Transcript: January Week 3

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

RACHEL
..Rachel..

KRIS
..And Kris

PAUL
Venus is once again the evening star.

RACHEL
At 6:30 PM on the 20th look for Venus 4 degrees above the horizon.

KRIS
The 45 hour young moon will be located to the upper left of Venus and only 3 degrees away.

RACHEL
You’ll need a pair of binoculars and a flat west-southwest horizon to see the moon and Venus.

KRIS
Venus should be the easier object to find. So let Venus guide you to the thin crescent moon.

RACHEL
Very few people have ever seen the moon less than two days old. So if you can find it, you’ll have something to be proud of.

PAUL
English mathematician John Couch Adams was born 215 years ago on the 21st.

KRIS
John Couch Adams? Who is he?

RACHEL
Adams predicted the position of the first planet X.

KRIS
Wasn’t that Neptune?

RACHEL
That’s right. After the discovery of Uranus by William Hershel, astronomers began to notice that the planet wasn’t located exactly where it was suppose to be.

PAUL
So either Newton’s laws failed at large distances from the sun or an unseen planet was tugging on Uranus.

KRIS
Adams assumed it was an undiscovered planet rather than a limitation to Newton’s laws of gravity or motion.

RACHEL
Adams assumed planet X was located twice as far from the sun as Uranus.

KRIS
That’s because the Titus-Bode Law predicted a planet should be located at that distance.

RACHEL
Adams then calculated the location where planet X would have to be to create the observed variations in the orbit of Uranus.

KRIS
Unfortunately Adams couldn’t convince English astronomers to look for his planet.

RACHEL
At the same time, French mathematicians and astronomers were also making calculations on the location of planet X.

PAUL
And unlike the English, Le Verrier, a French astronomer, did go looking for planet X.

KRIS
Le Verrier and his assistant used the latest star charts and found the new planet in less than an hour.

RACHEL
But it turns out they were not the first to find Neptune.

KRIS
That’s right. In one of Galileo’s notes he marked the location of a star that was near the planet Jupiter. It turns out that the star was actually Neptune.

RACHEL
For more astronomy information, check out the Idaho Skies webpage

KRIS
You’ll find information and links to all of Idaho’s space and astronomy resources.

PAUL
Like observatories..

RACHEL
..Planetariums..

KRIS
..and astronomy clubs

RACHEL
The website is at idahoskies dot org.

PAUL
That’s Idaho Skies for the third week of January. Join us next week to hear about the lunar terminator and the Ranger spacecraft. For Idaho Skies this is Paul…

KRIS
..Kris..

RACHEL
.. and Rachel.