STAR GAZER
THE INTERNATIONAL EDITION

STAR GAZER is seen nationally on most PBS stations. There is a five minute and a one minute version available each week. If it is not currently on your PBS station we suggest you contact your local PBS programming director and let them know it is available free to all PBS stations. Visit http://www.pbs.org/stationfinder/index.html for help in locating your local PBS station. You may take STAR GAZER off satellite for personal use, classroom use, astronomy club use, etc. without written permission.

Satellite feed info:

GE 3 - PBS Transponder 512 - Digital Only!

Half Hour Feed STAH 904
Friday September 18, 2009, 1130-1200/SD06
Includes episodes 0940, 0941, 0942, 0943

Star Gazer is also available from NASA CORE. A videotape of the current month is available from NASA CORE (Contact us for current price)

NASA Central Operation of Resources for Educators (CORE)
Lorain County JVS-CORE
15181 Route 58 South
Oberlin, OH 44074

Phone: (440) 775-1400
Fax: (440) 775-1460
E-mail: NASA_order@lcjvs.net
http://www.nasa.gov/education/core

---

Notice : These are working drafts of the scripts for STAR GAZER.
Changes may well be made as production requires.

---

"Star Gazer" is available with iTunes,
for downloading with Quicktime
and we're now on YouTube

STAR GAZER 5 MINUTE

Episode # 09-40 / 1661st Show
To Be Aired : Monday 10/05/2009 through
Sunday 10/11/2009

"Mars And The Gemini Twins Line Up In A Row,
Venus and Saturn Pair Up Super Close And
An Exquisite Moon Watches It All"

Horkheimer: Greetings, greetings fellow star gazers. Mark three dates next week when you can see three wonderful cosmic occurrences. On Monday October 12th Mars will line up with the brightest stars of Gemini. On Tuesday the 13th Venus and Saturn will make a super close pair and on Friday the 16th a slender sliver of a Moon will make a triangle with Venus and Saturn. Let me show you.

O.K., we've got our skies set up for next Monday October 12th one hour before sunrise facing east where you will see a 23 day old waning crescent Moon. And just above it three bright objects lined up in a row. The one closest to the Moon is our old friend and half the size of our Earth, 4,000 mile wide rouge gold Mars which we have been visiting with rovers for the past two years sending back incredible pictures for the whole world to see. Something I never expected to see when I was a kid.

And just up and to the left of Mars are the two brightest stars of Gemini the twins, Castor and Pollux, which you will be able to see in early evening skies all winter long. So use the Moon to find both Mars and the Gemini twins. Next look directly below them and you will see the brightest planet of them all, 8,000 mile wide, same size as our Earth, Venus. And just below it 75,000 mile wide ringed Saturn. They'll be very close, only two full Moon widths apart. But 24 hours later on Tuesday October 13th they'll be at their closest only one full Moon apart, wow! Don't miss this and please if you have a small telescope or binoculars, use them.

Now you'll also notice that Mars, Castor and Pollux are still in a straight line but that the Moon has moved a considerable distance and gotten skinnier and is on its way to pay a visit to Saturn and Venus. But regrettably will not get to them before they are out of their huddle and well apart from each other. In fact on Wednesday you'll clearly see that Saturn has changed places with Venus and is now above it rather than below it and that once again two full Moons could fit between them. On Thursday they'll be even farther apart and an even skinnier Moon will be closing in on them. And on Friday the 16th Venus and Saturn will be so far apart that seven full Moons could fit between them. But they'll form an exquisite triangle with one of the skinniest Moons you'll ever see. Wow again!

Of course all this visual closeness of cosmic objects is merely an illusion. In fact next week our Moon will be only 230 thousand miles away, Venus will be 140 million miles away, and Saturn 960 million miles away. The disparity between Mars and the Gemini twins however will be even greater. Indeed Mars will be only 125 million miles away next week whereas Pollux will be 34 light years away, and Castor a whopping 52 light years beyond!

So don't forget, on Monday Mars, Castor and Pollux line up in a row, on Tuesday Saturn and Venus are only one full Moon apart and on Friday they make an exquisite triangle with a super skinny Moon. Keep looking up!

How did you like this episode?
Please give us your comments. (Click Here)

For GRAPHICS for this script (Click) Here

"Star Gazer" is available with iTunes,
for downloading with Quicktime
and we're now on YouTube

Check Out WPBT's Version

"Mars And The Gemini Twins Line Up In A Row,
Venus and Saturn Pair Up Super Close And
An Exquisite Moon Watches It All"

Horkheimer: Next week you can see three wonderful cosmic occurrences. On Monday just before sunrise face east and to the left of a waning Moon you'll see the planet Mars and the two brightest stars of Gemini the Twins, Castor and Pollux lined up in a row. Directly below them you'll see the brightest planet Venus only two full Moon widths away from Saturn. But 24 hours later on Tuesday they'll be super close, only one full Moon apart. Wow! The Moon will move closer and closer to Venus and Saturn each day as Saturn and Venus slowly move apart. Then ta da! on Friday the 16th one of the skinniest Moons you'll ever see will form an exquisite triangle with Venus and Saturn! Monday the 12th, Tuesday the 13th, and Friday the 16th! Keep looking up!

How did you like this episode?
Please give us your comments. (Click Here)

For GRAPHICS for this script (Click) Here

* This week's Sky At A Glance and Planet Roundup from Sky & Telescope.
This week's Sky At A Glance displays current week only.

Starry Night Deluxe was used to produce this episode of Star Gazer

Return to the [STAR GAZER Main Page]