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 although it's hard for me to believe, this week marks the 25th anniversary of "Star Gazer". In fact we've been on television so long that when we began I had all my own hair. At any rate, for those of you who are interested in seeing a copy of the very first show script written a quarter of a century ago, it's on our web site. Simply log on to www.jackstargazer.com and all of us at "Star Gazer", several of whom have been here all 25 years, would love to hear your comments via e-mail or letter. And now for 2 absolutely wonderful things.
O.K., We've got our skies set up for any night this week, 7 to 8 P.M. Look due south, and just above the horizon you will see an orangeish-reddish light in the constellation Capricorn, 4,000 mile wide Mars, which although 10 times dimmer than it was at its brightest on June 21st, is still the brightest thing in this part of the heavens. Now although it will grow even dimmer as it moves farther away, on August 14 2002 it will reach its dimmest and then will slowly start to brighten as it once again heads back toward Earth and will reach its closest point to Earth on August 27th, 2003.
And now for the big announcement: a few months ago there was a rumor that when Mars is closest to us in 2003 it will be closer and brighter than it's been in 5,000 years. So my staff and I decided to check it out and to make a long story short we relied upon astronomer sleuths Jeff beish and Jim Deyoung. They each ran independent computer programs going back in time to see when Mars was as bright as it will be in 2003. After 18 hours of high speed computing they still hadn't come up with an answer. But a couple of months later they decided to try once again with the result that this week on the 25th anniversary of "Star Gazer" we are announcing for the first time on television that on August 27th, 2003 the planet Mars will be closer to Earth and brighter than it's been at any time since the year 57, 537 B.C. That's over 59,000 years ago. So when I say mark August 27, 2003 on your calendar, I really mean it.
And now , some astronomers think we may be
in for the biggest Leonid meteor storm since 1966 on Saturday
and Sunday November 17th and 18th. In fact, some are predicting
we may see thousands of meteors per hour. Will it happen? We can't
say for sure, but to see it get far away from city lights. Start
watching Saturday night but do most of your viewing from midnight
to dawn Sunday because that's when the night side of Earth will
be turned directly in to the Leonid meteor stream. Spend several
hours outside and continually scan the sky with the naked eye
and who knows? You may see hundreds or thousands of meteors. Check
our web site for more information about this possible Leonid meteor
storm which will appear to come from the constellation Leo. And
remember every time you see a Leonid meteor you are really seeing
a tiny speck of comet debris making its fiery death plunge through
our Earth's atmosphere. Wow! I'm Jack Horkheimer, and after 25
years, still reminding you to Keep Looking Up!
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Horkheimer : This week "Star
Gazer" celebrates its 25th anniversary, plus the annual Leonid
meteor shower may turn in to a meteor storm. To see it get far
away from city lights and start watching late Saturday evening,
November 17th through dawn Sunday the 18th. Continually scan the
sky with the naked eye and if some astronomers are right you may
see hundreds or thousands of meteors per hour. What hour that
will be no one knows. Best bets are midnight to dawn. And remember
every time you see a Leonid meteor you are really seeing a tiny
speck of comet debris plunging to its fiery death through our
earth's atmosphere. I'm Jack Horkheimer, and after 25 years, still
reminding you to 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
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 this year on Thanksgiving eve a waxing moon will meet the red planet Mars and on Thanksgiving night not only will you have turkey on your table, but you'll also have 3 cosmic birds to celebrate the holiday. Let me show you:
O.K., We've got our skies set up for Thanksgiving eve, Wednesday night, November 21st at dusk facing due south where you will see an exquisite one-day-before-first quarter moon hovering just below the red planet Mars. So if you haven't been able to find Mars before, Thanksgiving eve is the night you'll be able to use the moon as a Mars finder. Then if you go out Thanksgiving night just after dark you'll be able to find 3 cosmic birds to add to your turkey on the table. To find them look toward the west for 3 bright stars which if connected by lines trace out what is officially called the Summer Triangle, but which during Thanksgiving week I call the Thanksgiving Poultry Triangle. You see historically these stars have long been associated with cosmic birds. The highest star is Deneb, the bright tail in Cygnus the Swan, so in addition to a Thanksgiving turkey we have a heavenly swan to be thankful for. The star farthest to your left, Altair, is the brightest star in another cosmic bird, Aquila the Eagle and the super bright star closest to the horizon is Vega which most of you will recognize as the brightest star in the constellation Lyra the Harp, which might lead you to ask, "Well what's so bird-like about that?" But strangely Lyra has historically been associated with more birds than either Cygnus or Aquila.
You see, Lyra was not always a harp. Before
it became a harp it was actually a cosmic turtle, but before it
became a turtle, it was, you guessed it, a bird. In fact, ancient
records tell us that Lyra's asocciation with a bird goes back
over 2,000 years. In ancient India Lyra was seen as a heavenly
vulture and the ancient Babylonians identified Lyra with their
great mythical storm bird Urakhga. In ancient Arabia people called
Lyra the swooping eagle of the desert. And even earlier Arabs
identified Lyra as the goose, which in my estimation is a bit
more tasty than the other aforementioned birds for a Thanksgiving
banquet. And Lyra has had other feathery incarnations. At one
time it was seen as a great osprey and at another as a wood falcon.
Anyone care for an osprey or wood falcon drum stick? At any rate
it's only been in the last couple of hundred years that we in
the west have seen Lyra exclusively as a harp. In fact at the
time of the American Revolution Lyra was depicted as an eagle
witha small harp in its beak, although I can't imagine an eagle
plucking out a tune. At any rate, this Thanksgiving after you've
had turkey up to here, go outside just after dark for some birds
of a different feather. And thank heaven you'll never get
them in your leftovers. I'm Jack Horkheimer, Happy Thanksgiving
and Keep Looking Up!
How did you like this episode?
Please give us your comments. (Click
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Horkheimer : Everyone associates turkey with
Thanksgiving, but did you know there are several cosmic birds
visible for the holiday? Look west after sunset for the 3 bright
stars of the Summer Triangle which have all historically been
associated with birds. There's Cygnus the Swan, Aquila the Eagle
and Lyra the Harp. But Lyra has had many feathery incarnations.
In ancient India it was a heavenly vulture; in ancient Babylon
a mythical storm bird. In Arabia it was a swooping desert eagle
and some cultures have seen it as an osprey, a wood falcon, even
a goose. So enjoy your turkey on the table and a whole flock of
cosmic birds in the sky. I'm Jack Horkheimer, 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.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 mark November 26th as the night you'll be able to use the 4th planet Mars to find the elusive 7th planet Uranus. And also mark November 30th as the night when the full moon will pay a close visit to, and then briefly hide the 6th planet Saturn. Let me show you:
O.K., We've got our skies set up for Monday November 26th an hour after sunset facing south where directly above the horizon you will see the bright star Fomalhaut and up to its right and a little bit brighter and shining kind of a reddish orange-gold, the 4,000 mile wide planet Mars which is now 13 times dimmer than it was when it was at its brightest on June 21st. And if you're far away from city lights, less than 1 degree above Mars you may see a very faint bluish-green speck and that speck is the 7th planet out from the sun, 32,000 mile wide Uranus which is always difficult to find unless you've got a much brighter planet near it to help you locate it which is the case Monday the 26th. And I would suggest you use a pair of binoculars.
Now although we could line up 8 Mars side by side across Uranus' middle, the reason Uranus is so faint is because it is so incredibly much farther away than Mars. In fact, on the 26th Mars will be only 115 million miles from Earth, but Uranus will be 1.9 billion miles away. So no wonder it's so incredibly difficult to find if you don't have a bright planet close by for a finder. So use this opportunity to find it before Mars drifts away from it.
Now if you want to see something
really spectacular mark Friday night, November 30th as the night
to watch the full moon and the 6th planet Saturn ride across the
sky all night long together. And at one point in the evening you
will actually see the full moon briefly "occult" Saturn
which means it will 'hide' it for a short time. O.K., we're facing
east an hour after sunset, Friday November 30th where you will
see an exquisite full moon just above the horizon and to its left
a bright star-like object which is in fact 75,000 mile wide Saturn.
At 6 P.M. It will be well up off the horizon just waiting for
the moon to hide it, but the moon will hide it at different times
depending on your location. In Miami the moon will occult Saturn
around 7:15 and it will reappear around 8:20. In New York Saturn
will be occulted from 7:40 to 8:45. In Chicago from 6:55 to 7:30
and in Denver the edge of the moon will occult Saturn for only
17 minutes from 5:55 to 6:12, after which the moon and saturn
will glide together side by side across the heavens all night
long. Binoculars will make this fabulous occultation much easier
to see, and through a small telescope you'll actually see Saturn's
rings slowly disappear as the moon passes in front of the
6th planet. Wow! The moon and Saturn all night long plus Uranus
and Mars. I'm Jack Horkheimer, Keep Looking Up!
How did you like this episode?
Please give us your comments. (Click
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Horkheimer : On November 26th you'll be able
to use Mars to find Uranus and on the 30th the moon will occult
Saturn. On the 26th look south for 4,000 mile wide Mars and less
than 1 degree above it for a very faint bluish - green speck which
is 32,000 mile wide Uranus. Use binoculars! Now although Uranus
is 8 times as wide as Mars, the reason it's so faint is because
it's 1.9 billion miles away. On November 30th look east for the
moon and beside it 75,000 mile wide Saturn. In early evening the
moon will occult, that is hide, Saturn for a brief period of time
after which they will glide together across the sky all night
long. 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 mark Monday December 3rd on your calendar because not only will the moon pay a very close visit to Jupiter on the 3rd, but Saturn will also be at opposition and at its best viewing since the 70's. O.K., we've got our skies set up for Monday morning, December the 3rd an hour before sunrise, facing west where high above the horizon you will see a dazzling three days past full moon and less than 2 degrees away from it, the brilliant king of the planets, 88,000 mile Jupiter. So remind your kids that when they go to school on Monday to look for our nearest neighbor in space which will be only 233,000 miles away and the biggest of all the planets, Jupiter, which will be 400 million miles beyond. Don't miss this!
But if you do, simply wait until an hour after sunset Monday night and face east where the brightest starlike object in the sky will be the 75,000 mile wide ringed planet Saturn which will be almost twice as far away as Jupiter, 750 million miles beyond. But what makes December 3rd really special for Saturn is that on the 3rd it is officially at opposition which simply means that it is directly opposite the sun as seen from Earth; which means that it will be in the sky all the hours that the sun is not, and visible from sunset to sunrise. Indeed, on the night of opposition and the first 2 weeks of December you will be able to see Saturn rise every night at sunset, slowly climb hour after hour, higher in the heavens until at midnight it will reach its highest point in the south and then will continue to slowly glide downward toward the western horizon where it will set at sunrise.
Now because Saturn is at opposition, it also means that it is at its closest and brightest for the entire year. And this opposition is very special because Saturn is now positioned in such a way that its rings are more open than usual so they reflect more sunlight than usual and thus make Saturn extremely bright and unusually beautiful through a small telescope. In fact even a small department store telescope at a bout 50 to 100 power will show you Saturn's rings so well that it will knock your socks off.
Plus, if you wait for couple of hours after
sunset you will see Jupiter and the moon pop up over the horizon.
And you will notice that the moon will be much farther from Jupiter
than it was at sunrise. In fact, whereas the moon was less than
2 degrees away from Jupiter on Monday morning, it will be 10 degrees
away by Monday night. Plus Jupiter itself will be at opposition
in less than a month on New Year's Eve. Wow! If you've ever thought
about getting a small telescope, now is the time because Jupiter
and Saturn will be at their best for viewing all through December,
January and February. What a great time for planet viewing! I'm
Jack Horkheimer, Keep Looking Up!
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Please give us your comments. (Click
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Horkheimer : Mark December 3rd on your calendar.
Why? Well, just before sunrise look west and you'll see a wonderful
3 days past full moon, and less than 2 degrees away from it the
king of the planets, 88,000 mile wide Jupiter. The moon will be
233,000 miles away, but Jupiter will be 400 million miles beyond.
After dark face east for 75,000 mile wide Saturn which will be
twice as far away as Jupiter, 750 million miles beyond, and officially
at opposition which means that it is opposite the sun and at its
closest and brightest. In fact, Saturn is now at its best viewing
since the 70's. So if you've ever thought about getting a telescope
now's the time. 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
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