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Skywatch for the week of December 2, 2024

Skywatch Monday 12-2-2024.mp3

Mon Dec 2, 2024 GIOTTO AND THE STAR OF WONDER

In the year 1301, the Italian artist Giotto di Bondone saw a comet. It was bright and glorious, but it had no name; centuries later it would be called Halley’s comet. In 1305, Giotto painted a fresco called, “the Adoration of the Magi,” which can still be viewed in the Arena Chapel in Padua, Italy. Above the Creche, Giotto painted Halley’s comet, portraying it as the nativity star. Could the comet have been the star? This weekend Indian River State College’s Hallstrom Planetarium will investigate, in its annual presentation of “Star of Wonder.” Shows are on Friday night at 7 and 8:30 pm, and on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 and 3:00 pm. Call the IRSC Box office at 462-4750, between 11 am and 3 pm today through Friday.

 

Skywatch Tuesday 12-3-2024.mp3

Tue Dec 3, 2024 FIRST TELESCOPE PURCHASE

Big box stores and department stores are great places to buy a lot of things, but when I buy a telescope, I don’t go there. Yard sales often have telescopes, but there’s a good reason why they’re in a yard sale, and it’s probably that those particular ‘scopes are hard to operate. Look out for flimsy tripod legs or cheap aluminum and plastic bolt-and-wingnut attachments from the tripod to the tube. A good starter telescope is actually a pair of binoculars, which cost under a hundred dollars. If you mount them to a camera tripod you can aim them just like a regular telescope. Then consider getting a Newtonian reflector with a 6 inch mirror on a Dobsonian mount. Begin your research on the internet, or e-mail me at jbell@irsc.edu for advice.

 

Skywatch Wednesday 12-4-2024.mp3

Wed Dec 4, 2024 MOON AND VENUS TOGETHER THIS EVENING

If you happen outside this early evening and if the skies are clear, face toward the sunset. There you should be able to find the moon, now a thin new crescent with its bow pointed downward toward the west horizon. Now right beside the moon you’ll find a brilliant evening star. But it’s not a star at all but the planet Venus. This conjunction of the two objects happens once every month, but tonight it will be especially notable – a very pretty sight! But they’ll only be over there for an hour or so; after that, the earth’s rotation will carry them westward, and they will set, following the sun so that folks to the west of us can also see it as their end of the day approaches.

 

Skywatch Thursday 12-5-2024.mp3

Thu Dec 5, 2024 NAME THAT CONSTELLATION – DECEMBER

Can you identify the 40th largest constellation? It is bordered on the north by Aquarius and Aquila; on the south by Microscopium and the Southern Fish, on the west by Sagittarius; and on the east by Aquarius again. This constellation lacks brilliant stars, but a scattering of 2nd magnitude stars trace out a wedge shape. In myth it represents the god Pan, who taught people how to play the flute, and the conch, a favorite of Floridians. When a dragon attacked Pan, he grew a fish’s tail, jumped into a river and swam away. Tonight the moon is within its borders and the planet Venus appears to the west of it. Can you name this star figure, the tenth constellation of the zodiac? The answer is Capricornus, the Sea Goat, visible in the southwest after sunset.

 

Skywatch Friday 12-6-2024.mp3

Fri Dec 6, 2024 STAR OF WONDER 2

Tonight and tomorrow afternoon, Indian River State College’s Hallstrom Planetarium will feature its holiday program "Star of Wonder". In this presentation we use the planetarium to show you what the skies looked like from Judea over two thousand years ago, to see if we can discover the Nativity star, referred to in the gospel of Saint Matthew. We’ll look at sky phenomena such as comets, meteors and planets. And if skies are clear tonight, the Treasure Coast Astronomical Society will set up their telescopes after the shows so that we can view the moon and the planets Venus and Saturn on the south lawn of the Planetarium. To get tickets for “Star of Wonder,” call the IRSC Box office at 772-462-4750, between 11 am and 3 pm today.