Podcaster: Alice Enevoldsen aka Alice’s AstroInfo
Title: What’s Up Tonight! Southern Skies January 2016 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.
Monthly Sky Guides from skymaps.com
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 2015, 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 January 2016 skies … over the Southern Hemisphere.
How are you today?… Happy New Year!
Top News and Sky Objects this Month:
Comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina) is bright enough to pick out with a Telescope or Binoculars, unless you have very clear and dark skies. You’ll be looking in the northeast just before the Sun rises. It’ll be moving between the constellations of Ursa Major and Boötes throughout the month, and look like a fuzzed-out star.
This time of year, Orion is one of my favorite targets, because the color difference in the stars is noticeable with only a little practice. The two brightest stars, Rigel and Betelgeuse, are on opposite corners of Orion. Gazing at these stars on a clear night, you’ll notice that Betelgeuse is a little warmer of a color, rusty/gold. Rigel is more of a stark white, or a tinge of blue.
For “Hey What’s That?” we have the bright constellation of Orion throughout the middle of the night, and the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius.
When Orion reaches the middle of the sky, Jupiter will rise in the East as one of the brightest objects tonight.
When Venus and Saturn rise in the East, about an hour before it starts to get light, that’s also your chance to look for the comet, but it’s a tough target.
Corvus, Crater, Sextans, and Leo join the lineup of Evening Constellations.
Let’s cover the Moon Phases, dates adjusted for Sydney, Australia.
The first quarter moon, January 17th, is ideal for late afternoon and early evening observation.
The full moon will be January 24th. It rises around sunset, and sets around sunrise.
The last quarter moon on February 1st, will be visible in the early morning sky.
The day of the new moon will be February 9th, and on that day 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.
You can download a nice Southern Hemisphere starmap from Skymaps.com.
Those of you with Telescopes, I recommend all those planets we’ve got in the morning sky, and trying your luck at the comet.
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, International Year of Light podcast about what’s up in the skies over the Northern Hemisphere.
This podcast is based at 33°S: times and dates are given for Sydney, Australia. Most information will be good anywhere from about 25°S to 50°S, though you may have to adjust the time zone. This will include major cities in Australia, New Zealand, countries in Africa south of Mozambique and Namibia, as well as the parts of South America south of Paraguay.
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,” you can e-mail me from my website!
Once again, I’m Alice Enevoldsen. You can find me online as AlicesAstroInfo on Twitter, Facebook, and www.alicesastroinfo.com.
Bye! See you later!
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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