dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (11/02/85)
Look for a star called Spica, near the brilliant planet Venus Sunday morning. More -- after this. November 2 Spica and Venus Before dawn in the next few days, you can see the star Spica next to the planet Venus in the eastern sky. Venus is very easy to see. It's by far the brightest thing in the predawn sky besides the moon. Spica is nearly a hundred times fainter than Venus. But it's still one of the brightest stars -- and easy to see -- now very near Venus before dawn. Spica will be rising earlier each day. It'll be pulling away from Venus in the east to appear higher in the sky each morning. By the end of this month, Spica will be near another planet in the predawn sky -- red Mars. Mars can be seen now in the east before dawn -- but it's very faint. Mars is now located above brilliant Venus and Spica in the eastern predawn sky. As Spica appears higher in the east each morning -- Venus will appear lower -- closer to the eastern horizon. Venus is now fleeing ahead of Earth in the race around the sun. The brilliant planet is about to "turn the corner" ahead of us in orbit -- and be lost from view in the solar glare. Venus will sink closer to the sun in our sky each day until early-December. Then it'll disappear into the sun's glare. So take a look in the next few days -- brilliant Venus -- near the star Spica -- in the east before dawn. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin
ken@rochester.UUCP (and Vicki Herrieschopper) (11/06/85)
Let me first of all say that I enjoy the StarDate series. It is
informative even if I never get the chance to see the heavenly
bodies mentioned due to inclement weather or what not.
My peeve is the constant use of the phrase "More -- after this".
It gives me bad memories of TV commercial breaks. As far as I
can see, it usually is "More -- after this newline". How about
dropping it?
Ken
--
UUCP: ..!{allegra,decvax,seismo}!rochester!ken ARPA: ken@rochester.arpa
USnail: Dept. of Comp. Sci., U. of Rochester, NY 14627. Voice: Ken!jkw@lanl.ARPA (11/06/85)
> Let me first of all say that I enjoy the StarDate series. It is > informative even if I never get the chance to see the heavenly > bodies mentioned due to inclement weather or what not. > > My peeve is the constant use of the phrase "More -- after this". > It gives me bad memories of TV commercial breaks. As far as I ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > can see, it usually is "More -- after this newline". How about > dropping it? That's exactly why it's there -- the Stardate articles you see are actually scripts for the radio program and somebody has to pay for them. Hence, commercial breaks.