Mon Aug 5, 2024 QUASAR DISCOVERY
On August 5, 1962, the first quasar was discovered. It has the unromantic designation, 3C273, the 273rd object in the third Cambridge catalog of radio sources. Quasi-stellar radio sources, or quasars, are so faint they can only be seen by powerful telescopes. They’re dim because they’re really far away! 3C273 actually puts out more energy than the combined light of the hundreds of billions of stars of our entire Milky Way, and this from an object only the size of our solar system! We think quasars are the hearts of galaxies that formed when the universe was young; these powerful light sources no longer exist. 3C273 is in our southwestern sky this evening, not too far from the bright star Spica in the constellation Virgo,(but several billion light years farther out of course.)
Tue Aug 6, 2024 EGYPTIAN CONSTELLATIONS
Many of our modern constellations were also recognized by ancient Egyptians, there were also distinct star patterns which were theirs alone. The Big Dipper, part of the larger constellation of Ursa Major, the Great Bear, was seen by the Egyptians as the leg of a great bull, a dismembered piece of the god Set. The star Polaris in the Little Dipper represented the coffin of Osiris, while the rest of the Little Dipper was sometimes a scorpion, or sometimes a jackal, the “dark and loathsome creature of Set.” Between the dippers is the long, straggling constellation of Draco the Dragon, which hearkens back to Babylonia, where he was the frightful Tiamat of Chaldea, whose body was divided to make heaven and earth. But to the pharaohs of Egypt these stars also represented Taweret the Hippopotamus and Sobek the Alligator.
Wed Aug 7, 2024 HOW TO SEE A BLACK HOLE
In the summer evening sky, there are three bright stars high overhead which are known as the Summer Triangle. Inside this triangle, in the neck of the constellation Cygnus the Swan, there is a great mystery. It is a black hole called Cygnus X-1. We can't see it directly because its gravity field is so intense that light can't escape it. But we know that it is there, because we've discovered an incredible amount of x-rays pouring out of this part of the sky. Cygnus X-1 is part of a binary star system. Gas from its companion, a massive blue giant, is being pulled from it to feed the accretion disc surrounding the hole; it’s here that the x-rays are being made, just outside the black hole's event horizon - its point of no return, about 2500 parsecs, or a little less than 48 quadrillion miles from Earth.
Thu Aug 8, 2024 GALILEO’S FIRST TELESCOPE
On August 8th, 1609, members of the Venetian senate climbed to the top of the tower of St. Mark’s Cathedral for a demonstration of Galileo’s first telescope. The senators viewed ships far out at sea, ships that couldn’t be seen by the naked eye for another two hours. What a marvelous invention! Galileo’s salary at the University of Padua was immediately doubled. Now if you were to buy today the cheapest, crummiest telescope you could find, it would still be better than that first one. Galileo did not invent the telescope; but after hearing reports of is invention made one of his own. It was what he did with the telescope that made the difference. Instead of looking at ships out at sea, he turned the telescope skyward, and wrote about the moon, the planets and the stars - all the marvelous things in the heavens.
Fri Aug 9, 2024 NAME THAT CONSTELLATION - AUGUST
can you identify the second largest constellation? It is bordered on the north by Boötes the Shepherd and Coma Berenices; on the south by Hydra and Corvus the Crow; on the west by Leo and Crater the Cup; and on the east by Libra and Serpens Caput. Planets have been discovered orbiting many of its stars, and a huge cluster of galaxies lies within its borders. In mythology this star figure is associated with the planting and harvesting seasons, and often portrayed as Persephone, daughter of the earth goddess Demeter. Sometimes this constellation represents Astraea, Winged Justice, who holds the scales of law, the constellation Libra. This evening the waxing crescent moon is to the west of its brightest star Spica. Can you name this constellation, the sixth sign of the zodiac? The answer is Virgo the Maiden.
