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Seeing Stars with James Wooten: May 2013

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Jupiter is now lower in the west at dusk. Face west at dusk and look for the brightest thing there (unless the Moon is also there), as Jupiter outshines all other stars we ever see at night. It appears slightly lower in the sky each night, though, and is gone by the end of the month. As Jupiter leaves the evening sky, Mercury and Venus emerge to join it on Memorial Day weekend. The three planets form a tight triangle May 25-26; Venus and Jupiter are just one degree apart on May 27.

Saturn is now an evening object, shining in the southeast at dusk.  Although not as bright as Jupiter, it does outshine the stars around it, so you can’t miss it.

Mars is still out of sight on the far side of the Sun this month.

Sky Map: May 2013A swath of brilliant winter stars sets in the west at dusk. Orion, the Hunter, is still visible in the west as May begins. His two dogs, represented by Sirius and Procyon, are to his left.  To Orion’s right is Taurus, the Bull, with Aldebaran as its eye. Gemini, the Twins, are above Orion. The Big Dipper is above the North Star, with its handle pointing to the right. From that handle, you can ‘arc to Arcturus’ and then ‘speed on to Spica’; those stars are in the east and southeast at dusk. Leo, the Lion, passes almost overhead in late evening.

As Orion and Taurus set, look for Antares, brightest star of Scorpius, the Scorpion, to rise in the southeast. At the same time, Vega, brightest star of the Summer Triangle, appears low in the northeast. These stars remind us that summer is on the way.

Moon Phases in May 2013:

Last Quarter                 May 2, 6:16 am; May 31, 1:59 pm
New                              May 9, 7:31 pm
1st Quarter                   May 17, 11:35 pm
Full                                May 24, 11:26 pm

The New Moon of May 9 passes in front of the Sun, causing an eclipse. However, the Moon is too far from the Sun to block it completely; the result is an annular eclipse, in which a ring of the Sun’s disk surrounds the Moon. Also, the event is visible only along a path that begins in Australia and extends across the Pacific.

On most clear Saturday nights at the George Observatory, you can hear me do live star tours on the observation deck with a green laser pointer. If you’re there, listen for my announcement. I generally do one such tour on short May nights.

To enjoy the stars in any weather from the comfort of the HMNS Planetarium, click here for a full schedule.

X-treme astronomy: Go behind-the-scenes of The X-Planets on April 18

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In this day and age, it seems like everyone is trying to add some excitement to their lives. Now that we no longer have animals trying to hunt us and have enough infrastructure that one bad harvest won’t wipe us out, we’re looking for something to spend our excess energy on. People have taken to jumping off bridges with giant rubber bands, getting charged by bulls and jumping out of the way, or even eating fugu every chance they can.

Some of us less adventurous (and less crazy) folks have other ideas about how to heighten the adrenaline we get out of our hobbies. One of the more superficial ways to do this is to just add the word “extreme” (or, if we are hardcore enough, we might leave out the e and be “x-treme”).  It started out with extreme sports. Then it went to x-treme makeovers and weight loss.  And now, it has passed on to x-treme couponing. I expect x-treme snail fighting will be coming along some time soon.

While we could put the x-treme in front of astronomy to make it even more exciting, astronomy beat us to it with an “X” of its own: Extrasolar planets (called exoplanets or x-planets for short).

X-Planets: Now Playing at the Burke Baker Planetarium

An x-planet is a planet outside our sun system. Once thought to be purely fiction, there are over 860 such identified planets (and by the time you read this, the number will have gone up). The first definitive finding of an x-planet was in April of 1992 in orbit of PSR B1257+12. (Unfortunately there are a lot of stars out there without names and only unwieldy catalog numbers.) The first multiple planetary system was found in 1999, in the Upsilon Andromedae star system — only 44 light years away.

But the search is still on for other habitable planets. Alpha Centauri has a planet the right size, but far too hot. OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb (try pronouncing it, it’s a fun series of sounds) is larger than our planet, but too cold to support life. We have yet to find one that’s just right.  When we do, it will still be a long drive to check and see if we have some neighbors.

Until then, the best way to experience what an “alien world” might be like is the X-Planet show in the HMNS Burke Baker Planetarium. And what better way to experience it than after-hours with the creators of the show, Dr. Carolyn Sumners and Adam Barnes?

Explore exoplanets at the Burke Baker PlanetariumWhat: Behind-the-Scenes Tour of The X-Planets
When: Thursday, April 18 at 6 p.m.
Who: Dr. Carolyn Sumners and Adam Barnes
How Much: $18

Since its launch in 2009, NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler Telescope has uncovered 2,740 new extra-solar planets, also known as exoplanets or X-planets. Now scientists are working to identify gases in the exoplanets’ atmospheres that can support life. It is just a matter of time before an “alien Earth ” is found. Join Dr. Carolyn Sumners and Adam Barnes of the Museum’s astronomy department for a behind-the-scenes look at the science behind X-Planets, the making of the film The X-Planets and a viewing of the film in the Burke Baker Planetarium. To purchase tickets and read more about the film, click here.

Seeing Stars with James Wooten: April 2013

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Jupiter is now lower in the west at dusk. Face west at dusk and look for the brightest thing there (unless the Moon is also there), as Jupiter outshines all stars we ever see at night.

Saturn shifts from morning to evening sky this month. It rises at about 9:45 p.m. on April 1 and is in the south-southwest by dawn. On April 28, Earth passes between the Sun and Saturn, causing Saturn to rise at dusk and set at dawn. In this alignment, called opposition, Saturn is up literally all night long.

Sky Map April 2013

Venus and Mars are still out of sight on the far side of the Sun this month.  Mars is behind the Sun (in conjunction with the Sun) on April 17.

Brilliant winter stars shift toward the west during April. Dazzling Orion is in the southwest at dusk. His three-starred belt is halfway between reddish Betelgeuse and bluish Rigel.  Orion’s belt points northward to Aldebaran in Taurus the Bull. This winter and spring the Bull also contains Jupiter. To Orion’s upper left are the twin stars Castor and Pollux, marking the heads of Gemini, the Twins. You can find Sirius, the brightest star we ever see at night, by drawing a line from Orion’s belt towards the south.  To Orion’s left, forming a triangle with Sirius and Betelgeuse, is Procyon, the Little Dog Star.

Meanwhile, the stars of spring are high in the east and overhead. Look for Leo, the Lion, high in the east at dusk.  Also, extend the Big Dipper’s handle to ‘Arc to Arcturus’ and then ‘speed on to Spica’ — these stars are in the east.

Moon Phases in April 2013:

Last Quarter                  April 2, 11:38 pm
New                               April 10, 4:38 am
1st Quarter                    April 18, 7:31 am
Full                                April 25, 2:59 pm

On most clear Saturday nights at the George Observatory, you can hear me do live star tours on the observation deck with a green laser pointer. If you’re there, listen for my announcement.

Saturday, April 13, is a special “Observe the Planets” night at the George. Come join us in observing Jupiter and Saturn!

To enjoy the stars in any weather from the comfort of the HMNS Planetarium, click here for a full schedule.

The X-Planets: Exploring the consequences of another Earth

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When you look up at the night sky, do you ever think you’re seeing other solar systems? Do you ever wonder if any of the stars you see have planets like Earth in orbit around them?

We have discovered that seven planets and more than a hundred moons in our solar system are simply not enough like Earth to foster the development of life or to make colonization easy. We now realize that our search for an alien Earth must occur in solar systems around other stars.

As we approach a thousand confirmed exoplanets, we are becoming better at identifying Earth-like worlds. Sensitive measurements are required to detect the small wobble in a star caused by an orbiting planet or the drop in light caused by a planet crossing in front of a star.

Explore exoplanets at the Burke Baker PlanetariumNASA’s Kepler telescope, a planet-hunting mission, has uncovered 2,740 potential alien worlds since its 2009 launch. Of these, more than 350 are about the size of Earth. Observatories on Earth’s mountaintops are also identifying planets around other worlds and confirming the discoveries of Kepler.

Now we are working on detecting more than an exoplanet’s mass, diameter, and distance from its star by developing sensors that can identify gases in the planet’s atmosphere. This way, we can look for the oxygen and water vapor that support life on Earth.

It is just a matter of time before we find a world that is truly Earth’s twin. Studies suggest small planets like Earth are probably common in the universe — easily over 10 billion in our Milky Way Galaxy. Will the discovery of an alien Earth change the way we think about the universe and our place in it? Will we then realize that our planet is not unique, and that perhaps life on Earth is not unique either? Does this change how we think of our home planet and ourselves?

Visit the Planetarium’s new show, The X-Planets: Discovering Other Earths, to explore the first exoplanet discoveries and ponder these fundamental questions. For a full film schedule, click here.