STAR GAZER
THE INTERNATIONAL EDITION
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Horkheimer: Greetings, greetings fellow star gazers.
Every year at Thanksgiving I like to remind you about three cosmic
birds in addition to the turkey on the table. And this year will
be no exception. However I'd also like to point out a few other
wonderful cosmic objects, which you can see after Thanksgiving
dinner as a kind of heavenly dessert. Let me show you.
O.K., we've got our skies set up for any night this Thanksgiving week about 8 p.m. facing southwest where the brightest thing you'll see will be the king of the planets Jupiter. In addition to looking wonderful to the naked eye it is exciting to watch through a small telescope with its four largest moons constantly changing orbit around it. Next if you look to the right of Jupiter due west you'll see three bright stars which make up the Summer Triangle, but which I call the Thanksgiving for-the-birds triangle because each star is related to a bird. Altair is the brightest star in Aquila the Eagle, Deneb is the brightest star in Cygnus the Swan and Vega is the brightest star in Lyra the Harp which thousands of years ago had several feathery reincarnations. So you've got three cosmic birds in addition to your Thanksgiving turkey.
Next look almost overhead and you'll see four much dimmer stars, which mark the Great Square of Pegasus, which is one of autumn's most prominent constellations. But what I think is really nifty is if you look to the east you'll see most of winter's brightest stars just beginning to rise. Three stars lined up in a row mark Orion's belt, two bright stars mark his shoulders and two bright stars mark his knees. Close beside him are the two brightest stars of the Gemini Twins, Castor and Pollux and above them both the bright red star Aldebaran, which marks the eye of Taurus the Bull. And right beside it if you're far from city lights and have dark skies you'll see one of my favorite groups of stars the very tiny but exquisite Pleiades, the Seven Sisters and below it the bright star Capella of Auriga the Charioteer.
So any Thanksgiving week night if you go outside
around 8 p.m. you'll see not only the Summer Triangle getting
ready to set but most of winter's stars starting to rise plus
the winged horse Pegasus almost overhead. But aha! this year there
is something very special added because if you wait until around
11 p.m. and look east you'll see a bright reddish gold object
rising and that dear friends is the planet Mars which you can
watch get steadily brighter night after night until it reaches
its brightest on January 29 when it will be at opposition and
at its closest and brightest for this meeting with Earth, a meeting
which we experience every 26 months. So start your Mars watch
now as it grows brighter every single night and gets higher in
the heavens each night at the same time. Happy Thanksgiving and
keep looking up!
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Horkheimer: Cosmic goodies await you after Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving week about 8 p.m. face southwest and the planet king will beg you to look at it through a small telescope. Look west and you'll see the three bright stars, which make up the Summer Triangle. Each star is related to a bird so in addition to your Thanksgiving turkey you've got three cosmic birds after dinner. Look east and you'll see most of winter's brightest stars just rising, Orion the hunter, the Gemini Twins, Taurus the Bull and the tiny but exquisite Pleiades, the Seven Sisters. Plus at 11 o'clock you'll see rouge gold Mars rising. Watch it get brighter every single night until it reaches super brightness January 29th! Happy cosmic Thanksgiving and keep looking up!
How did you like this episode?
Please give us your comments. (Click
Here)
* This week's Sky At A Glance
and Planet Roundup from Sky & Telescope.Starry Night Deluxe was used to produce this episode
of Star Gazer
![[SmilinJack]](jack1sm.jpg)
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