Transcript: July Week 4

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

RACHEL
..Rachel..

KRIS
..And Kris

FADE OUT MUSIC

PAUL
Last week marked the 35th anniversary of the launch of Landsat 1 into earth orbit.

KRIS
Landsat was a weather satellite modified to take detailed and informative images of the earth’s surface.

RACHEL
It’s images contained information on earthly resources like the oceans and rivers, forests, minerals, and weather.

KRIS
Landsat 1 could do this because its cameras recorded images in both the visible and infrared portions of the spectrum.

PAUL
Landsat 1 was placed into a nearly polar orbit.

RACHEL
That way most of the earth’s surface passed below its cameras at some time.

KRIS
Before being switched off in 1978, Landsat 1 discovered an island off the eastern coast of Canada.

RACHEL
That was the only island discovered by satellite and its now named Landsat Island in honor of its discoverer.

PAUL
The moon and Antares form a nice pair on the night of the 25th.

KRIS
Antares is the alpha star of Scorpius and it’s 600 light years away.

RACHEL
So the light of Antares you see tonight left the star in 1407.

KRIS
That’s nearly a century before Columbus left for the Americas.

PAUL
Say, what’s that brighter star above Antares?

RACHEL
Why it’s Jupiter, the solar system’s largest planet.

KRIS
Jupiter is only half a billion miles away. So the light you see from Jupiter left only 40 minutes ago.

PAUL
Early on the morning of the 29th the South Delta-Aquarids meteor shower reaches it peak.

RACHEL
Normally we would expect to see around 20 meteors per hour from this shower.

PAUL
But there are two strikes against it this year.

KRIS
First, the shower’s meteors appear low with respect to the horizon.

RACHEL
This means the shower is best seen from the southern United States or better still, south of the equator.

KRIS
That’s not good news for Idaho. So what’s the second strike?

RACHEL
The second strike is that this year the moon is nearly full at the shower’s peak.

KRIS
Oh. So by the time the moon sets, dawn will be beginning.

RACHEL
Therefore the skies will never get dark for this shower.

KRIS
Oh well, there’s always next year.

PAUL
The moon is full on the 29th at 6:48 PM.

RACHEL
The full moon in July is often called the Thunder Moon.

FADE IN MUSIC

RACHEL
That’s Idaho Skies for the last week of July. Join us next month for the space and astronomy news for Idaho and beyond. For Idaho Skies this is Rachel…

KRIS
..Kris..

PAUL
.. and Paul.

Our sound engineer this month was Paul Molinari.

Transcript: July Week 3

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

RACHEL
..Rachel..

KRIS
..And Kris

FADE OUT MUSIC

PAUL
On the 16th the moon forms a small grouping with Venus, Saturn, and Regulus.

RACHEL
The grouping is so small that all four objects will just fit within the field of view of your binoculars.

KRIS
So take your binoculars outside shortly before 10:15 PM. This astronomical grouping will be low in the west-northwest and set by 11:00 PM.

RACHEL
Unfortunately this also means the skies will still be lit by twilight, cutting down on their contrast.

KRIS
In binoculars you’ll see bight Venus to the left, Regulus to the upper right of Venus, a thin crescent moon to the right, and Saturn just past the moon.

PAUL
On the 20th Mercury reaches greatest western elongation.

RACHEL
Greatest elongations are generally the best times to see inferior planets because that’s when they’re at their greatest distance from the sun.

KRIS
But this month’s greatest elongation is not the best because Mercury still remains close to the horizon.

RACHEL
If you want to see Mercury, then look for a star low in the east northeast at around 5:45 AM.

PAUL
The moon passes close to Spica, the lucida of Virgo, on the evening of the 21st.

KRIS
Spica will be four degrees or eight lunar diameters from the moon’s right.

RACHEL
To your eye Spica may not look very impressive, but remember that you’re seeing a star that’s 260 light years away.

KRIS
To appear as bright as it does from earth, Spica must be two thousand times brighter than the sun.

PAUL
The moon is at first quarter on the 22nd.

RACHEL
Since the moon is half full, tonight would be a great time to look at the moon through your telescope or binoculars.

KRIS
You’ll see the greatest detail if you look along the straight edged boundary between day and night with a telescope or pair of binoculars.

PAUL
Less than three hours after the moon reaches the first quarter phase, it also reaches the apogee of its orbit around the earth.

RACHEL
So at 3:00 AM on the 22nd the center of the moon is only 251 thousand miles away from the center of the earth.

PAUL
Thirty-five years ago on the 22nd the Soviet Venera 8 made the second successful spacecraft landing on Venus.

KRIS
Venera 8 was launched along with its twin, Venera 7, back in 1972.

RACHEL
The previous Venera spacecraft that Russia sent to Venus were crushed by its atmosphere before they could land.

KRIS
To give the Venera 7 and 8 alive long enough to report from the Venusian surface, they were built stronger that the previous Veneras and they also carried a refrigerator.

RACHEL
Venera 8 managed to survive for 50 minutes on the surface of Venus.

KRIS
It reported that the lighting conditions on the surface were similar to an overcast day on earth.

RACHEL
It also reported that the surface temperature was a toasty 900 degrees and that the air pressure 90 times greater than on earth.

KRIS
Even with its stronger construction and cooling, Venera 8 eventually failed due to the combined effects of the Venusian heat and pressure.

FADE IN MUSIC

PAUL
That’s Idaho Skies for the third week of July.
Join us next week to hear about Landsat 1 and a close grouping between Jupiter and Antares.

For Idaho Skies this is Paul…

RACHEL
..Rachel..

KRIS
.. and Kris.

Transcript: July Week 2

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

RACHEL
..Rachel..

KRIS
..And Kris

PAUL
Would you like to know where Mars is located?

KRIS
Then look for the moon.

RACHEL
Between 3:00 AM and dawn on the 9th the crescent moon is visible in the low east.

KRIS
Mars is five degrees to the lower right of the moon and will appear as a pale yellowish star.

RACHEL
An angle of five degrees is equal to the width of ten full moons or about the width of three fingers on your outstretched hand.

PAUL
Do you remember Telstar 1?

KRIS
Telstar 1 was the first active communication satellite and it was launched 45 years ago on the 10th.

PAUL
Active? What does that mean?

RACHEL
Active communication satellites are ones that retransmit radio signals sent to them.

KRIS
This allows the them to amplify the radio signal before sending back to earth.

RACHEL
The satellite’s stronger radio signal means that a smaller antenna can be used to hear the signal.

PAUL
Now Telstar 1 was not the first communication satellite, as I recall.

KRIS
You remember right. Some of our listeners may remember two earlier communication satellites named Echo 1 and Echo 2.

RACHEL
These satellites were reflective balloons that bounced radio signals back to earth.

KRIS
Since they didn’t amplify radio signals they’re called passive communication satellites.

RACHEL
The Echo satellites were forty feet in diameter after they filled with air.

KRIS
They were also covered in a thin layer of aluminum to make them reflective to radio waves.

RACHEL
That also made them very bright and easy to see at night.

PAUL
The moon passes close to the Pleiades on the morning of the 10th.

KRIS
At around 4:00 AM you’ll find the Pleiades five and a half degrees to lower left of moon.

RACHEL
Five and a half degrees may sound like a lot, but that’s about the same as the angular distance between the Pointer Stars in the Big Dipper.

KRIS
This event is best observed in a pair of binoculars.

RACHEL
But don’t use a telescope. That’s because your telescope will have too small of a field of view to see both the Pleiades and the moon at the same time.

PAUL
Venus reaches greatest brilliance on the night of the 12th.

KRIS
As Venus passes between us and the sun, its gets larger and brighter.

RACHEL
But at the same time it’s becoming a thinner crescent and therefore fainter.

KRIS
Greatest brilliance occurs when the thinnest and largeness of Venus reaches a balance.

PAUL
What’s that star less than two degrees above Venus?

RACHEL
That’s the star Regulus. It’s the lucida of Leo the Lion.

PAUL
Can we throw a planet into that mix?

KRIS
Sure. Saturn will also be six degrees to the right of Venus.

RACHEL
However, since it is summer and the sun sets late, we won’t be able to see this alignment in very dark skies.

KRIS
That’s Idaho Skies for the second week of July. Next week there’s an attractive grouping between planets, the moon, and a star and the anniversary of the first two successful landings on Venus.

For Idaho Skies this is Kris.

PAUL
..Paul..

RACHEL.. and Rachel.