bcg@ncs-med.UUCP (Brian C. Grande) (01/15/86)
Hi, I downloaded this from the local L5 modem (612-920-5566) and am
passing it along for interested people. Sorry it's late, I was on vacation
in sunny San Diego! -brian
Greetings, this is Minnesota Starwatch for January 1986.
During the first half of this month Halley's Comet is faintly visible in
the south-western sky during evening twilight, after sunset. The comet is
passing across the constellation Aquarius, and by now everyone knows that it's
not spectacular. To be sure of seeing it you should have a clear, dark
non-urban sky, a star map, and preferably a pair of binoculars.
The planet Jupiter is also in the same part of the sky. The comet appears
about 10 degrees above Jupiter; that's roughly the width of your fist at arms
length. Jupiter is 5 times as far away as the comet. Halley's Comet is now
inside Earth's orbit, about 108 million miles away from us on January 1, and
we're temporarily moving away from it. By the end of the month the comet is
invisible, on the far side of the Sun, and will pass closest to the Sun on
Febraury 9. A few weeks later it'll come into sight again, moving away from
the Sun.
Moonlight and twilight make Halley's Comet harder to see after the middle
of the month. New moon is at 6 a.m. on the 10th, and full moon is at 7 p.m. on
the 26th. Another bit of astronomical trivia this month is Earth's perihelion
passage, our annual closest approach to the sun. This year perihelion is at
midnight on the night after New Year's Eve. At that time we're 91.4 million
miles from the center of the Sun and some of us in Minnesota wouldn't mind
being a little closer.
The planet Mars is in the south-southeastern sky before sunrise, in the
constellation Libra (Lee-bra) and not very bright yet. Later this year,
though, Earth will catch up with Mars and pass between it and the Sun and then
Mars will be brighter. Right now Saturn is to the lower left of Mars in the
morning sky and brighter than Mars. Between the 5th and 7th the Moon will
pass close in the sky to Mars and then Saturn. Both of those planets are still
over on the far side of the Sun; Mars is 163 million miles away and Saturn is
almost a billion miles away this month.
Around January 24 Voyager 2 will encounter the planet Uranus (Yoo'-renus).
We don't know much about Uranus, because it's so far from the Sun. Voyager 2
is a spacecraft launched in 1977, which passed Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn in
1981.
Beginning January 11th, the new show at the Minneapolis Planetarium will
be "Comet Halley, Once in a Lifetime," and will run until April 20th. Show
times are Saturday at 11:00, 2:00, and 3:00 and Sunday at 2:00 and 3:00. The
Planetarium is located in the main Public Library, 300 Nicollet Mall. For more
information, call 372-6644.
This has been Minnesota Starwatch, produced by the University of Minnesota
Astronomy Department in cooperation with WCCO Weather Center.
--
Brian Grande ihnp4!umn-cs!ncs-med!bcg
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