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Skywatch for the week of March 28, 2022

Skywatch Monday 3-28-2022.mp3

Mon Mar 28, 2022 PREDAWN GATHERING OF PLANETS

This morning before sunrise there was a pretty gathering of planets. You may have seen the old crescent moon, not too far above the eastern horizon toward the end of night. Just north of the moon there was a brilliant, star-like object, the brightest of our morning stars, the planet Venus. Between the moon and Venus there were two more planets – red-tinted Mars, and a star tinged slightly yellow in color – the planet Saturn. Well below this conjunction of the moon with Venus, Mars and Saturn, another bright star could be found near the east horizon – the planet Jupiter. Now if you missed all that this morning, that’s okay, because you can see them all again tomorrow morning before dawn – except the moon will now appear midway between Jupiter and the other planets.

Skywatch Tuessday 3-29-2022.mp3

Tue Mar 29, 2022 WHY DOESN’T POLARIS MOVE?

Earth’s north pole points toward the star Polaris. As the earth rotates, stars rise out of the east and set in the west. But Polaris doesn’t move. It’s like spinning a basketball. There’s only one other place to put a second finger on the ball and not disrupt rotation, and that’s the top of the ball. Now think of standing on the top of the earth. Look straight up. Instead of a giant finger, you’ll see a star. That’s Polaris, and it appears on the zenith, 90 degrees overhead, from the Earth’s north pole, which is at 90 degrees North latitude. If you slide down the Earth, then the North Star slides downward: at 45 degrees North latitude, Polaris is halfway up the north sky. But if you go to the equator, 0 degrees, then Polaris is on the north horizon, and you can’t see it.

Skywatch Wednesday 3-30-2022.mp3

Wed Mar 30, 2022 NAME THAT PLANET 2

Let’s play “name that planet.” I’ll name some of their features, and you try to identify it. The first planet has craters named for Cleopatra, Amelia Earhart, and Sacajawea, plus two continents - Ishtar and Aphrodite. The planet is Venus, and its features are named after love goddesses or famous women. Now try, Tombaugh, Norgay Mountains, Tartarus, Balrog and Cthulhu. That would be Pluto. How about the plains of Utopia and Chryse, or the Hellas basin, the Tharsis bulge, the Mariner Valley or Mount Olympus? That’s Mars. Where do you find the Caloris basin, or craters named Bach, Velazquez, Cervantes, Chopin, Tolkien, Shakespeare or Mozart? Artists, musicians and writers’ names can be found on Mercury.

Skywatch Thursday 3-31-2022.mp3

Thu Mar 31, 2022 OUT WITH THE RAM

The old saying, “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb,” refers to the improving weather in the springtime of the year. But there is also an astronomical connection. In early March, the constellation Leo the Lion appears in the east after sunset. As the month progresses, Leo is a little higher in the sky each night, while in the west, winter constellations sink toward the horizon. By the end of March, one of our winter constellations makes its exit in the western sky. For the past few weeks, the sun has been steadily encroaching on this constellation, due to the earth’s revolution. Now the sun is about to pass between us and the constellation Aries the Ram. March comes in with the Lion and goes out with the Ram.

Skywatch Friday 4-1-2022.mp3

Fri Apr 1, 2022 APRIL FOOLS

Long ago the new year began not on January 1st, but on March 25th, which at that time also marked the beginning of spring. People were so glad winter was over, they partied for about a week, right up through the first day of April. Then came the Gregorian calendar reform in 1582, and in France, King Charles the 9th decided this was also a good time to move the new year’s celebration from the end of March to the beginning of January, where it is now. But some people just didn’t get it, and continued to observe the new year on April 1st. These people were laughed at, and called “poisson d'avril," or “April Fish” by their more sophisticated countrymen. And this is the origin of our modern April Fool’s Day. No fooling.