Transcript: 30 May - 5 June

PAUL
Welcome to Idaho Skies on Radio Boise. This is the last week of May. We’re your hosts, Paul..

RACHEL
..Rachel..

KRIS
..And Kris

PAUL
Last week Idaho Skies told you about a Soviet spacecraft sent to Mars.

RACHEL
Since Mars and earth line up roughly every 26 months, it takes less fuel and time to send a spacecraft to Mars every two years.

KRIS
So it wasn’t surprising for the Soviets and Americans to launch spacecraft to the planet at nearly the same time.

RACHEL
And so thirty-five years ago on the 30th, or two days after the Soviet launch of Mars 3, the United States launched the Mariner 9 spacecraft to Mars.

PAUL
Mariner 9 would become the first American spacecraft placed into orbit around Mars.

KRIS
Back in 1971 the reliability of our spacecraft wasn’t very high. So as a precaution, two spacecraft, Mariner 8 and Mariner 9, were launched 22 days apart.

RACHEL
And it’s a good thing too. Mariner 8 was destroyed when the second stage of its Atlas-Centaur booster went out of control.

KRIS
We’re also lucky that Mariner 9 was an orbiter, because if it had been a flyby spacecraft, the mission would have failed.

RACHEL
That’s because a large dust storm covered the entire planet at the time Mariner 9 arrived. So the spacecraft waited in orbit until the storm subsided.

KRIS
One of the first features to poke its nose out of the dust was the solar system’s largest volcano, Olympus Mons.

RACHEL
Early astronomers saw this volcano just as a marking on the planet’s surface and named it Nix Olympia, or the Snows of Olympus.

KRIS
Later Mariner 9 discovered the solar system’s largest canyon, Valles Marineris, or the Valley of the Mariners.

PAUL
You can celebrate another American space accomplishment on the 30th.

RACHEL
Forty years ago on the 30th the United States launched Surveyor 1.

KRIS
In the mid 1960s the moon’s surface wasn’t well understood. And this was at a time that America was planning to land astronauts in just a few years.

PAUL
So the Jet Propulsion Lab created the Surveyor program.

RACHEL
One of the risks of landing on the moon was the possible existence of moon dust.

KRIS
Physicist Thomas Gold hypothesized that meteor impacts on the moon had created a thick blanket of fine dust.

RACHEL
If this dust existed, then Apollo astronauts might sink into it when they landed on the moon.

KRIS
Now many scientists didn’t believe Dr. Gold was right about moon dust. But Surveyor was still needed to prove we could safely land on the lunar surface.

PAUL
Forty years and one day later the moon forms an attractive grouping with Saturn and the Beehive star cluster.

RACHEL
On the evening of the 31ST the moon is four degrees from Saturn and the Beehive. All three objects will fit within the field of view of your binoculars.

KRIS
Look for the moon low in the southwest after dark. You’ll find Saturn as the pale yellow star to the moon’s lower left.

PAUL
The Beehive star cluster is positioned between the moon and Saturn, but much closer to Saturn.

RACHEL
From our view point on earth, the light from the moon left one and half seconds ago and the light from Saturn left 80 minutes ago.

KRIS
But the light from the Beehive left 500 years ago, or back in 1506. That’s over 100 years before the invention of the telescope.

RACHEL
So even though these objects look close to each other in the sky, they’re very distant from one another.

PAUL
That’s Idaho Skies for the last week of May. Join us next month to hear about the space and astronomy events for Idaho and beyond. For Idaho Skies this is Paul...

KRIS
..Kris..

RACHEL
.. and Rachel.

Transcript: 23 - 29 May

PAUL
Welcome to Idaho Skies on Radio Boise. This is the fourth week of May. We’re your hosts, Paul..

RACHEL
..Rachel..

KRIS
..And Kris

PAUL
This week is the forty-fifth anniversary of President Kennedy’s moon speech

KRIS
At the time the Soviet Union had put the first satellite, the first animal, and the first human into orbit.

RACHEL
But the United States had only lofted an astronaut on a brief suborbital hop into space.

KRIS
The Kennedy administration believed that while the Soviets were ahead of us, they couldn’t maintain that lead.

RACHEL
So with the help of NASA and his vice president, Kennedy picked a goal that would take money, managerial skill, and a long term commitment.

KRIS
And meet it we did. On July 20th, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human to step on another world.

NEIL ARMSTRONG
That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

PAUL
Speaking of the moon, did you know it’s new on the 26th at 11:30 PM?

RACHEL
The new moon is it’s closest to the sun for the month and so normally it’s not visible for a day or two.

KRIS
However this month, the moon may just be visible in Idaho on the evening of the 27th at around 9:30 PM.

RACHEL
The moon will be 5 degrees, or about the width of four fingers on your outstretched hand, above the west-northwest horizon.

PAUL
So you’re going to need to have a clear and flat horizon to see the moon.

KRIS
And a pair of binoculars too. But be sure to wait until 9:30. That’s after the sun has set and it’s safe to use your binoculars.

RACHEL
If you find the moon it will only be 21 and a half hours old. That’s a pretty young moon, so expect it to be difficult to see.

PAUL
Thirty-five years ago on the 28th, the Soviet Union launched a spacecraft to Mars named Mars 3.

KRIS
The Mars 3 spacecraft consisted of a combined orbiter and lander.

RACHEL
Because the spacecraft didn’t carry enough fuel to put both the lander and orbiter into orbit around Mars, the lander separated shortly before arriving to Mars.

KRIS
This lightened the weight of the orbiter so it could enter an orbit around Mars.

PAUL
This also means the Soviets were unable to delay the landing of Mars 3.

RACHEL
And as a consequence, Mars 3 attempted a landing during a massive dust storm.

KRIS
It must have been really frustrating when the lander only transmitted for 20 seconds before stopping.

RACHEL
That just goes to show how dangerous it is to land on Mars during a dust storm.

PAUL
That’s Idaho Skies for the fourth week of May. Join us next week when we’ll talk about two successful missions of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For Idaho Skies this is Paul...

KRIS
..Kris..

RACHEL
.. and Rachel.

Transcript: 16 - 22 May

PAUL
Welcome to Idaho Skies on Radio Boise. This is the third week of May. We’re your hosts, Paul..

RACHEL
..Rachel..

KRIS
..And Kris

PAUL
The moon is at third quarter on the morning of the 20th.

RACHEL
The last quarter moon is covered in more maria than the first quarter moon.

KRIS
Maria is plural for mare, which is the Latin word for sea.

RACHEL
Some early astronomers thought that the dark maria might be bodies of water on the moon.

PAUL
They were seas at one time, but not of water.

KRIS
Three point nine billion years ago they were seas of lava. Or thin sheets of lava to be more correct.

RACHEL
Not long after the moon accreted, its interior was hot.

KRIS
Hot enough in fact to create a molten core.

RACHEL
Heat from the molten core created plumes of buoyant rock that when they reached the lunar surface, erupted as lava from fissures.

KRIS
The fissures were deep cracks in the lunar crust. They were created by the impacts of large meteors and asteroids.

RACHEL
These impactors are given the name of planetismals since they were the building blocks of the planets.

PAUL
The impacts of planetismals occurred during a time called the late heavy bombardment.

KRIS
The Lunar and Planetary Laboratory reported on February 28th about these planetismals. Their source turned out to be the asteroids and not comets.

RACHEL
One lunar sea to look for this week is the moon’s largest.

KRIS
From north to south it’s over one thousand two hundred miles across.

PAUL
That’s almost half the distance across the United States.

RACHEL
This lunar sea is so large that early astronomers named it an ocean rather than a sea.

KRIS
It’s called the Oceanus Procellarum, or the Ocean of Storms. That’s a fitting name for an ocean created by the rain of massive planetismals.

RACHEL
In November 1969, the Ocean of Storms received visitors, the Apollo 12 astronauts. They landed there in their lunar module, Intrepid.

KRIS
Earth’s record of the late heavy bombardment has been erased by weathering. But you can still see its scars on the moon because there’s no weather.

RACHEL
The Ocean of Storms occupies the upper left hand side of the third quarter moon

KRIS
And a small telescope or even binoculars are enough to see this ocean caused by the late heavy bombardment.

PAUL
The moon reaches perigee on the morning of the 22nd.

RACHEL
That’s its closest distance to Earth this month.

KRIS
That’s only a hop of 229 thousand miles this month.

RACHEL
That’s Idaho Skies for the third week of May. Next week we’ll discuss a successful moon speech and an unsuccessful Mars landing. For Idaho Skies this is Rachel...

KRIS
..Kris..

PAUL
.. and Paul.

Transcript: 9 -15 May

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

RACHEL
..Rachel..

KRIS
..And Kris

PAUL
Alan Shepard’s historic flight into space occurred forty-five years ago last week.

KRIS
In 1961, the United States was in a race with the Soviet Union.

RACHEL
Our appearance as a scientific and technological power house was at stake.

PAUL
Unfortunately, the Soviet Union had beat the United States to several space firsts, like…

KRIS
Putting the first satellite into orbit…..

RACHEL
Launching the first animal into space……

KRIS
Sending the first spacecraft to the far side of the moon…..

RACHEL
And putting the first human into orbit.

PAUL
But on May fifth, the United States began catching up to the Soviet Union with the launch of Alan Shepard.

KRIS
Shepard rode the Friendship 7 to an altitude of 116 miles. But he didn’t go into orbit.

RACHEL
That’s because Friendship 7 was launched by a low power Redstone missile.

PAUL
It would take the more powerful Atlas Intercontinental Ballistic Missile to finally put Americans into orbit.

KRIS
Shepard’s flight took 15 minutes and he was weightless for 5 minutes of it.

RACHEL
Friendship 7 reached a maximum speed of 5,000 mph and experienced 11 gees of acceleration.

KRIS
While it wasn’t earth orbit, it was still a pretty good first step.

PAUL
The most dynamic planet you can observe is Jupiter.

RACHEL
If you’re not certain where Jupiter is located, then look for the moon on the evening of the eleventh.

KRIS
The moon and Jupiter will rise together shortly before sunset. But wait until it gets dark before getting your telescope out.

RACHEL
To the naked eye Jupiter looks like a very bright “star” to the moon’s left. But through a telescope the planet appears as a disk accompanied by four star-like moons.

KRIS
Look carefully and you’ll see something odd about Jupiter. The planet’s disk is slightly flattened.

RACHEL
That’s because the planet’s poles are slightly squashed by its rapid rotation.

KRIS
Jupiter rotates so fast that a day on this huge planet is only ten hours long.

RACHEL
This means the planet’s equator spins at a speed of 24 thousand miles per hour.

PAUL
That certainly makes earth’s equatorial speed of one thousand miles per hour look pretty measly.

KRIS
On the eleventh at 9:30 you’ll only see three of Jupiter’s largest moons.

RACHEL
The moon at the lower left is Ganymede. And to the upper right are the moons Europa and Io. But where’s the fourth one, Callisto?

KRIS
Callisto is hidden behind the planet. But if you wait a few hours, it will reappear from behind Jupiter.

PAUL
That’s Idaho Skies for the second week of May. Join us next week when we’ll tell you where to find an ocean on the moon. For Idaho Skies this is Paul.

KRIS
..Kris..

RACHEL
.. and Rachel.

Transcript: 2 - 9 May

PAUL
Welcome to Idaho Skies on Radio Boise. This is the first week of May. We’re your hosts, Paul..

RACHEL
..Rachel..

KRIS
..And Kris


PAUL
Saturn, a meteor shower, and Astronomy Day make this a pretty busy week, astronomically speaking.

RACHEL
First let the moon be your guide to the ringed jewel of the solar system, Saturn.

KRIS
Saturn will be the pale golden-yellow star to the left of the crescent moon on the evening of the third.

RACHEL
The distance between them is about the width of three fingers when your arm is fully extended.

KRIS
You’ll need more than just a pair of binoculars to see Saturn’s disk and rings. So use a telescope with a magnification of at least 25 power.

PAUL
But don’t use your telescope’s highest magnification. A magnification between 25 and 50 power is all that is needed to see the planet’s rings.

RACHEL
If you magnify the image of Saturn too much you’ll see less detail because you’ll also magnify turbulence of the atmosphere.


PAUL
We have a meteor shower on the morning of the fifth.

KRIS
These meteors will appear to originate close to the star Eta Aquarii. So the shower is named the Eta Aquarids.

RACHEL
You’ll find Eta Aquarii low in the eastern horizon on the morning of the fifth.

PAUL
Unfortunately this shower has two strikes against it.

KRIS
The first strike is it’s a weak shower and you may only see ten meteors per hour from it.

RACHEL
Normally there’s an average of seven meteors per hour when there is no shower. So you can see this shower isn’t much better than the average night.

PAUL
The second strike against this meteor shower is that it peaks on a workday morning.

KRIS
And on the morning of the fifth, the moon sets at 3:30 AM. So you’ll only have two hours to watch meteors before twilight begins.

PAUL
Well, doesn’t this shower have even one redeeming feature?

RACHEL
In fact it does. This meteor shower comes from the tail of Comet Halley.

KRIS
So while we won’t see Halley’s Comet until 2061, we can watch dust from Halley’s Comet on the morning of the fifth.


PAUL
What’s the biggest astronomical event happening this week?

KRIS
It’s Astronomy Day on Saturday the sixth.

RACHEL
If you’ve never looked through a telescope, then Astronomy Day is one of your best opportunities.

PAUL
Sounds great, but how can our listeners participate?

KRIS
Weather permitting; the Boise Astronomical Society will set up telescopes for public viewing at the Discovery Center.

RACHEL
The telescopes will have sun safe filters. So you’ll be able to observe sunspots and possibly even solar prominences.

PAUL
I hear our listeners in Twin Falls aren’t left out.

KRIS
That’s right. If you’re visiting Twin Falls, then stop by the CSI Herrett Center. The Magic Valley Astronomical Society will have public viewing and model rovers.

FADE IN MUSIC

PAUL
That’s Idaho Skies for the first week of May. Join us next week when we talk about Alan Shepard and the planet Jupiter.

For Idaho Skies this is Paul.

RACHEL
..Rachel..

KRIS
.. and Kris.