I hope we will see your tweens and teens for the Astronomy 101 session at the San Benito Public Library on Tuesday. We begin promptly at 5 p.m. and end at 6 p.m. so you can still enjoy a family dinner. The activities are appropriate for students in 3rd to 8th grades and are designed to provide active experiences and build personal knowledge of astronomy. This session will relate to the reason for the seasons and motions of the planets in our solar system.
I hope you have been making time to keep an eye on Venus and the Moon; the constant changing of positions between the two make lovely pairings all month, creating wonderful opportunities for beautiful photographs. The internet is filled with stunning images that folks have shared over the years. With sunset later, be sure to go out before 10 o’clock to see Venus and within an hour after sunset to glimpse Mercury.
Mars is in the constellation Gemini and slowly moving westward along the ecliptic following the motion of the Sun, Moon, and other planets. Mars is the most-visited-by-spacecraft planet in the solar system. The space-faring nations have launched 48 missions to Mars; only half of them have been successful. The current excitement of the Artemis Moon/Mars mission will be a cliff-hanger for the next several years and great sums of money will be spent attempting to make the mission successful. Students in middle school today may one day be working on this mission.
Mercury will be below Venus and very close to the western horizon just after sunset.
This quadrant of the sky harbors Perseus, the Pleiades star cluster, Taurus the Bull, Orion the Hunter, and the string of stars that mark Eridanus, the River.
If the sky is clear and you are not dealing with cataracts in your eyes, you may enjoy exploring the area for what you can see. As each night places Venus in a different relationship to the Moon and the constellations, you may be intrigued enough to start astrophotography as a new interest. There are many sites on the internet/Facebook for interesting photographs of the night sky.
A skywatcher facing a clear eastern skyline can expect to see Ophiuchus, the Physician, rising as Earth rotates on its axis from west to east. Above this massive constellation is Serpens Caput, one-half of the serpent Ophiuchus cut in half.
To the left is Hercules, a keystone shape of stars with rays of stars coming off each corner so that it resembles another Orion but much less bright. The kite shape of Boötes, the Guardian of the Bear, is near the zenith. Its highlight star, Arcturus, is at the base of the kite and is a red giant.
Tucked in between the Serpent Caput and Boötes is the circlet of stars known as Corona Borealis. Ptolemy listed this as one of the 88 constellations in the second century. The Greeks knew this constellation as the crown of Ariadne, who helped Theseus defeat the Minotaur and find his way out of the labyrinth. The Irish legends call this group of stars a castle named Caer Arianrhod. Myths of ancient cultures are always intriguing. Perhaps this will inspire you to do some searching for other star myths.
Until next week, KLU.
