Cheers resounded at the impromptu comet hunting event at the Resaca de la Palma gates a week ago as more than 80 folks took advantage of a decent telescope to view the green Comet C/2022EZTF. This welcome visitor was often hidden by heavy cloud cover but teased the group with a glimpse later in the evening as the atmosphere cleared.
Weather plays such a vital part in star-gazing and makes any viewing opportunity risky. I left the site around 9 p.m. – tired old lady. It was the dedication and enthusiasm of South Texas Astronomical Society folks, Executive Director Victor De Los Santos, board members Debbie Cox, and Lucero Martinez, who stayed throughout the evening to share the eventual successful view. The STARS group has made a vast difference in the availability of astronomy-related events in our area.
This week promises to be like every other winter/spring week weather-wise in our RGV — changeable. During clear nights expect to watch the three brilliant planets, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus, change positions in the sky. In the west, after sunset, Venus will rapidly sink beneath the horizon. As it enters the dust-filled lower atmosphere Venus will be a definite deep red-orange as only the bands of red light will pass through the diffracting dust particles. Jupiter will appear to be more on the ivory side about midway between Mars overhead and Venus sinking below. The glow of these ‘wandering stars’ results from sunlight reflecting off their surface, unlike star light, which is generated by the star itself. Billions of nuclear explosions occur within stars as photons of light leap up and down attempting over eons to burst out as light from the respective star.
Current understanding of star formation is that all stars begin as a nebula, a cloud of gases and dust, light-years across, and floating aimlessly in space. After vast passages of time those coalesce into spheres and the friction of their coming together causes the gas to begin to glow within the nebula and become a protostar. Those continue to collapse and collect more matter and depending on how much matter determines whether the new star is a red dwarf star, a blue giant, or a medium size white star like our sun.
In time, these stars either grow or shrink, depending on their chemical makeup. Some explode as supernovas, others shrink into dense black stars, neutron stars, and some are thought to become the infamous black holes.
The constellation Orion harbors a red super giant star, Betelgeuse and a blue giant, Rigel. Beneath Orion is the group of stars, Canis Major with brilliant Sirius showing off all the colors of the spectrum. Sirius is actually two stars orbiting each other. Sirius A is nearly 1.5 million miles in diameter, while Sirius B is a mere 7,000 miles in diameter. However, Sirius B is 45 thousand degrees F, much hotter than the sun and Sirius A is also hotter than the sun, at 18,000 degrees F.
Dark skies and a decent telescope may reveal Neptune in the west, very low and near Venus. By the 15th the two planets will have changed positions due to the fact that Venus’ orbit is much smaller than Neptune’s — like cars passing one another on an inside lane vs outside lane.
The moon is entering its last quarter now, rising well after midnight and visible during the morning sunrise. It might be interesting to use your arms, if you are not driving, and model the angle between the sun and moon. The constantly changing angle between these two might encourage a stronger understanding of geometry.
Until next week, do let some stars get in your eyes and KLU.
