Look Up: What's in the Sky This Week?
Iwo Jima Memorial and Orion, where we should be able to spot some Orionids flashing through the sky this week. Image by Samer Farha.
The news isn't good for stargazers this weekend. Both events we mentioned last weekend, the National Capital Astronomers "Exploring the Sky" in Rock Creek Park and NOVAC's 27th Annual Star Gaze, are certainly going to be rained out. We'll let you know if the annual Star Gaze is rescheduled.
Let's trust Weather.com for a minute and assume the sky will clear up by Monday. That will give us a perfect window to catch the Orionids, debris from Halley's comet the Earth travels through every October. If you're reading this from outside the rain-zone, take a look up, because they actually started yesterday and will hit their peak next Wednesday, when we might see up to 25 meteors an hour. We might have an especially nice view that night, because the Moon will only be two days old, giving us a pretty dark sky.
The meteors will appear to originate from Orion, The Hunter, one of the first constellations every skygazer learns (many friends have told me they "feel at home" when they can find Orion in the sky). Orion is more of a winter constellation, so we're still waiting a few hours after sunset for it to rise in the East. You can't miss the hunter's collection of high magnitude stars -- look first for the three stars making up his belt (lining up almost vertical from the horizon), then to the left to see his shoulders, including Betelgeuse. To the right of the belt you'll see the hem of his hunter's robe, including Rigel, the sixth brightest star in the sky. "Hanging" from the belt is Orion's sword, used to locate the spectacular Orion nebula, which is so big and bright it can be seen with the naked eye on clear, dark nights. (Back in the day, using a massive 9.5" refractor, I used M42 as a teaching tool during Astronomy 110 labs.) Although you might catch an Orionid streaking anywhere in the sky, keep your eyes towards the hunter for the best view. The International Year of Astronomy site has a great FAQ about the Orionids.
After the jump: more on LCROSS, and your calendar of super awesome upcoming events.
For all of you who tuned in last week for our little discussion on LCROSS, there are some fantastic updates. NASA is calling the mission a "smashing success." It's taken most of the week to analyze the data from the Shepherding Spacecraft that collected information just after the Centaur rocket's impact, but they can confirm now that there was, in fact, a plume of vapor and dust kicked up by the rocket, which you can see here. The reason it took a few days to find it in the data is that it was found in a slightly different part of the spectrum than scientists predicted -- that spectrograph information will help tell us exactly what materials were in the ejecta plume and, thus, hiding just under the surface of the Moon.
Get out your calendar for the following events this week:
Tuesday:
The University of Maryland Observatory will have an open house at 9 p.m. Take a look through their ridiculous collection of telescopes (weather permitting) and listen to Dr. Derek Lamb talk about "Magnetic Fields on the Sun from the Time of Galileo to the Present."
Wednesday:
Not exactly astronomy, but what space fan doesn't love risky aerobatics? The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum will host premier air show performer Patty Wagstaff whose new short film, Over Africa! Low and Slow with the Kenya Wildlife Service, shows how she teaches game wardens to fly low to protect wildlife from poachers. Our career-crush Miles O'Brien, who documented her mission, will also be there. Film at 7:30 p.m., lecture at 8 p.m. Event is free but tickets required.
Thursday:
If you work out near Dulles, take a lunch break and hear Dr. David Devorkin during an Ask the Expert event at the Air & Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center. His topic: "Is the Sun a Variable Star? Instruments from the collection that have asked and answered that question over the past century." 12:30 p.m.
Next Saturday:
The Owens Science Center and the Astronomical Society of Greenbelt are hosting an Astronomy Day Open House from 12 to 5:30 p.m. Head over to Northway Field (directions on the downloadable fllyer) at 6:45 p.m. to continue the event with some (again, weather permitting) star gazing. Use the scopes provided by the event or bring your own.
The Howard Astronomy League will have their monthly star party open to the public at Alpha Ridge Park. The scopes are ready to roll right after sunset and the party usually runs til around 11 p.m.
As if the kids don't already love the Air & Space Museum, bring them to the Udvar-Hazy Center for the Halloween event "Air & Scare" from 2 to 8 p.m. Come in costume to trick-or-treat, get face paintings, and meet some space characters walking around the place. Free, but parking is $15.