Mon Oct 7, 2024 NAME THAT CONSTELLATION - OCTOBER
Can you identify the thirty-third largest constellation? It is bordered on the north by Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer, on the south by Lupus the Wolf, Norma the Level and Ara the Altar, on the west by Libra the Scales, and on the east by Sagittarius and the Southern Crown. Its tail dips into the Milky Way, and there are many nebulas and star clusters within its borders. In the South Pacific it’s called Maui’s fishhook, while old Greek myths say it is the animal that killed Orion the Hunter. Just a few thousand years ago the Romans turned its claws into Libra the Scales. This evening the new crescent moon appears next to its brightest star Antares. Can you name this star figure, the eighth constellation of the zodiac? The answer is Scorpius, currently visible in the southwestern sky after sunset.
Tue Oct 8, 2024 METEORITE – METEORWRONG
People bring me rocks from time to time, wanting to know if they might have found a meteorite. Before you decide to bring it in for me to look at, here are a few simple observations you can make to figure out if what you’ve got is a meteorite – or a meteorwrong. First, is the rock unusually heavy for its size? If not, then it’s probably not a meteorite. Now if it is heavy, get a magnet and see if it sticks to the rock. If not, then again, not a meteorite. Are there little holes in it, called vesicles? If yes, then it’s not a meteorite – those vesicles are usually caused by gas escaping from molten rock as it rapidly cools, and meteorites cool too slowly for that to happen. If it passes those tests, bring it in and I’ll try to help you find out if it truly is a rock from space. E-mail me at jbell@irsc.edu.
Wed Oct 9, 2024 PLANETARIUM SHOW: PHANTOM OF THE UNIVERSE
The poet T.S. Eliot once wrote, “O dark dark dark. They all go into the dark, The vacant interstellar spaces, the vacant into the vacant.” Eliot was commenting on space and time and the human condition, but he could just as well have been writing about something in the Universe known as “dark matter.” It seems that 90% of the Universe is made of dark matter. How do we see that which we have not been able to see? Join us at the Hallstrom Planetarium this weekend for our newest show, “Phantom of the Universe,” where we pursue this hidden dark matter! “Phantom of the Univese” is narrated by Tilda Swinton and will be presented on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. Call the box office at Indian River State College for tickets, at 772-462-4750.
Thur Oct 10, 2024 OLBERS AND HIS PARADOX
Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers, who discovered the asteroids Pallas and Vesta a couple of hundred years ago, was born on October 11, 1758. He is best known for what’s called, Olber’s Paradox. Olbers asked a simple question: "why is the sky dark at night?" Now that seems a bit silly - after all, the sky is dark at night because the earth rotates into its own shadow, what we call night. ”I know that,” he said. But if the universe is infinite in size, then that means there's an infinite number of stars out there. So no matter where you look, you'll eventually find a star - the sky should be ablaze with light! But it's not. This suggests that the Universe is perhaps not infinite, and that there was a definitive point in time in which everything began, and also that our Universe is expanding!
Fri, Oct 11, 2024 THE END OF THE WORLD
The astronomer Harlow Shapley once suggested two possible ways that the world could end. In one scenario, the earth loses its forward momentum, and the sun’s gravity pulls our planet inward to a fiery destruction. Another theory supposed the opposite might happen, that the earth might drift outward and suffer a frozen death like Mars. Of course, both “fire and ice,” may be our ultimate fate. Five billion years from now, when the sun runs out of fuel, gravity will take over and collapse it. This will heat it up, and the sun will expand to become a red giant star, engulfing the inner solar system, including earth. Then, when the last bit of helium fuel is exhausted, the sun will collapse again, heating up, turning into a high energy white dwarf! So, let’s make it a point, five billion years from now, to get off the planet.
