Transcript: 11 - 17 April

PAULWelcome to Idaho Skies on Radio Boise. This is the second week of April.
We’re your hosts, Paul..

RACHEL..Rachel..

KRIS..And Kris

PAULWe have two space anniversaries and a full moon this week.

RACHELThe 12th is the anniversary of humanity’s first, brief step into the
vastness of space with the launch of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

KRISYuri’s spacecraft was launched from a secret Soviet space port on April
12th 1961. However, his launch was not announced until 25 minutes later,
when the Soviets could verify he was actually orbiting the earth.

PAULHis Vostok 1 spacecraft made a single orbit around the earth before firing
its retro rocket and returning to earth.

KRISSince Vostok’s recovery parachute wasn’t very large, Yuri ejected from his
spacecraft before it landed.

RACHELThere were a total of six Vostok flights, and one of them carried the
first woman into space. Another 20 years passed before the second woman
traveled into space.

KRISYuri never flew into space again. This hero of the Soviet Union died
March 1968 in a jet crash while training for his second flight.

PAULThe world honors Gagarin’s accomplishment on the 12th with a celebration
called Yuri's Night.

RACHELYou can find more information about Yuri’s Night at its website, www.yurisnight.net

PAULCan you believe it, the Space Shuttle is 25 years old!

KRISOn April 12th, 1981, the first Space Shuttle was launched into space.

RACHELOnboard the Columbia were astronauts John Young and Bob Crippen.

KRISThis was the first launch for Crippen but the fourth for Young.

RACHELWhile the Space Shuttle will never be as productive as promised, it has
carried important payloads like the Hubble Space Telescope and the Galileo
spacecraft.

PAULThe moon is full at noon on the 13TH. The full moon of April is often
called the Grass or Egg Moon.

KRISTonight if you look at the full moon with your binoculars, your eyes will
be overwhelmed by bright moon light.

PAULBut remember, moonlight is just reflected sunlight.

RACHELAnd although it appears very bright, the moon is very dark. Only 7% of
the sunlight shining on it is reflected from the surface.

KRISThat makes its one of the poorest reflectors in the solar system and as
dark as asphalt.

RACHELThe moon appears bright only because it’s relatively large in our sky and
very close. If instead of the moon, a brighter Saturnian satellite like
Enceladus orbited earth, we’d be blinded looking at the moon.

PAULOn the night of the 17TH, Mars passes less than 1 degree from the star
cluster, M-35.

RACHELM-35 is a star cluster in the constellation Gemini. It’s a nice star
cluster for your binoculars.

KRISMars will be the pale orange star one-third of the way above the western
horizon.

RACHELPut your binoculars on Mars and you’ll find M-35 just to the lower left of
Mars. Both will easily fit within the field of view of your binoculars.

KRISYou’ll need dark skies to see M-35 well, so go to a city park to look for
this star cluster.

PAULThat’s Idaho Skies for the second week of April. Join us next week when
we’ll tell you when to look for April’s meteor shower. For Idaho Skies
this is Paul.

KRIS..Kris..

RACHEL.. and Rachel.