclipse occurs whenever a full Moon glides directly through our Earth's shadow. And when the Moon is completely immersed within this shadow, we say it is totally eclipsed, and it will always turn some unpredictable weird strange reddish-orange copper color because our Earth's shadow is always filled with a faint reddish-orange copper colored light. Now the Moon will start to enter the Earth's dark shadow called the umbra at 10:03 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time or your local equivalent. Then as the Moon slowly glides deeper into our Earth's shadow, the umbra, you'll actually see the curvature of our Earth's shadow, which the ancient Greek, Aristotle said was a proof that our Earth was a sphere over 2,000 years ago.
As the eclipse progresses the Moon will gradually darken and change color and from 11:14 p.m. to 12:07 a.m. the Moon will be completely within the Earth's shadow, totally eclipsed for 53 minutes, after which the whole process will slowly reverse. Things to watch for are the curvature of our Earth's shadow and the unpredictable color the Moon will gradually turn during totality. During the last eclipse, many astronomers remarked that during totality the Moon looked the same reddish-orange color as Mars and as big as Mars would look if Mars were only half a million miles away.
Now as the eclipse progresses you will notice
that The Scorpion gradually rises higher. And because the light
of the full Moon will be so incredibly dimmed down all the stars
of The Scorpion will appear to slowly brighten as totality approaches.
And during totality you will be able to see with no trouble the
red star that marks the heart of the scorpion, Antares, a star
so huge that we could fit 14 quadrillion of our Moons inside it.
Wow! In fact, at totality the Moon may turn the same reddish-orange
color as Antares. Go to our website at jackstargazer.com for more
eclipse info and your exact eclipse times. And for heavens sake
don't miss "The Night Of The Scorpion Moon". I'm Jack
Horkheimer, Keep Looking Up!
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Horkheimer:On Thursday May 15th North America
will experience a total lunar eclipse. We're calling it "The
Night Of The Scorpion Moon" because the Moon will be right
between the claws of Scorpius. At 10:03 p.m. Eastern Daylight
Time or your equivalent the Moon will slowly glide into our Earth's
shadow and as Aristotle noted 2,000 years ago, you will see visual
proof that our Earth is a sphere as Earth's curved shadow slowly
passes over the Moon. During the eclipse the Moon will gradually
darken and turn an unpredictable reddish-orange copper color.
And as the sky darkens the stars of Scorpius will brighten and
its red heart star Antares may match the color of the eclipsed
Moon. Go to our website for more. 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
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 once again it's time to say farewell to winter's favorite
constellation Orion the Hunter. And it's a really sad farewell
this year because he's taking the loveliest planet of them all,
Saturn with him. Despair not however because as we've promised,
the planet which will make its best appearance in almost 60,000
years is already so bright and colorful that it'll grab your pre-dawn
attention and on the 21st and 22nd will be visited by our closest
neighbor the Moon in a sky show you won't want to miss. Let me
show you.
O.K., we've got our skies set up for this week during early evening twilight facing west where smack dab on the horizon you'll see most of the stars of winter's favorite fellow, Orion the Hunter. One arm carries a shield and the other a club. And just at the tip of this club you'll see the planet, which this year is making its best appearance in the half century dating from 1974 to 2030, the most beautiful planet in the solar system, 75,000 mile wide ringed Saturn. See it now because night after night it will move closer to the horizon and by the end of May will disappear from evening skies and won't reappear until early August. So get out your telescope now or find a friend who has one. And console yourself with the thought that even though Saturn will be gone in two weeks, there is another spectacular early evening planet just begging to be seen right above Saturn.
To find it look first for the two brightest stars of Gemini, Castor and Pollux. Then above them, the brightest object in pre-midnight skies, the old planet king 88,000 mile wide Jupiter which always gives us a great sky show because through even the smallest telescope and even a pair of binoculars we can watch its four largest moons continually change place as they orbit Jupiter. And once again I'd like to remind you that even though we call Jupiter the king of the planets because it has the largest diameter, nevertheless if we count Saturn's rings, Saturn is actually twice as wide as Jupiter. So see them both now.
And for you early birds, if you go out next
Wednesday the 21st about 5 a.m. and look southeast you'll see
an exquisite 21 day old Moon just to the right of a brilliant
reddish orange object, 4,000 mile wide Mars which is now 6 times
brighter than it was on January 1st and which you can actually
watch brighten a little bit more every single morning. On Thursday
the 22nd you'll see a 22 day old Moon just past Mars in another
exquisite pairing. A 21 day old Moon on the 21st and a 22 day
old Moon on the 22nd!. So there you have it, the Moon and Mars
get ready to take center stage as Saturn leaves it and Jupiter
hangs around in early evening to further entice all planet lovers.
For more planet info visit our website at jackstargazer.com and
Keep Looking Up!
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Horkheimer: It's time
to say farewell to Saturn and hello to Mars. Look west in twilight
for Orion and at the tip of his club you'll see 75,000 mile wide
Saturn which is still at its best viewing in 30 years. But see
it now because by the end of May it will disappear. Despair not
however, because around 5 a.m. on the 21st, a 21 day old Moon
will pair with 4,000 mile wide Mars which is now 6 times brighter
than it was January 1st and getting brighter every morning. And
on the 22nd a 22 day old Moon will pair yet again on the other
side of Mars. Mars in the morning replaces Saturn at night. Go
to jackstargazer.com for more planet info and 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 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 spring completely slips away I'd like you to all go
out and take a look sometime the next couple of weeks at the most
famous constellation of spring which for thousands of years has
almost universally been associated with royalty and regal majesty.
I'm talking of course about Leo the Lion. Let me show you.
O.K., we've got our skies set up for any clear night just after sunset, late May, early June facing west where approximately half way up from the horizon to the zenith you will see the stars which make up Leo the Lion. Since he is getting ready to leave spring skies he is headed face down toward the horizon. And is frequently depicted like a sphinx reclining with his two paws out in front of him. A backward question mark or sickle-shaped group of stars marks his head, mane and forepaws and Leo's brightest star, Regulus, which means the "Little King" marks his heart, although sometimes Regulus is also called Cor Leonis which is Latin for the lion's heart. In ancient Greece it was called the star of the king and the Roman Pliny called it the royal one. And in ancient Mesopotamia it represented Amil-Gal-Ur a legendary king of the celestial sphere who ruled before the Great Flood.
But what our ancestors couldn't know about this royal heart of the king of the beasts is that it is a great star two times the size of our million mile wide Sun. And so incredibly far away that it takes its light 77 years to reach us. And it is so much hotter than our Sun that it is 140 times brighter. How's that for royal grandeur? The hindquarters of sphinx-like Leo are marked by three stars making a perfect right triangle. And the end star, which marks Leo's tail, is appropriately named Denebola, which means the lion's tail. It is the second brightest star of Leo and it too is a great star, one and a half times the size of our own Sun. It is 14 times brighter but is twice as close to us as Regulus, as Denebola's light takes only 36 years to reach us.
So there you have it one of the most ancient
constellations in the night sky always associated with royalty
and as regal looking as the sphinx itself. Indeed as important
as the earthly sphinx was to the ancient Egyptians this cosmic
sphinx was even more important to them and was actually worshipped
because the annual rise of the Nile River occurred every year
when the Sun moved into Leo. So get thee outside to see this ancient
wonder and think to yourself how many hundreds of generations
have gazed at this magnificent constellation over the millennia.
And if you'd like free Meade stargazing software complete with
star charts write : Free 'Star Gazer' Software, Meade Instruments
6001 Oak Canyon, Irvine, California 92618. Include $1.00 for postage
and handling. Or go to our website at jackstargazer.com. And whatever
you do, remember, Keep Looking Up!
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Horkheimer: Have you ever seen the royal sphinx
of the heavens? Look west after sunset and you'll see Leo the
Lion who is frequently depicted as a sphinx. A backward question
mark of stars marks his front and his brightest star Regulus,
which is Latin for "Little King" marks his heart. But
little it's not. It is 2 times the size of our sun and 140 times
brighter. And it takes 77 years for its light to reach us. A starry
triangle marks Leo's rear and his tail star Denebola literally
means "The Lion's Tail". It is 1 1/2 times our sun's
size, 14 times brighter and its light takes a mere 36 years to
reach us. I'll bet the Egyptian sphinx is starry eyed with envy.
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 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. Next week you'll be able to watch as the queen of the night sky, our nearest neighbor, the Moon slowly waxes and wends her way across the evening sky stopping along the way to visit the Gemini twins and the king of the planets and the king of the beasts. Let me show you.
O.K., we've got our skies set up for Sunday night June 1st just after it gets dark out, facing west where close to the horizon you'll see an exquisite 2 day old waxing Moon which means it will grow slightly bigger and brighter each night complete with earthshine which looks like a grey full Moon nestled inside the bright crescent. Look above the Moon and you'll see the two brightest stars of Gemini, Pollux and Castor. And on the next night Monday June 2nd a slightly fatter 3 day old Moon with earthshine will be approaching the brighter of the twins, Pollux. And on Tuesday night the 3rd an even fatter 4 day old Moon will be right along side it. On the following night Wednesday June 4th a 5 day old Moon will be parked just to the side of the king of the planets, Jupiter. And on Thursday night it will almost be in the jaws of the king of the beasts, Leo the lion and just off to the side of the bright star Regulus, which marks the heart of Leo.
But now let's go back to Sunday and see exactly what kind of cosmic objects the queen of the night is visiting. On June 1st our 2 day old 2,000 mile wide Moon is so close it takes its light just a little more than one second to reach us. So we say the Moon is 1 and 1/3 light seconds away. On Monday as it approaches Gemini's Pollux, it is still about the same distance away and on Tuesday the 3rd also the same distance. And although it will look much bigger and brighter than Pollux, appearances are deceiving because Pollux is so far away it takes 35 years for its light to reach us which means that for it to look as bright as it does it must be much larger than the Moon. In fact orangeish Pollux is a humongous 9 times the diameter of our million mile wide Sun and 32 times brighter. Wow! On Wednesday the Moon visits an object significantly closer although much brighter than Pollux to the naked eye, good old 88,000 mile wide Jupiter which is 44 times the diameter of our Moon but still very close being only 44 light minutes away.
But the best is yet to come because on Thursday the Moon pays a visit to the king of the beasts Leo and parks just to the side of Regulus which is twice as far away as Pollux. So far away that it takes its light 77 years to reach us. And although only 2 times our Sun's diameter, Regulus is so incredibly hot that it is 140 times brighter and thus appears almost the same brightness as Pollux. So our queen of the night the Moon and our king of the planets, Jupiter are only local royalty. Their grandeur is overwhelmed by the true majesty of Gemini's Pollux and Leo's Regulus. For more cosmic info visit our website at jackstargazer.com and Keep Looking Up!
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Horkheimer:Next week you can watch the Moon grow
bigger as it visits several cosmic goodies. On Tuesday, the Moon
will be parked beside Pollux the brighter of the twin stars of
Gemini, a humongous star 9 times the width of our Sun, 32 times
brighter and 35 light years away. On Wednesday the Moon will park
next to super bright Jupiter and on Thursday next to Leo's brightest
star Regulus which is twice as far away as Pollux, 77 light years.
And although only 2 times our Sun's diameter it is a super hot
star, 140 times brighter. And thus appears almost the same brightness
as Pollux, which proves again that when it comes to the cosmos
appearances can be deceiving. Keep Looking Up!
How did you like this episode?
Please give us your comments. (Click
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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
![[SmilinJack]](jack1sm.jpg)
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