Transcript: February Week 4

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

RACHEL
..Rachel..

KRIS
..And Kris

PAUL
The Zodiacal Light is now well placed for viewing in the evening.

RACHEL
And it will remain until around March 8th when moon light begins interfering again.

KRIS
During the next three months, the Zodiacal Light rises steeply above the western horizon after sunset.

RACHEL
Its steepness makes is easier to see because the Zodiacal Light climbs its highest above the horizon.

KRIS
The Zodiacal Light appears as a faint pillar of light that is best seen with the unaided eye.

PAUL
So don’t use a telescope or binoculars, they’ll magnify too much and show too little.

RACHEL
The Zodiacal Light is faint enough that you need a dark location to see it.

PAUL
Saturn reaches opposition on the night of the 24th.

KRIS
What does that mean?

RACHEL
It means the ringed world rises near sunset and sets near sunrise.

KRIS
At opposition, Saturn is at it’s nearest to Earth for 2008.

PAUL
Great!

RACHEL
For Saturn, that means it’s 770 million miles away.

PAUL
Bummer.

KRIS
At that distance, it takes a radio signal from NASA an hour and nine minutes to reach the Cassini spacecraft currently in orbit around Saturn.

RACHEL
Saturn appears as a pale-yellow star to the unaided eye and binoculars. You’ll find it 1/3rd of the way above the eastern horizon at 9:00 PM.

KRIS
That puts it just below the stars of Leo the Lion.

RACHEL
However, unlike the stars in Leo, Saturn doesn’t twinkle unless the air is very turbulent.

PAUL
Forty years ago on the 24th astronomer Jocelyn Bell and her college advisor Dr. Anthony Hewish found a one inch long squiggle on a chart recording made by their radio telescope.

KRIS
That short squiggle was so perfectly regular in time, that at first, they wondered if they had discovered the radio beacon of an extraterrestrial civilization.

RACHEL
Instead, they had discovered the radio pulses of a rapidly rotating neutron star, or pulsar.

PAUL
At the end of their lives, massive stars are unable to support their weight through nuclear fusion.

KRIS
Therefore, they collapse and explode as a supernova. The explosion and gravity crushes the protons, electrons, and neutrons in their core into a ball around 12 miles across.

RACHEL
That makes a teaspoon of neutron star weigh the same as a mountain on earth.

KRIS
Shrinking a star by a factor of 80,000 increases its spin rate by the same factor.

RACHEL
Therefore, pulsars can spin faster than 100 times per second.

KRIS
Creating a neutron star doesn’t just increase it rotation rate, it also increases the strength of its magnetic field.

RACHEL
The combination of a rapid rotation rate and strong magnetic field creates a machine capable of launching powerful beams of radiation from its north and south poles.

KRIS
When the pole of a rotating neutron star sweeps past the earth, we detect its beam of radiation as a blip in a radio telescope.

PAUL
And that’s Bell and Hewish discovered on February 24th, 1968.

RACHEL
That’s Idaho Skies for the last week of February. Our sound engineer this month was Paul Molinari. 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.

Transcript: February Week 3

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

RACHEL
..Rachel..

KRIS
..And Kris

PAUL
You’ll be able to find the Beehive star cluster easily on the night of the 18th.

KRIS
Look below the moon less than half a binocular’s field of view for a large sprinkle of stars.

RACHEL
There’ll be more stars to see if you move the moon outside the view of your binoculars.

KRIS
In dark skies, this cluster is visible to the unaided eye as a faint, fuzzy star.

PAUL
Nicolas Copernicus was born on February 19th, 1473.

RACHEL
Best known for the modern heliocentric theory, Copernicus was a well educated Catholic cleric.

KRIS
However, he was not really an astronomer. In fact, astronomy played a tiny part in his life.

RACHEL
Yet, he still developed a model of the solar system based on observation and mathematics.

PAUL
Since the sun was at the center of the solar system in his model, it’s called a heliocentric model.

KRIS
Now Copernicus was not the first person to propose a heliocentric model of the solar system.

RACHEL
That’s right. Several ancient Greeks and Arabs had done the same centuries prior.

KRIS
However, Copernicus was the first to develop a scientific version of the heliocentric model of the solar system.

RACHEL
Copernicus spent 29 years developing his greatest work and it was not published in final form until he was near death.

KRIS
Legend has it that Copernicus saw the first copy of his book, On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres, on the day he died.

RACHEL
Copernicus’ book was not controversial when it was first published.

KRIS
In fact, it was a popular work among the Catholic clergy.

RACHEL
It wasn’t until Galileo’s 1633 trial for heresy that the church banned On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres.

PAUL
Yippee! We get to see a total lunar eclipse on the night of the 20th.

KRIS
The eclipse begins at 5:36 PM in Idaho, but won’t be visible until 6:13 when the moon rises

PAUL
For our listeners in California, the eclipse begins an hour earlier, but you’ll have to wait later for the moon to rise.

RACHEL
The lighter outermost shadow of the earth is called the penumbra and the darker innermost shadow is called the umbra.

KRIS
Typically, it takes an hour before we can faintly see the penumbra on the moon.

RACHEL
So don’t expect the eclipse to be obvious as soon as it begins. Mid eclipse occurs at 8:26 and the moon could appear bright copper red, dark charcoal, or any color and shade in between.

KRIS
The last vestiges of the eclipse will disappear around 10:00.

PAUL
Don’t miss this eclipse, as it’s our only total lunar eclipse for the next three years.

RACHEL
During the lunar eclipse, you’ll see the star Regulus above the moon and Saturn to the moon’s left.

KRIS
That’s Idaho Skies for the third week of February. Next week we’ll discuss a light in the sky that most people have never seen, the Zodiacal Light. Hear about that and the discovery of pulsars.

For Idaho Skies this is Kris…

PAUL
..Paul..

RACHEL
.. and Rachel.

Transcript: February Week 2

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

RACHEL
..Rachel..

KRIS
..And Kris

PAUL
The moon reaches perigee on the 13th.

RACHEL
The moon’s closest distance from the center of the earth this month is only 230,000 miles.

KRIS
At a jogging speed of six miles per hour, it would only take you four years and five months to jog to the moon.

PAUL
A couple of hours later, the moon reaches the first quarter phase.

RACHEL
The moon appears as a half moon tonight, and that’s the best shape to go moon watching.

KRIS
Your best views are along the moon’s terminator or boundary between day and night.

RACHEL
Along the terminator, the shadows appear their longest and they really bring out the details on craters and mountains.

PAUL
In honor of the works of the French science fiction writer, Jules Verne, the European Space Agency has named its first automated transfer vehicle, or ATV, after him.

KRIS
The launch of Jules Verne is scheduled to take place on the 14th if weather and its rocket booster cooperate.

RACHEL
Jules Verne launches on top of Europe’s largest rocket booster, the Ariane 5.

KRIS
Its destination will be the International Space Station, or ISS.

RACHEL
Jules Verne will carry tons of supplies to the astronauts and will dock with the ISS under computer control.

PAUL
On Valentine’s Night, the moon appears near the star clusters, Pleiades and Hyades.

KRIS
So take your Valentine out to see these clusters and the half moon tonight.

RACHEL
And be sure to bring binoculars for your best views.

PAUL
NASA launched the first geosynchronous satellite on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1963.

KRIS
The satellite was named Syncom-1.

RACHEL
Once it entered Earth orbit, its kick motor was to fire and send it to its proper orbit.

KRIS
However, after 19 seconds of firing, Syncom-1 stopped transmitting.

RACHEL
Probably the kick motor exploded and destroyed the satellite.

PAUL
Later, NASA successfully launched Syncom-2 into the proper orbit where it relayed radio and television communications between ground stations on earth.

KRIS
Satellites, like Syncom are located 22,300 miles above the equator and therefore take exactly 24 hours to orbit the Earth.

RACHEL
From our perspective on the ground, the satellite hangs fixed in the sky in what is called a geostationary orbit.

PAUL
Its apparent motionlessness makes it easy to keep antennas trained on the satellite.

KRIS
Not only is it easier to track a satellite in geostationary orbit, but since it’s motionless, it’s always in position to provide communications.

RACHEL
The most famous of the Syncoms was Syncom-3. It relayed live coverage of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics to the United States.

PAUL
Are you looking for Mars? Then you’re in luck

KRIS
The Moon guides you there on the night of the 15th.

RACHEL
Mars appears as the light orange star to the Moon’s left.

KRIS
The distance between the Moon and Mars is three degrees, or six lunar diameters.

RACHEL
In three dimensional space however, their distance apart is really 84 million miles.

PAUL
That’s Idaho Skies for the second week of February. Next week’s show is about Nicholas Copernicus and our total lunar eclipse.

For Idaho Skies this is Paul.

KRIS
..Kris..

RACHEL
.. and Rachel.

Transcript: February Week 1

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

RACHEL
..Rachel..

KRIS
..And Kris

PAUL
We begin February with a near conjunction between the planets Jupiter and Venus.

KRIS
On the 1st, both brilliant planets are visible after 6:30 AM low in the east.

RACHEL
Their distance apart will be half of a degree, or the angular distance across the moon.

KRIS
Venus is to the upper left and Jupiter, slightly dimmer is to the lower right.

RACHEL
You should be able to see this pair until the sun rises, and even later, if you know were to look.

PAUL
If you want to see them after the sun rises, you need to watch their motion across the sky carefully.

KRIS
While you’re out, look for Antares, the lucida of Scorpius to the crescent moon’s left.

RACHEL
The moon and Antares are so close together that the moon’s glare makes seeing Antares difficult. So use your binoculars to see both clearly.

PAUL
Though a little difficult to see, the thin crescent moon appears to the left of Venus and Jupiter on the morning of the 3rd.

KRIS
You should begin looking low in the east for them by around 6:30 AM because by 7:00, the sky may be too bright to see the moon.

RACHEL
A pair of binoculars will definitely help you see them, though.

PAUL
Late on the evening of the 6th, the moon reaches new.

KRIS
When new, the moon passes it closest to the sun from Earth’s perspective.

RACHEL
Most months the moon passes either above or below the Sun, so we don’t see an eclipse every new moon.

KRIS
However, if you’re listening to us in Antarctica, you’ll get to see a solar eclipse today.

RACHEL
Dress warmly.

PAUL
Novelist Jules Verne was born on February 8th, 1828.

KRIS
Considered one of the fathers of the science fiction genre, Verne is possibly the third most translated author in the world.

RACHEL
Verne’s science fiction stories are in many ways, predictive of future events.

KRIS
Did you know he accurately described submarines in his story 1870 story, 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, 31 years before the commissioning of the first effective submarine?

RACHEL
And that many of the elements in his 1865 story, From the Earth to the Moon match those in the Apollo 11 mission to the moon 104 years later.

KRIS
The spaceship in From the Earth to the Moon was launched in Florida, not very far from the Kennedy Space Center.

RACHEL
The name of the spacecraft was Columbiad, nearly the same as Columbia, the name of the Apollo 11 command module.

PAUL
Umm, I wonder if he had a time machine.

KRIS
No no, that’s H.G. Wells.

PAUL
Oh.

RACHEL
That’s Idaho skies for the first week of February. Join us next week when we’ll talk about two spacecraft and moon watching.

For Idaho Skies this is Rachel…

KRIS
Kris..

PAUL
.. and Paul.