News from your Planetarium

By Pam Eastlick

Greetings Everyone,

Well, here I am with a very busy week almost over and congratulating myself on getting a lot accomplished when I get two e-mails that both feature variations on “Why didn’t I get my monthly Planetarium update?”

That’s when I realized that I’d never sent it! I am SO sorry. I had it in the back of my head that I’d done it when, in fact, I had not. I shall do my best not to let it happen again!

There are some cool things happening in the sky this month and of course, next week is public Planetarium shows. Keep reading and I’ll tell you all about it!

1. Go Planetary!

2. This month’s public Planetarium shows “Back to the Future”.

3. Join me for an awesome adventure in November.

Pam (And I’ll try to do better next month!)

1. Go Planetary

If you want to see Mercury in the early evening sky, you need to look fast because this coming week is your last chance to see it for a while.

Mercury will pass between the Earth and the Sun later in the month and in August, it will become a ‘morning star’. Just go outside around 7:30 p.m.

and look about a fist-width above the position of the setting Sun.

We have two other planets in our early evening sky. To find Mars, just measure five fist-widths up from the western horizon and a couple of fist-widths to the left. That bright red star isn’t a star . . . .

And if you look straight up at around 7:30 p.m. this weekend, you’ll see another bright red star. That one IS a star, it’s Arcturus, the fourth brightest star. Draw a line from Mars to Arcturus and if you’re still facing west, to the left of the line you’ll see two more bright stars.

The one on the right isn’t a star, it’s Saturn and you’ve just found 3 of the 6 visible planets.

To see two more just get up before dawn (around 5 a.m.) any morning this month and face east where the Sun will rise. That incredibly bright star is NOT a star, it’s Venus and if you look tomorrow, you’ll see that the upside-down vee of the head of Taurus the Bull is wearing Venus like a diadem. The bright red star very close to Venus is Aldebaran, the eye of the Bull.

That really bright star just above Venus and to the left also isn’t a star, it’s Jupiter! Look tonight and look tomorrow morning and you’ll see five of the six planets you can see without a telescope or binoculars.

And how do you see the sixth one? Look down! Go planetary this weekend!

2. Planetarium Public shows

Back to the Future

12, 13 and 14 July 2012

6:30 Saturday Night in Armstrong City

7:00 Your Grandchildren’s Vacation

Since it’s summer, we’re going to take a couple of trips in the Planetarium next week. Our first excursion at 6:30 p.m. will be to accompany some graduating seniors from Aldrin High School on their senior class trip. Sound kind of boring? Well, maybe not because the year is

2040 and Aldrin High is located on the Moon.

Then at 7:00 p.m. some people are going to try to sell you a tour but they’re not taking you to Cocos Island. The year is 2080 and these people want to take you on a grand tour of the solar system. It’s called “Your Grandchildren’s Vacation”. Join us next weekend for these wonderful previews of life in the future. The doors open at 6:00 p.m. Don’t miss it!

3. Contemplating Cairns

And for a different preview of life in a more immediate future, don’t forget to visit www.latitude13adventures.com to learn all about that awesome trip to Cairns Australia in November for the once-in-a-lifetime experience of a solar eclipse in a wildlife dome with lots of Aussie critters. I’m really looking forward to it and I hope some of you can join me!