Mon Sep 1, 2025 EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
Edgar Rice Burroughs was born 150 years ago today, on September 1st, 1875. When Burroughs was just two years old, the planet earth passed Mars at a distance of a mere 35 million miles, which gave astronomers a chance to view the red planet up close. At the US Naval Observatory, Director Asaph Hall used a 26 inch refracting telescope to discover the two moons of Mars; while in Italy, the astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli made sketches of what he called “canali,” that he saw on the Martian surface. The Italian word, “canali,” means, “channel,” which Schiaparelli decided were natural features. But in America, the word got mistranslated to “canals,” which are artificial. So a regular Mars mania swept the world, and in 1912, Burroughs’ novel, “Under the Moons of Mars,” launched his career. Besides his series about John Carter of Mars and other off-world adventures, Burroughs is best known for his Tarzan stories.
Tue Sep 2, 2025 SCHOOL SHOWS
We’re getting ready for another season of planetarium shows at Indian River State College. There will be some shows coming up the weekend of September 12th, about satellites and the work of the U.S. Space Force. And in October we'll be taking a look at the planet Saturn and its incredible rings. And we are also now accepting reservations from area school teachers and other community organizations who want to bring their groups to the Hallstrom Planetarium. The Hallstrom Planetarium offers field trips to all public, private and home school groups and other organizations. Programs cover a variety of astronomy topics, like stars and constellations, trips through the solar system, and even the exploration of distant galaxies and quasars nearly fifteen billion light years away. If you’re a teacher or a group leader and want to bring your folks to see the stars, call Indian River State College at 772 462-7503 to make a reservation.
Wed Sep 3, 2025 YOUR WEIGHT ON OTHER WORLDS
The terms, “mass,” and, “weight,” are often used interchangeably. But this only works on the planet Earth, because while mass measures the amount of matter, or stuff, that the object contains, weight very much depends on how much gravity is exerted on that mass. Go to another planet or moon or asteroid, and while your mass remains the same, your weight changes depending on how much gravity that other world possesses. The moon has 1/6th the Earth’s gravitational pull, so you weigh 1/6th what you’d weigh on Earth. If you weigh 180 pounds, then on the moon you’d weigh a mere 30 pounds – just divide your earth weight by six, and that’s all there is to it. You’d weigh about 10% less on Venus, but 3 times more in the high cloud tops of Jupiter. And on tiny Deimos, a Martian moon, you could launch yourself into a low orbit just by running and jumping!
Thu Sep 4, 2025 ARCTURUS AND BOÖTES
If you look off to the northwest after sunset tonight, you’ll find a star low in the sky. That northwestern star is named Arcturus, which means, “bear guard” or “bear chaser.” That’s because Earth’s rotation causes this star to follow or chase the constellation of Ursa Major, the Great Bear in the Sky, to the north of Arcturus (you’ll recognize part of the Great Bear as the Big Dipper.) Arcturus is the fourth brightest star in the night sky; it’s about 36 light years away – that’s roughly two hundred and sixteen trillion miles from earth - in the constellation Boötes, the Shepherd. This is an agricultural constellation that ancient farmers used to keep track of when to plant and harvest the crops. In the springtime, Boötes can be found in the eastern sky after sunset; now, half a year later, the shepherd has gone over to the other side of the sky, a celestial reminder of harvest time.
Fri Sep 5, 2025 SEPTEMBER FULL MOON
The moon will be full this weekend. It’s not quite full today: looking with binoculars this evening, you can see a little bit of shadow on its eastern limb. September’s full moon is the Barley Moon of medieval England, or the Singing Moon in Scotland and Ireland. In China it is called the Chrysanthemum moon, while here in America it is the Black Butterfly Moon or the Nut Moon of the Cherokee people. Similarly it is the Little Chestnut Moon of the Creek and the Seminole people. It is the Drying Grass Moon of the Arapaho and the Cheyenne people, and the Choctaw Indian’s Courting Moon. While the Comanche say it is the Paper Man Moon, the Mohawk call it the Time of Poverty. To the Omaha Indians it is the Moon When the Deer Paw the Earth while the Sioux say it is the Moon When Calves Grow Hair.
