Podcaster: Alice Enevoldsen aka Alice’s AstroInfo
Title: What’s Up Tonight! Southern Skies October Edition
Organization: Alice’s AstroInfo
Link : www.alicesastroinfo.com
Heavens-Above Starcharts for anywhere, anytime, not installation required
Stellarium Free planetarium-style program for your computer or tablet
7Timer – Clear sky charts (will it be clear enough for stargazing?). Input your location, then click on “ASTRO” in the pop-up.
Description: Presented as a counterpart to Awesome Astronomy’s Northern Hemisphere monthly forecast, Alice talks about what’s visible from the Southern Hemisphere. Focused at about 33°S, this forecast should work for anywhere between 25°S and 50°S
Bio: Alice Enevoldsen currently volunteers as one of NASA’s Solar System Ambassadors. She has been working in planetariums since 1996, has a B.A. in Astronomy-Geology from Whitman College, and a Masters in Teaching from Seattle University. Her fascination with the stars led her to try her hand at astronomy research in Boston and Walla Walla, where she realized that her calling in life was actually to work in outreach and be a translator for scientists. Now she works hard to share her love of the stars and excitement about astronomy with as many people as possible.
Today’s sponsor: This episode of “365 Days of Astronomy” is sponsored by — no one. We still need sponsors for many days in 2014, so please consider sponsoring a day or two. Just click on the “Donate” button on the lower left side of this webpage, or contact us at signup@365daysofastronomy.org.
Transcript:
Hello, I’m Alice Enevoldsen, coming to you not-so-live from Alice’s AstroInfo with a podcast about what’s up in the November 2014 skies … over the Southern Hemisphere.
How are you today? … yeah. I think all of us in the astronomy & space community are concerned for the Orbital Sciences and Virgin Galactic teams. No one was harmed when the unmanned Orbital Sciences rocket exploded on October 28th. Unfortunately, less than a week later on October 31st, an unrelated test flight by Scaled Composites of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo resulted in the loss of the ship and Mike Alsbury, one of the pilots. The other pilot, Peter Siebold, was injured.
Exploring new frontiers is inherently dangerous, and this increased risk will continue to be part of spaceflight until the day flights become routine. Even then, the danger continues, just as it does for travel in any other type of vehicle.
Let’s get started with some Notable Sky Objects and Events in November.
Top billing this month is clearly the ESA’s Rosetta mission. The lander Philae will be landing on comet 67P on November 12th. LANDING ON A COMET. That is definitely epic. Wow. I’m not sure I ever thought that would ever happen, and I have no idea what it will be like for Philae to land on a comet.
On November 17th, the Leonid Meteor Shower peaks. We’re not expecting this to be one of the more spectacular Leonids, like the shower back in 2001/2002, but it could still be a treat.
Moving on to the “Hey, what’s that?” section:
After sunset you’ll have a chance to see Mars, resting near the teapot-lid of the constellation Sagittarius, as well as several chances to see the International Space Station fly overhead. Check http://spotthestation.nasa.gov for the dates and times near you.
Mars will set, but through the middle of the night you’ll have the bright constellation of Orion, and the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, to keep you company. Sirius is extremely blinky and sparkly when it is on the horizon, and often gets reported as a UFO.
Later still, you’ll see Jupiter rising before the Sun.
Orion, Taurus, Canis Major, Lepus, and Columba join the lineup of Evening Constellations.
Those of you With Remote Telescopes, look for M61 in the constellation Virgo and compare what you see to previous images of that galaxy—you’ll be able to spot a new supernova in one of the spiral arms.
Moving on, a quick overview of the upcoming Moon Phases:
The full moon on November 6th or 7th rises around sunset, and sets around sunrise. The next full moon is December 6.
The last quarter moon is November 14 or 15 (depending on your time zone). For the week around the last quarter moon it is visible in the early morning sky.
The day of the new moon, November 22, you won’t see the Moon at all, but a day before or after you might see a tiny sliver of a crescent Moon as the Sun rises or sets, and a few days outside of that the Moon will be up all day.
The first quarter moon, November 29, is ideal for late afternoon and early evening observation.
Well! Thanks for tuning in: I hope I gave you some things for which to keep your eyes peeled.
For those of you who haven’t listened before I’m here as a foil for Ralph and Paul with Awesome Astronomy and their monthly 365 Days of Astronomy podcast about what’s up in the skies over the Northern Hemisphere. I’ll be basing this podcast around 33°S, so it should be good anywhere from about 25°S to 50°S. This will include major cities in Australia, New Zealand, and southern Africa, as well as the parts of South America south of Paraguay. Those of you living nearer the equator will have to combine both podcasts to figure out what’s most visible in your sky.
I’ll add some of my favorite planning links to the end of the transcript for you as usual. If you have suggestions, things that you’d like me to add to the “What’s up tonight, Southern Skies Edition,” please leave them in the comments!
Once again, I’m Alice Enevoldsen. You can find me online as AlicesAstroInfo on Twitter, Facebook, and www.alicesastroinfo.com.
Bye! See you later!
Useful Links:
Heavens-Above Starcharts for anywhere, anytime, no installation required
Stellarium Free planetarium-style program for your computer or tablet
7Timer – Clear sky charts (will it be clear enough for stargazing?). Input your location, then click on “ASTRO” in the pop-up.
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by Astrosphere New Media. Audio post-production by Richard Drumm. Bandwidth donated by libsyn.com and wizzard media. You may reproduce and distribute this audio for non-commercial purposes. Please consider supporting the podcast with a few dollars (or Euros!). Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org. In the new year the 365 Days of Astronomy project will be something different than before….Until then…goodbye