Mon Mar 24,2025 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.
Tue Mar 25, 2025 SEASONAL STARS/ASTRONOMY CLUB MEETING
It’s springtime, but there are still some winter constellations up in the sky this evening. Orion the Hunter, Taurus the Bull, the Big and Little Dogs, Auriga the Charioteer and the Gemini Twins have slipped over into the west, as new star groups like the Big Dipper and Leo the Lion take their places in the northern and eastern sky. Soon the bright stars Arcturus and Spica will rise. If you want to keep up-to-date with sky events like this, there is a great local astronomy club that can help: it’s called the Treasure Coast Astronomical Society, and in addition to having star parties and sky watching events for their members, the club is open to the public. They’ll meet tonight at 7:30 pm at the Science Center Auditorium, that’s in the N building, on the main Fort Pierce campus of Indian River State College.
Wed Mar 26, 2025 ROBERT FROST
The American poet Robert Frost was born today, on March 26, 1874. Frost wrote a lot about the natural world, and about astronomy. In his poem, "The Star Splitter," he tells us of a man who bought a telescope, saying "The best thing that we're put here for's to see; The strongest thing that's given us to see with's A telescope. Someone in every town Seems to me owes it to the town to keep one. Often he bid me - come and have a look - Up the brass barrel, velvet black inside, At a star quaking in the other end. That telescope was christened the Star-Splitter, Because it didn't do a thing but split A star in two or three...” Frost was referring to the telescope’s ability to resolve detail, and reveal fainter stars not visible to the human eye alone.
Thu Mar 27, 2025 BIG DIPPER, NORTH STAR AND LITTLE DIPPER
At this time of the year the Big Dipper is well up in the northeastern sky around 8 o’clock in the evening. Find someplace outside where you have a clear view toward the northeast, without any streetlights to interfere with your view. That's where you'll find the Big Dipper, marked by seven stars that trace out a saucepan shape. Now draw a line between the top two stars of the Big Dipper's bowl, and extend that line to the left, and it leads you to the North Star, not a particularly bright star, but it's not known for being bright, just for being in the north. The North Star’s official name is Polaris, and it’s at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper, which is very hard to see because its stars are fairly dim.
Fri Mar 28, 2025 NEW MOON SOLAR ECLIPSE
Two weeks ago we had a total lunar eclipse. Sixty-eight people came out to observe the eclipse at the Hallstrom Planetarium in Fort Pierce. We had a great time; clouds left the skies shortly after midnight, and just after 1 in the morning the eclipse began. Totality was at 2:26 am, when the moon, completely inside the earth’s shadow, turned a brick-red to coppery-orange color, the result of sunlight filtered through the earth’s atmosphere and refracted onto the moon. Tomorrow there will be another eclipse, this time of the sun. But from our location here in Florida we won’t be able to see it. However, if you are along the northeast coast of North America, you might catch a glimpse of it!