| INFORMATION
FOR THE WEEK OF 7 - 13 JULY 2008
Mars and Saturn continue
their magnificent dance with Regulus, the brightest star in Leo the
Lion this week although both planets are leaving Regulus behind.
Mars is getting closer and closer to Saturn, and on Friday the 11th of
July, Mars and Saturn will be at their closest for the next two years.
To see this marvelous
conjunction, just go outside on Friday night at 7:50 p.m. and measure three
fist-widths above due west. You’ll see two bright stars very close
together and the right one will be the brightest. The left one should
look distinctly red. The right one is the planet Saturn and the left
one is the planet Mars. Friday night marks their closest point of
approach, but they will be worth watching all week in the hour or so after
sunset.
After you’ve watched
Mars and Saturn for a while, turn completely around and face east.
The bright stars of the Summer Triangle will be to your left, but that
won’t be what catches your eye. No, the first thing you’ll notice
is that incredibly bright star to the right of due east. That’s not
a star, that’s our third evening planet, Jupiter.
We talked last month
about the fact that one weekend, the Earth, the Sun and Mercury and Venus
were all in a straight line. Well, Wednesday night, 9 July, we’ll
be in a straight line with Jupiter and the Sun. Of course, Earth
is always in the middle when Jupiter reaches opposition. So, enjoy
your three evening planets all week this week.
Jupiter is visiting
the constellation Sagittarius the Archer this year and is just below
the teapot’s handle. Sagittarius contains the center of the Milky
Way and the whole constellation is awesome through binoculars. Above
Jupiter and Sagittarius, to the south you may spot something interesting,
a giant fishhook hanging in the sky. However, you may be more familiar
with it if I call it Scorpius the Scorpion. But if you’re
looking for it in the sky, don’t look for a scorpion; look for a fishhook.
Scan Scorpius with
binoculars too. If the sky is clear, you may notice one of the stars
in the main body of the hook opposite the barb looks like a comet with
a long tail. That’s Mu Scorpius and it isn’t a comet. The stars
that form Scorpius lie between us and the heart of the Milky Way.
There are enormous dust clouds here that prevent us from ever seeing Galactic
Center. That ‘comet tail’ is just a dense part of the dust.
If you’re having a
little trouble finding the galaxy in the real sky because those pesky water
clouds keep hiding your starry home from you, have I got a deal for you.
It’s public show week in the Planetarium and we are going to take you on
the grandest trip of all; a tour of your galactic home, the Milky Way.
At 6:30 p.m. this Thursday Friday and Saturday, join us as we travel Out
to the Edge. We’ll explore the Sun’s immediate area and then
take a starship ride down the Orion Arm to the edge of the great swirl
of stars we live in. Then at 7:00 p.m., we’ll journey Into the
Core. Along the way, we’ll visit vast star forming regions, dying
stars and eventually fetch up among the mysteries of Galaxy Central and
learn all about magnetic arcs and black holes. The doors open each
night at 6:00 p.m. and Planetarium shows are always free! It’s a
cosmic adventure! Don’t miss it!
Would
you like to be on the Planetarium e-mail list and receive a monthly reminder
of the Planetarium shows and occasional notices of cool things in the sky?
Just send an e-mail to stars@guam.net
requesting that you be added and I'll put you on the list!
Don't forget that you
can hear this information on Guam's public radio station KPRG, 89.3 on
your radio dial. The program is called Tropical Skies and
it airs twice on Monday, at 12:25 and at 6:01 in the evening. Support
your public radio station.
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