Transcript: October Week 1

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

RACHEL
..Rachel..

KRIS
..And Kris

PAUL
The moon is at last quarter the morning of the 3rd.

KRIS
If you like seeing the greatest amount of surface detail visible on the moon, than this is one of the best lunar phases.

RACHEL
That’s because the sun is just rising over the center of the moon. And since sunrise appears at the moon’s center, the shadows are stretched their longest distance from earth’s perspective.

KRIS
Long shadows accentuate even small terrain changes. This makes the smallest features visible.

PAUL
But there’s one feature that’s not small on the moon and the sun is just beginning to set over it.

RACHEL
That’s the 16,000 foot tall lunar Apennine mountain range. They form a quarter of an arc just to the left center of the moon.

KRIS
This mountain range formed 3 point 8 billion years ago when a large planetesimal impacted the moon.

RACHEL
The explosive energy of the impact lifted blocks of lunar crust over three miles above the surface.

PAUL
If it wasn’t for the space age, we would know a lot less about this mountain range. And the space age began 50 years ago on the 4th.

KRIS
The year was 1957 and the International Geophysical Year, or IGY, was just beginning.

RACHEL
IGY was an 18 month period where nations of the world agreed to explore the earth and share their findings.

KRIS
Two years earlier, both the United States and the Soviet Union stated their plans to launch a satellite into orbit during the upcoming IGY.

PAUL
However, not many people took the Soviet Union’s claim seriously.

RACHEL
That’s because they considered the Soviet Union to be a backwards country with little technical skill.

KRIS
So on October 4th 1957, the Soviet Union shook the world with the news of the launch of Sputnik.

RACHEL
We’ll have more on Sputnik 1 on next week’s show.

PAUL
The moon passes within one degree of the Beehive star cluster on the morning of the 5th.

KRIS
This is a perfect event for your binoculars. So on the morning of the 5th, point your binoculars at the thin crescent moon.

RACHEL
To its right you’ll see a scattering of stars covering an area larger than the moon.

KRIS
Since the moon is a crescent, its light shouldn’t interfere greatly with the faint stars making up the Beehive star cluster.

PAUL
There’s another lunar line up on the 7th before sunrise.

RACHEL
You’ll see Saturn, a thin crescent moon, the star Regulus, and brilliant Venus.

KRIS
And all four will fit within the field of view of your binoculars.

PAUL
That’s Idaho Skies for the first week of October. Join us next week to hear more about Sputnik 1. We’ll also have information on Robert Goddard and the Outer Space Treaty.

For Idaho Skies this is Paul

RACHEL
..Rachel..

KRIS
.. and Kris.

Transcript: September Week 4

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

RACHEL
..Rachel..

KRIS
..And Kris

PAUL
Now that the moon is no longer in the morning skies, you’ll have a good view of the Zodiacal Light.

KRIS
But this only lasts until early October when the moon begins to appear in the morning sky again.

RACHEL
To see this band of dust in orbit around the sun, go outside no later than about 5:30 AM.

KRIS
You’re looking for a faint triangular glow of light rising from the east.

RACHEL
The glow in dark skies looks like the light of dawn.

KRIS
But where the dawn is a glow along the horizon, the Zodiacal Light is a vertical pillar of light.

RACHEL
In dark skies this pillar can be seen reaching half way up to the zenith.

PAUL
Autumn begins on the 23rd at 3:51 AM.

KRIS
The Autumnal Equinox is the name given to the point on earth’s orbit where the sun appears to rise exactly in the east and set exactly in the west for everyone on earth.

RACHEL
This is always true for people living along the equator. But it’s only true for everyone else on one of our two equinoxes.

KRIS
The day is exactly 12 hours long on the equinox. That is if you ignore refraction by the earth’s atmosphere.

RACHEL
For us in the northern hemisphere, autumn begins today. In the southern hemisphere spring is just beginning.

PAUL
Venus is at it’s brightest on the morning of the 24th.

KRIS
In astronomical terminology, its brightness is a magnitude negative 4.5.

RACHEL
Venus is 2-1/2 magnitudes brighter than the next brightest object, Jupiter and 3 magnitudes brighter than Sirius, the brightest true star.

KRIS
The magnitude scale is a logarithmic scale that is based on how our eyes perceive brightness.

PAUL
That makes every magnitude about 2-1/2 times brighter then the next.

RACHEL
The faintest stars we can see without a telescope are magnitude 6. So the smaller the magnitude, the brighter the star.

KRIS
The magnitude scale was designed by the ancient Greeks. Although they didn’t realize it, they were designing a logarithmic scale.

PAUL
The moon is full on the 26th.

RACHEL
Since this is the first full moon after the Autumnal equinox, this month’s full moon is the Harvest Moon.

PAUL
Shine on, shine on harvest moon.

KRIS
Um, please don’t.

RACHEL
Speaking of the moon, go outside shortly before dawn begins on the 30th and look for it.

KRIS
You’ll see a gibbous moon near the Pleiades for the second time this month.

RACHEL
And like last time, this is best seen in binoculars.

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

PAUL
..Paul..

RACHEL
.. and Rachel.
Our sound engineer this month was Paul Marinari.

Transcript: September Week 1

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

RACHEL
..Rachel..

KRIS
..And Kris

PAUL
The nearly third quarter moon appears next to the Pleiades on the morning of the 3rd.

RACHEL
This will be a pretty sight for your binoculars or rich field telescope.

PAUL
What’s a rich field telescope?

KRIS
That’s a telescope designed for low magnification and wide fields of view.

PAUL
Low magnification? But I thought telescopes were better if they have high magnifications?

RACHEL
Not necessarily. Magnification is not the most important characteristic of a telescope.

KRIS
In fact, if a telescope is advertised primarily as having high magnification, then it may not be a good quality telescope at all.

RACHEL
A good rule of thumb is that a telescope’s magnification should never be greater than 60 times the diameter of its objective in inches.

KRIS
So that means if a telescope’s main lens or mirror has a diameter of four inches, then it should never have a magnification greater than 60 times that, or 240 power.

RACHEL
Note that the highest magnification rule of thumb only applies to quality optics and ideal skies.

KRIS
So if the mirror or lens is not the most carefully shaped or if the air is turbulent, the telescope’s magnification should be lower still.

PAUL
So I should use my binoculars or rich field telescope to see the Pleiades and moon together on the morning of the 3rd.

RACHEL
That’s right. You can also try using a spotting scope if you have one.

PAUL
The Phoenix lander is on its way to Mars and you can see its target tonight.

KRIS
It’s easy if you let the moon be your guide. The solar system’s fourth planet is to the lower right of the moon on the morning of the 4th.

RACHEL
Their distance apart is 5 degrees, or roughly the width of three fingers when your arm is extended.

KRIS
Mars will appear as a pale orange colored star.

RACHEL
Mars is still too small to be viewed well in telescopes. But earth is rapidly catching up to the planet. By the end of the year Mars will be a bright beacon in the sky.

KRIS
But don’t be mislead by what you may be reading on the Internet. Mars will not grow as large as the full moon in our sky.

RACHEL
In fact, Mars can never get that large. However, Mars will become large enough to show some surface features in an amateur telescope.

KRIS
But to the unaided eye or in a pair of binoculars, it will remain a tiny point of light.

RACHEL
To see some of the surface features of Mars, plan to attend one of the Boise Astronomical Society’s star parties.

KRIS
You’ll find them listed on the Idaho Skies website, idahoskies.org.

RACHEL
That’s Idaho Skies for the first week of September. Join us next week to hear about Surveyor 5 and the discovery of the fifth Jovian satellite.

For Idaho Skies this is Rachel

KRIS
..Kris..

PAUL
.. and Paul.