StarDate

Billy Henry
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StarDate, the longest-running national radio science feature in the U.S., tells listeners what to look for in the night sky.

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  1. -1 ДН.

    Lunar Eclipse

    Life is all about cycles: birth and death, the rise and fall of the seasons, Taylor Swift tour eras. Many cycles play out in the sky as well. One of them is in view in the wee hours of tomorrow morning, as the Moon and Sun stage a total lunar eclipse. All or most of it will be visible across most of the United States. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through Earth’s long shadow. The Moon’s orbit is tilted a bit, so most months the Moon passes above or below the shadow. When the geometry is just right, though, it plunges through this cone of darkness. Each eclipse is part of a centuries-long cycle, known as a Saros. Individual eclipses in a Saros are separated by about 18 years. Tonight’s eclipse is the 27th of 71 eclipses in this cycle. The previous eclipse in the cycle took place in 2008, with the next in March of 2044. But several Saros cycles are unspooling at the same time, so Earth sees two or more lunar eclipses every year. Totality – when the Moon is fully immersed in the shadow – will last about 58 minutes. Alaska, Hawaii, and much of the West Coast will see the entire eclipse sequence. That includes the partial phases, as the Moon moves into and out of the shadow. Much of the rest of the country will see all of the total eclipse, and most of the partial phases, with the Moon setting before the eclipse ends. Script by Damond Benningfield

    2 мин.

  2. -2 ДН.

    Moon and Regulus

    The Moon stalks the heart of the lion tonight. And seen from Hawaii, it’ll catch it. The Moon will “occult” the heart, blocking it from view. The lion’s heart is Regulus, the brightest star of Leo. The name Regulus means “the little king.” It was introduced 500 years ago. But the star’s association with royalty goes back much farther. In ancient Persia, Regulus was one of the four “royal” stars – four especially bright stars near the ecliptic – the Sun’s path across the sky. The stars are roughly evenly spaced around the ecliptic. That means each star is at its best during a different season. So each star was considered the “guardian” of its season. Regulus is closer to the ecliptic than the other three guardians, so it was the most important of them all – a king among kings. The Moon stays close to the ecliptic as well, straying only a few degrees to either side. So it circles past the same stars every month – including Regulus. Right now, the Moon’s path carries it especially close. And that’s easy to see tonight. Regulus is below the Moon as night falls. But as the hours roll by, the Moon will creep closer and closer to the bright star. As seen from the continental United States, they’ll be separated by no more than about one degree as they set, before dawn – the width of a pencil held at arm’s length. And from Hawaii, the Moon will catch the star – “eclipsing” the little king. Script by Damond Benningfield

    2 мин.

  3. -3 ДН.

    Missing Planets

    The planets in our solar system fit into two groups. Four of the planets are small and rocky; Earth is the largest. The other four are big and bloated; Neptune is the smallest. But there’s nothing between the sizes of Earth and Neptune. And that’s a bit odd. Two of the most common types of planets elsewhere in the galaxy are somewhere in the middle: super-Earths and mini-Neptunes. Astronomers have confirmed more than 6,000 planets in other star systems. Only one system has as many known planets as the solar system does. And the planets in almost all the known systems are packed in much closer to their stars than the worlds of the solar system – in part because close-in planets are the easiest to find. But the biggest difference between our system and all the others appears to be the lack of super-Earths and mini-Neptunes. A super-Earth is up to twice the diameter of Earth, and two to ten times Earth’s mass. Such worlds probably are dense and rocky. They may have thick atmospheres of hydrogen and helium, and perhaps deep oceans of liquid water. Mini-Neptunes are larger than super-Earths, but no bigger than Neptune. They probably have a solid core as well, but thicker layers of gases and liquids. The distinction between the two types of planets isn’t always clear. They probably have a lot in common – including the fact that we don’t have either of them in our own solar system. Script by Damond Benningfield

    2 мин.

  4. -4 ДН.

    Moon and Gemini

    You might forgive Pollux if it feels disrespected. It’s the brightest star of Gemini – twice as bright as Castor, its “twin.” But the designation that’s most often used by astronomers is Beta Geminorum. And the Greek letter “Beta” usually is applied to a constellation’s runner-up. That naming system was created by German astronomer Johann Bayer, in 1603. He used the Greek alphabet to name most of the stars in a constellation. Usually, the brightest star was given the first letter, Alpha. The next-brightest was Beta, and so on. But in some cases, Bayer switched things up. He labeled the stars based on their location in the constellation’s classical outline, or on some other category. So for Gemini, Pollux became the “Beta” star even though it’s clearly brighter than “Alpha.” Pollux really is an impressive star. It’s moved into the red-giant phase of life. In fact, it’s the closest red giant to the Sun, at a distance of just 34 light-years. It’s puffed up to about nine times the diameter of the Sun, so it shines almost 40 times brighter than the Sun. And it has a distinctively orange tint – a beautiful look for an impressive star. Pollux and Castor line up to the upper left of the Moon at nightfall this evening. Pollux is closer to the Moon. The planet Jupiter is farther to the upper right of the Moon. Jupiter outshines all the true stars in the night sky – even the brightest light of Gemini. Script by Damond Benningfield

    2 мин.

  5. -5 ДН.

    Moon and Jupiter

    If you head for orbit around Jupiter, you might want to take along your dust mop. Wide but thin rings encircle the planet. And they’re made of tiny particles of dust. Jupiter’s rings are nothing like the magnificent set that encircles Saturn. The rings are so faint, in fact, that they weren’t discovered until 1979, when the Voyager 1 spacecraft flew close to Jupiter. The system consists of four main rings. The inner ring, known as the halo, contains especially tiny particles, like a thin haze. The particles in the main ring are a little larger, but still quite small. And the two outer rings – known as gossamer rings – are wide and thick, but still don’t add up to much. The particles that make up the rings probably were chipped off of some the small moons that orbit close to Jupiter. Chunks of ice and rock slam into the moons, blasting out clouds of debris. The particles in the rings spiral into Jupiter quickly – within hundreds or thousands of years. So the rings are being constantly replenished by more impacts – adding to the dusty environment around the solar system’s largest planet. Jupiter teams up with the Moon and the twins of Gemini tonight. The planet looks like a brilliant star below the Moon at nightfall. It’s far brighter than any of the true stars. Gemini’s twins – the stars Castor and Pollux – line up to the lower left of the Moon. More about this beautiful grouping tomorrow. Script by Damond Benningfield

    2 мин.

  6. -6 ДН.

    Dangerous Storm

    The first solar flare ever observed was also by far the biggest yet seen. But such a monster storm will happen again. And when it does, it’s unlikely that even a single spacecraft in Earth orbit will come out unscathed. And many could be destroyed. The benchmark storm so far was the Carrington Event. It was observed by British astronomer Richard Carrington, in 1859. He saw a brilliant flash of light erupt from a dark sunspot. The eruption produced beautiful displays of the northern and southern lights. It also zapped telegraph wires, disrupting transmissions and even starting fires in some stations. Scientists at the European Space Agency recently simulated what would happen to satellites if such a monster storm hit us today. They concluded that it would be bad – really bad. Over a period of about a day, GPS systems would fail. Satellite instruments would glitch or fail, entire satellites would be destroyed, and some ground stations would be knocked out. Earth’s outer atmosphere would expand dramatically, dragging satellites down. That would increase the risk of collisions, and reduce the time in orbit for any survivors. Operators can take some actions to protect their satellites. But that requires good forecasts of space weather. And future satellites could be equipped with better shielding. Even with those precautions, though, no satellite would be unaffected by the fury of a monster storm on the Sun. Script by Damond Benningfield

    2 мин.

  7. 24 ФЕВР.

    Danger Zone

    Anything that’s in Earth orbit faces the constant threat of radiation – energy and charged particles from the Sun and beyond. It can cause instruments to glitch or fail, and even destroy a satellite. And it poses a health risk for astronauts. The threat is greatest in a zone in the southern hemisphere – the South Atlantic Anomaly. It covers several million square miles above South America and South Atlantic Ocean. It’s a weak spot in Earth’s magnetic field that allows intense radiation to penetrate closer to the surface. And it’s getting bigger. The magnetic field can deflect many of the charged particles that bombard our planet. That protects orbiting satellites and astronauts. It also protects the surface from power blackouts and other effects. But the field is offset a bit from the center of the planet. It extends a little farther into space in some regions, but dips closer to the surface in others. And the South Atlantic Anomaly is the biggest dip of all. Spacecraft that are passing through the region often have to switch off some of their instruments to protect them from the harsh radiation. A recent study found that the anomaly has gotten bigger over the past decade – by about half the area of continental Europe. So the space above that part of Earth is getting nastier – a bigger “danger zone” in the southern hemisphere. We’ll have more about radiation hazards tomorrow. Script by Damond Benningfield

    2 мин.

  8. 23 ФЕВР.

    Moon and Pleiades

    To the eye alone, the Pleiades cluster looks like a small dipper of about seven stars – a few more if you have nice, dark skies. But when Galileo Galilei looked at it with his first small telescope, he saw a few dozen stars. It was one of the first indications that there’s far more to the universe than meets the eye. You can share Galileo’s view with a basic pair of binoculars – no telescope required. They’re especially helpful tonight because of the Moon. It passes through the outskirts of the cluster, so it points the way. But the moonlight makes it tougher to see the stars. The Pleiades is a family of perhaps a couple of thousand stars. The stars were all born together, from the same cloud of gas and dust. That makes the cluster a good laboratory. Since the stars all started with the same mix of elements, any differences among them are the result of their evolution – changes within the stars themselves. That helps astronomers understand how all stars change over the eons. The cluster probably is a little more than a hundred million years old. That means it’s completed only about half an orbit around the center of the galaxy. During that time, it’s lost many of its original stars. And before it can complete one full orbit from its current location, it’s likely to evaporate – pulled apart by the gravitational tug of the rest of the galaxy. Tomorrow: a growing “danger zone.” Script by Damond Benningfield

    2 мин.

  9. 22 ФЕВР.

    Cruel Star

    Stars aren’t always nice to their offspring – especially at the end. As a star dies, it expands. It can get big enough to engulf some of its planets. The Sun, for example, is likely to swallow Mercury and Venus, and might get Earth as well. A star in Cygnus might have engulfed one of its planets fairly recently. Two others might be doomed as well. Kepler-56 isa red giant – a dying star that’s much bigger than the Sun. It has three known giant planets. Two of them are quite close in, so they may not survive the star’s final act. Kepler-56 is rotating much faster than most red giants. And vibrations at the surface reveal that its core and its outer layers are spinning at different rates and angles. There are several possible reasons for this odd behavior. One is the gravitational influence of the close-in planets. Another is that the star might have swallowed a planet early on. A recent study suggested something else: The star might have swallowed a planet fairly recently. The planet would have been about as massive as Jupiter, the giant of our own solar system. As it plunged in, its orbital momentum spun the star up. So Kepler-56 isn’t being kind to its offspring as its own life comes to an end. Kepler-56 is in the east-northeast at dawn. It’s half way between Deneb, Cygnus’s brightest star, and even brighter Vega. But Kepler-56 is too faint to see without a telescope. Script by Damond Benningfield

    2 мин.

  10. 21 ФЕВР.

    Mystery Lights

    Things sometimes flash in the night sky. That includes some weird and wonderful astronomical objects. Some of them shine for a few minutes or even seconds, then vanish. So it can be tough to understand just what caused them. Thousands of these “transients” showed up in a decade-long look at the night sky. And a recent study found a statistical link between some of those transients and both nuclear weapons tests and reports of UFOs. The study analyzed thousands of nights of observations by the Palomar Sky Survey. From 1949 to 1958, astronomers repeatedly photographed the night sky on glass plates, looking to compile the best map of the heavens to date. Many of the plates revealed transients that were star-like pinpoints of light. They appeared out of nowhere, then disappeared just as quickly. The study found that, on average, the number of transients was greater on nights just after above-ground nuclear explosions. And there were more reports of UFOs on nights with more transients. There are many possible explanations. There could be problems with the original plates, for example. The nukes could’ve created some previously unknown effects in the atmosphere. The study also says the flashes could have been metallic objects far above our planet – perhaps even visitors from other worlds. But many scientists say we need a much more thorough look at the pictures before we’ll know what caused these flashes in the night sky. Script by Damond Benningfield

    2 мин.
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StarDate, the longest-running national radio science feature in the U.S., tells listeners what to look for in the night sky.

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  • Автор
    Billy Henry
  • Годы выхода
    2017 - 2026
  • Выпуски
    10
  • Ограничения
    Без ненормативной лексики
  • Авторские права
    © 2022 The University of Texas McDonald Observatory
  • Сайт подкаста
    StarDate

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