Astronomy & Space

Posted by Kelly Whitt

A contractor working on the Orion space capsule, Hamilton Sundstrand, is asking for urine donations. It needs to 30 liters a day, every day, to test one of the support systems. Orion will be stationed at the moon for up to six months, sitting unoccupied and holding on to the "collections" it received on the journey there. The issue is "What do we do with all the pee?" Urine is acidic and full of solids, make it an especially foul problem. It will take a real "whiz" to solve this conundrum.

Anyone willing to donate?

Posted by Kelly Whitt

A brilliant new light is making people take notice after sunset. In the southeast, Jupiter is now far enough above the horizon in the early evening to make its presence known to anyone who looks. It is so bright that it is outshining all other stars and planets at the moment.

Jupiter is at magnitude -2.7. It is currently lying to the upper left of the handle of the teapot in Sagittarius.

If Jupiter caught your eye, you may also notice a star a little more to the south than Jupiter and shining a reddish hue. This is Antares. Antares is a rival of Mars, which sports a similar color. Mars is the name for the Roman God of War, and Ares is this same god in Greek. So Mars may also be called Ares. Therefore, the Anti Ares, or rival of Mars, is the star Antares.

Posted by Kelly Whitt

The conjunction tonight of Mars and Regulus less than a degree apart in the sky looks like the holes from a stapler. Mars is sitting right above Regulus. Just to their upper left is Saturn, brighter than either of the two.

I showed my son the view out his window. He could see Saturn but not Mars or Regulus. He could spot the very bright Arcturus higher above Saturn. I waited a while for his eyes to adjust to the recently darkened room, but still he couldn't see the Mars/Regulus conjunction.

I left him in the dark room and went to get my husband's glasses, which are weak prescriptions. I brought them back and had him put them on. Now he could see the star and planet. He told me it was because he wasn't looking in the right place before. But then I had him slide his glasses down to check if he could see the two without them on. He couldn't.

A long time ago people saw conjunctions and comets as bearers of news, and usually bad news. Even in the modern era it seems this notion still can ring true.

Posted by Kelly Whitt

Sometimes, during lunar eclipses, the moon can turn color. While orange is traditional, purplish to all-black can result when particles, such as volcanic ash, are present in the atmosphere.

California is experiencing an amazing amount of wildfires at the moment, especially in the northern half of the state. The smoky air at times blocks out the sun, and at other times it turns the sun a violet hue.

The tiny smoke particles are scattering red light, the longest wavelengths, and letting through blue/purple light, the shortest wavelengths.

This phenomenon of turning the sun and moon colors due to particles in the atmosphere is not unique to Earth. Mars has unusual sunsets from the dust scattered in its atmosphere around times of dust storms. Salmon sunsets, blue suns: the Red Planet can provide a rainbow of colors.

Posted by Kelly Whitt

It's been a while since Venus has been up and brilliant in the evening sky, rulling the post-sunlight hours in the west. I've missed it. It may not be that interesting through a telescope or binoculars, but it's a wonder with the unaided eye.

Its brilliant light is often mistaken for an airplane. For those who simply glance and do not observe, it can look like a plane coming in with its landing lights on. Only with a few moments observation does one realize that the "plane" is not moving.

For those of us familiar with the night sky, a quick glance out the window after sunset and the sight of a brilliant point of light may temporarily stop us in our tracks, with the word "Venus" flashed across our brain. In fact, just last night I experienced such a moment. I was walking through the house and one of the windows framed a view of a brilliant point of light in the fading daylight. "Venus!" I thought, a thought that just as quickly vanished as I remembered that Venus is not showing itself in the evening sky at the moment. It was, indeed, a plane.

But good news for Venus lovers! The wait is almost over. By August the planet will once again be making a notable appearance in the evening sky, and that is just the start. It will stay above the horizon after sunset longer each month and become a friendly beacon in the winter skies to come.

Posted by Kelly Whitt

Our family brought a new kitten home last week. He is a sweet little boy we picked up at the humane society. Part of the job of having a new kitten is giving it a name.

We wanted to give our cat a name that the whole family could agree on. We automatically ruled out girly sounding names since the cat is a male. We had a number of non-space-related names, but they were the minority on the list. A few of the names we considered were Fergus, Calvin, and Stormy. Fergus because he's furry, Calvin because we already have a stuffed cat named Hobbes, and Stormy because it has been very rough weather as of late.

Our list of astronomical names for the cat was much longer. We had some names of general items such as Eclipse and Comet. Then there were choices among solar system objects such as Neptune and Deimos. There are a number of great star names to consider, such as Sirius, Pollux, Betelgeuse, and Mizar. Zubenelgenubi is just fun to say but too big of a name for a kitten. Algol has a great meaning in Arabic: The Ghoul. But our cat is good natured. And Nunki is just a word that fit a cute little critter. I really liked the names Zodiac and Draco, but unfortunately they'd already been given negative associations through a serial killer and a troublemaker in the Harry Potter series.

So what did we end up with? Perseus. He's a hero who defeated the Gorgon, slayed Medusa, and rode on Pegasus to save Andromeda from Cetus. But best of all, it has "purr" right in the name. What more could you want?

Posted by Kelly Whitt

The warm nights of June are not yielding starry skies where I am but thunderstorms. We're experiencing our wettest June ever and it's not even half over. This has made clear skies few and far between.

But I find it hard to complain. Sure, I would like some clear skies, along with a vegetable garden that is not sitting under three inches of water. But I am just fortunate to have a dry basement - or a house, for that matter.

Fortunately for my skygazing opportunities, I enjoy looking up no matter the weather. I have seen some amazing displays of lightning and gorgeous cloud formations. A terrifying shelf cloud rolled across the sky last week. I took an array of photographs of the phenomenon.

But even so, I wouldn't mind seeing the sun ... and the stars.

Posted by Kelly Whitt

I let my son stay up extra late tonight to look at the stars. It was beautifully clear, something he noticed this evening as we were playing in the yard, and he wanted to look at the stars with me tonight. How could I say no?

Technically, his bedtime is 8 pm, but he is usually awake well past 9. He is one of those strange creatures who operates on little sleep. At 9 pm I looked outside and it was still light out. The sun may have set but the sky was not truly dark. We looked for Mercury setting near the sun's remaining glow but it was not to be. It has grown too faint for us to catch anymore. Capella nearby sparkled prettily.

Mars, with its distinct reddish color, was easy to spot. As was bright Saturn and Regulus above. We tried binoculars on Mars in the not-quite-dark sky but I was unable to see the Beehive. So I decided to drag my telescope out. Then the cluster easily popped into view next to the little orange orb. We gazed at this scene for about 10 seconds before Saturn pulled our attention away.

Saturn steals just about any stargazing scene. Through a telescope, even a small one (like mine), it is a beautiful sight. And this was confirmed by my son's words as he first looked at it and whispered, "It's a beauty."

Saturn looks like it's practically standing on end at the moment, with the rings looking thin but still clearly seen. Titan was just beyond them at the bottom of our view. If you already have a telescope, it's a free show, appearing nightly.

Posted by Kelly Whitt

A new show on CBS this season is called The Big Bang Theory. It involves a group of young men who work in physics and other related areas. (Although please don't call Sheldon a rocket scientist.) The show is hit and miss. The main character, Leonard, is frequently outshined by his friends.

I can appreciate The Big Bang Theory for the small things, including the picture of a galaxy used as artwork on one of the walls of their apartment. It also has a small sequence at the beginning showing a computerized vision of the universe and solar system. Unfortunately, the theme song sings that "over 14 million years ago expansion started...". Not to split hairs or anything, but the Big Bang occured about 14 BILLION years ago, not million. I realize that this song, sung by one of my favorite groups, The Barenaked Ladies, has "billion" in the written version of the lyrics, but in the song it definitely sounds like "million". Oops.

On a recent episode, the subject of birthdays and astrology came up. The attractive but of average-intelligence neighbor girl is given a lecture by Sheldon on how astrology is fiction, not fact. The girl's response is, "Typical Taurus". This was funny to me, because according to the books, I, too, am a Taurus. I'm not sure if the Taurus trait she was referring to was that of a skeptic or of someone who refutes other's fancies with fact, but either way I'll admit to embodying those traits.

Posted by Kelly Whitt

Now that the weather is not so cold at night I am more apt to spend some time outdoors stargazing. Tonight my son joined me. He just finished a unit on astronomy in school, and it has resparked his interest in the subject. I couldn't be happier!

Tonight we were able to see Mercury before it set. Because it follows the sun's track, it is low in the sky in the last place to get dark. Fortunately you can see it before it gets completely dark and disappears below the horizon. To the upper right we caught the star Capella in Mercury.

Tonight Mars, Pollux, and Castor are lined up from left to right. We saw them and Betelgeuse below in Orion plus Procyon in Canis Minor and our brightest star, Sirius, in Canis Major. Overhead and toward the south we saw yellowish-white Saturn appear next to Regulus before the rest of the stars of Leo filled in. Straight up was the Big Dipper, and then we ventured into our backyard to look east, where the handle of the Big Dipper arced to bright and reddish Arcturus in Bootes and then we sped on down to Spica in Virgo.

The last item we saw was Vega rising in the northeast before I had to hustle him up to bed. And it turned out that Vega was the most exciting thing to him. "I saw one of the stars in the Summer Triangle!" he exclaimed. Which, of course, means that summer is on its way, with more warm days to play outside, more warm nights to stargaze, and best of all for my son, no more school. He couldn't be happier.