Date: September 26th, 2012
Title:: Fall Night Sky Observing Highlights
Podcaster: Katie Peterson
Organization: Adler Planetarium
Links: www.adlerplanetarium.org and www.adlerplanetarium.org/podcasts
Description: There’s a whole lot happening in the night sky over the next few months. Larry and Katie of the Adler Planetarium talk about what to look for and how to find it. Of particular note, Jupiter at opposition and two meteor showers!
Bio: The Adler Planetarium – America’s First Planetarium – was founded in 1930 by Chicago business leader Max Adler. The museum is home to three full-size theaters, including the all-digital projection Definiti Space Theater, the Grainger Sky Theater featuring a ultra-high resolution digital planetarium, and the Universe 3D Theater. It is also home to one of the world’s most important antique instrument collections. The Adler is a recognized leader in science education, with a focus on inspiring young people, particularly women and minorities, to pursue careers in science.
Today’s Sponsor: No one. Please consider sponsoring an episode of 365 Days of Astronomy by clicking on the “Donate” button on the lower left.
Transcript:
Katie
Welcome to a special edition of the Adler Planetarium’s monthly podcast, Adler Night and Day. The Adler Night and Day podcast provides listeners with a glimpse of what they can see in the night sky, updates on recent solar weather, and some pretty awesome conversation. For the 365 Days of Astronomy we’ll be bringing you the night sky highlights to be enjoyed in fall. Without further ado, I’m your host Katie and I’d like to welcome Larry Cuipik of the Adler Planetarium. Welcome, Larry.
Larry
Glad to be here!
Katie
Thanks for coming! So today we’re going to be talking about autumn observing events that we don’t want our listeners to miss. Why don’t we go ahead and get started. Can you tell us what we have look forward to in October?
Larry
Well, Katie… it’s kind of interesting that many of these events relate to planets next to the Moon. So, in October there are two nights where Jupiter appears near the Waning Gibbous Moon. And that’s going to be October 4th and 5th. So, look for Jupiter. If you want to know which one of those little dots is Jupiter look on the 4th or the 5th. Then, October 12th, Venus will be appearing near the Waning Crescent Moon low in the East just before sunrise. So, Jupiter was, in the beginning of the month, near the Moon and then Venus is going to be near it during the middle of the month. And those are both actually in the morning sky. So then November comes around and the first two nights of November Jupiter appears again near the Waning Gibbous Moon throughout the night. So, the Gibbous Moon actually, is going to be visible pretty much the entire night so you can follow the Moon as it slightly drifts past Jupiter, moving its own diameter every hour compared to Jupiter, so that’s an interesting thing to watch over that full night. On the 11th of November, Venus is near the waning crescent Moon and that’s low in the ESE just before sunrise. So, Venus is extremely bright but when it’s very low on the horizon, the effect of the Earth atmosphere dims it substantially. So, just look for the waning Crescent Moon and then look around for Venus. You want to be about an hour before sunrise to see Venus there. Now, normally we don’t talk about the Leonid meteor shower in the 17th and 18th November, but this year I’m going to make an exception and say you should look for it cause at this time of year the weather isn’t too bad yet. It’s also a shower that brings back t mind the super shower! The meteor storm that sometimes happens as a result of these Leonid meteors. So, look toward the East toward Leo the Lion. Now, if you want to look toward the lion, the lion is a triangle on the left and a backward question mark. So it’s kind of like some sort of unusual hieroglyphics symbol.
Katie
A neat way to find it if you’re having trouble is to find the Big Dipper and if you imagine poking a hole in the bottom of the bowl the water would drip down to on to Leo. So, it’s a really handy way to find that constellation in the night sky.
Larry
So, it will be low in the East and the thing that’s good about this is that the Moon will be a slim crescent. So what that means is that the Moon has set prior to the time that you should be looking at meteors cause the Moon sets earlier in the evening. You should look late in the evening. As late as possible, actually meteors are always best after midnight and the reason is is because the Earth is turning into the swarm and what that means is that the Earth’s motion, or speed of rotation actually adds to the speed of the particles that are coming to hit it. So, it’s like, if you’re driving, in a rainstorm, it seems like there’s a lot more rain on the windshield. Well, it’s the same idea. If you were stationary you would see the same amount of rain on the windshield but if you’re travelling the same direction, or actually, toward the object, you get more. So that’s an effect of the Earth’s motion.
Katie
Is there a time where you’re more likely to see the fireballs then not?
Larry
Not really, I was in Arizona looking at the Perseid Meteor shower and there was an interesting effect where when it’s low on the horizon you get some meteors traversing the horizon at a low angle. So, what that means is that they may take longer to burn up, you may actually see them for a longer time. So we actually noticed a number of them. It was kind of funny, we were facing the Northeast which is where Perseus is and most of the meteors went to the right, rather than to the left. And the brightest ones were also grazing the horizon on the right. So, early in the shower… So, early in the evening on the 17th and 18th, you can look for the meteors and they’d be along the horizon. So, you never want to use optical aid, you’re just trying to take in as much as possible. That means that trees, and of course, light pollution, moonlight, car lights, etc… they’re going to be in the way. So get as far away from city lights are as dark a place as you can find. And don’t forget if you have a neighborhood you’re in that’s near home, don’t forget to tell your neighbors cause in a group experience it’s better and not only that but there’s safety in numbers!
Katie
Exactly, exactly!
Larry
Okay, so, on November 26th and 27th, Venus and Saturn are approaching each other. What’s going to happen is that they’re going to be very close. They’ll be about a thumbs width away from each other. So imagine putting your thumb, extended to they end of your arm, the way it usually is. Put your hand out and your thumb up , Venus would be on one side of your thumb and Saturn on the other. So that’s a really close distance. It’s actually about two Moon diameters. So, it’s pretty big but it’s not too much compared to these two usually. So look very low into the ESE, just before sunrise and on one of those two mornings, if it’s clear and you’ve got a good horizon I would look about an hour and hour and a half before sunrise and then go all the way to when it’s way to bright to see the stars. So, you might be able to see them still when the sky starts to be brightening and yet you can still, at some intervals between sunrise and the darkest time, you can still see some objects. And Venus will still be very bright, and Saturn will be a bit less bright. And unlike when they’re high in the sky, they both will twinkle because they’re so near the horizon so they actually go through a variation of colors. On the 28th and 29th, Jupiter is near the Full Moon or the nearly Full Moon. So, all night long Jupiter is basically very close to when it’s its closest to Earth and so through a telescope it itself would resemble the Full Moon, in other words, the whole face is illuminated. It’s not as big as a Full Moon, sometimes we hear about Mars being so giant-sized, no. Jupiter and Mars and any planet never gets to be as big the Moon looks to you. But, it’ll be a good sight and it’ll be easy to see but remember the Full Moon is so bright that you have to look closely to see even a bright planet like Jupiter. Now, in December, I mentioned that Jupiter is near the Earth and this is called opposition. So, opposition is like the position the Moon has when it’s full. So, Jupiter will be at opposition on the 3rd of December. So, it rises at sunset, just like the Full Moon would and it remains visible all night! That’s the best time to view it and photograph it. And, of course, what you want to do if you want to photograph Jupiter is to try to use a telephoto lens, put it on a tripod, and don’t take a very long exposure. So, typically with my camera, if I do that, you want an exposure that’s a fraction of a second. So, it surprises people how fast the exposure is, but nowadays there are sensors on CCDs, if you’ve got a pretty good wide angle, uh, sorry, telephoto lens then you’d be able to see Jupiter and maybe one or two of it’s moons through that telescope. Jupiter itself, you won’t see details on it, but seeing the moons there is also kind of fun too! Okay, that’s for several weeks after December 3rd. Now, December 10th, Saturn is in the sky. So, look for Saturn near the Waning Crescent Moon low in the East just before the Sun rises. Okay, so the best shower of the year might not be the Perseids, and so let’s look forward to the December 13th and 14th appearance of the Geminid meteor shower. The Geminid shower is pretty much in the southeast and it crosses the sky very high, so you might be able to see up to 60 meteors per hour and this particular time, the Moon will not interfere, look for the shower, but dress warmly to do so! Again, it’s best after midnight on those two nights.
Katie
And this is good because last year, both the Leonids and the Geminids were completely washed out by moonlight, for the most part.
Larry
Yeah, the Moon can really detract. It’s a really enjoyable time if you’re under a dark sky, because you can walk around without a flashlight. However, if you’re trying to see faint meteors a little bit of moonlight actually detracts quite a bit. Uh, the 21st is first day of winter! That’s when the Sun is lowest in the sky for the year and we have our shortest daytime and longest night.
Katie
Isn’t that roundabout when the world ends too?
Larry
Ha! So, all we have to do is stay up all night and when the 22nd happens then we’re safe, right?! Well, many people may not have heard of that, but that was really a misread of the Mayan calendar. So, the Mayan calendar continues just like our calendars do but the cycle ends on the 21st. So, I’ll see you on the 22nd, right Katie?!
Katie
Yup!
Larry
Now, on Christmas day, on December 25th, Jupiter appears near the Waxing Gibbous Moon so that means it will be visible throughout the night, near the Moon. That’s about all for 2012, Katie.
Katie
Thank you very much then, Larry! We are looking very much forward to, there’s been a lot to observe this past year but there’s still a lot to see, particularly between the Leonids and the Geminids, both are expected to be pretty decent shows this year and thanks for coming by and telling us all about it!
Larry
Keep looking up!
Katie
Excellent! I’d like to thank all the listeners of the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast! To listen to full episodes of the Adler Night and Day podcast you can go to www.adlerplanetarium.org/podcasts
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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