Things have been quiet here at the Ramblings the past three weeks because I was out doing an astronomy speaking gig on a cruise ship. Internet access is slow and expensive from the ship, so I really didn’t post much. I’m back now, though, and it’s time to get in gear talking about the sky.
First, after you get done reading this entry, check out my ‘Casts and Videos page. When you get there, scroll down to a pair of programs I’ve been producing for Astrocast.TV. One is a look at Big Astronomy called The Astronomer’s Universe.
The other is a monthly sky guide called Our Night Sky. Think of them as short-subject films about astronomy to help you get started as a stargazer and/or learn more about what astronomers are finding out about the cosmos. If you’re a planetarium or observatory, Our Night Sky is available free of charge for you to post on your institution’s web site as an embed.
Finding Jupiter this week. Courtesy Sky&Telescope.com (a great source for astronomy information). Click to Jovianate.
So, for most folks in the world, October is a pretty good month for stargazing. Here in the northern hemisphere, the night aren’t snowy and cold yet (particularly in the higher elevations or northerly latitudes. That means that you can still get out there and find some cool stuff without freezing yourself. In the southern hemisphere, the climate is shifting to spring—and while it might be
chilly and cold in some places, the skies are quite rewarding to look at. Wherever you are, dress for the weather and as they say in the cruise advertisements: get out there!
When we were landing at the airport the other night we had a lovely view of moonrise. Not long after that, we spotted a white starlike object in the eastern sky. Not a star though… it’s a planet: it’s Jupiter! Check it out through binoculars or a small telescope. It’s a rewarding sight. I had a lot of people on the ship asking me about it, and when I got home, I even had a friend from Hawai’i call and ask me what it was. Jupiter was the planet that fired up Galileo Galilei’s imagination and scientific instincts back in 1610 when he looked at it through his telescope. What he saw advanced astronomy from a passive activity of simply looking at stuff in the sky to one where scientists could speculate about the true nature of what they saw and construct theories and models based on their observations. Yep, that’s what Jupiter did for Galileo. See what it can do for you! And, keep looking up!
So, what DOES the Moon mean to you? That’s the question a group of folks interested in lunar exploration are asking as they prepare for International Observe the Moon Night, which is October 8th. The idea is to get folks interested in the Moon, either by observing it or by learning more about the science that astronomers are doing to learn about the Moon. Preferably both! The organizing team consists of scientists, educators, and Moon enthusiasts from all walks of life, the business community, and governments around the world.
So, what’s it take to get involved? Have a moon-gazing event. It can be as simple as gathering in your neighborhood, a gazing session at your planetarium or science center or through your astronomy club. There are already some cool events planned, like moongazing at the Casper Planetarium in Casper, Wyoming, and observing at the South African Astronomical Observatory. You can peruse the current list of activities here.
To get folks in interested in some of the science done on the Moon past, present and future, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific has posted a special episode of their podcast series, Astronomy Behind the Headlines, called “Science From the Moon.” It’s an interview with Dr. Jack Burns of the University of Colorado’s Lunar University Network for Astrophysics Research (LUNAR)—written, conducted and produced by yours truly for ASP (with music from Geodesium)! The podcast was made possible by NASA’s Lunar Science Institute. So, listen in on a great conversation about lunar science, and then get out there and enjoy the Moon!
