[Planetarium] Planetarium E-news

Wed Jan 30 11:20:59 CST 2008

William M. Staerkel Planetarium
E-news
January 30, 2008

● Congratulations to our colleague Dr. James B. Kaler, professor
emeritus at the University of Illinois Astronomy Department, for being
awarded the 2008 Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society.
  Jim is well-known for his popular articles and books on skywatching. 
We’re also happy to have Jim as one of our annual “World of
Science” lecturers.   

● We have a wonderful gathering of planets in the morning sky in the
next few days.   The next two brightest things in the sky besides the
Sun and Moon (Venus and Jupiter) pass each other in the morning sky.  
You’ll have to look low in the southeastern sky with an unobstructed
horizon, but it should be worth it.  They pair will be closest on the
morning of February 1 but any morning a few days before of after this
date will show the two very close.   Venus is getting lower in the sky
while Jupiter rises earlier each morning.  

● If you don’t want to get up in the morning, try looking for the
International Space Station in our evening sky the next few nights.   
Tonight (January 30) the station appears at around 5:58pm in the
southwest for viewers near Champaign-Urbana and heads for the belt stars
of Orion, the Hunter.  Soon after it crosses the belt, it will pass into
the Earth’s shadow and disappear.  It will be as bright as the
brightest star in the night sky.  The next night the station is higher
in the sky, appearing at 6:17pm and disappearing at 6:23pm.   It will
again come from the southwest and head for the “W” of Cassiopeia,
then disappear near the Big Dipper in the northeast.  On February 2, ISS
will split the sky from southwest to northeast beginning at 5:25pm.  For
predictions and sky maps, check out www.heavens-above.com and put in
your city.  By the way, you can also keep track of the decaying spy
satellite USA 193 from this site as well.   

● Here’s advance notice for the last Total Eclipse of the Moon
we’ll see for about three years.  The night is Wednesday, February
20 and it’s a prime time eclipse.   The Full Moon will enter the
Earth’s shadow at 7:43pm and be completely inside the shadow at
9:01pm.  The Moon begins to come out of the shadow at 9:51pm and we’ll
have a full Moon again in the sky at 11pm.  Lunar eclipse are safe to
watch and all you need is a clear sky and your eyes.   If you want to
look at the eclipse through a telescope, come to the Staerkel
Planetarium and join the CU Astronomical Society starting at 7:30pm for
a free look.  

● Have you seen the latest views of Mercury from the Messenger probe?
  Messenger was launched on August 3, 2004 on a orbit around the Sun
that slowly drew it inward towards Mercury.   Mercury was last
photographed by the Mariner 10 mission in 1974-1975 but it only mapped
45% of the planet.   Now we’re finding out what the rest of it looks
like!   Check out the photos at http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/. 

● With planetarians having to debunk the infamous “fact on Mars”
for so many years, now we have something new!   It’s a rock formation
that looks like a person!   The photos are compelling (see
http://sasquatch-mars.blogspot.com/2008/01/sasquatch-on-mars-photo-taken-by-rover.html)
but know that the photo is enlarged.  The rock formation is about
two-inches tall!     The face on Mars isn’t a face - you can see it
here http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/extended_may2001/face/.    We
personally like the “smiley face crater!”   It’s here
http://www.msss.com/education/happy_face/happy_face.html. 

● Coming up in March the planetarium will offer its “First (and
Last) 35mm Film Festival.”  We’ll show each of our 35mm films in our
8pm time slot, one per weekend, and then retire them.   The film format
has a very rich history, which we hope to have published in our local
newspaper.   It all begin as a projection of clouds and other
atmospheric effects in the Fleischmann Planetarium in Reno, Nevada!  For
a full line-up of films, see www.parkland.edu/planetarium and look for
the film fest link.  