bcg@ncs-med.UUCP (Brian C. Grande) (10/31/85)
Hi, I downloaded this from a local L5 modem (612-920-5566) and am just
passing it along... good viewing! -brian
Minnesota Starwatch is a tape recorded message describing the night sky in
the Midwest, which can be called by telephone at (612) 376-5587. The following
is the text of this message for November 1985.
Hello, this is Minnesota Starwatch for November 1985. Jupiter is very
prominent in the southern sky right after sunset. You can pick out Jupiter
not only because it is brighter than any other nearby object in the sky, but
also because it doesn't twinkle like stars do. Jupiter is the largest planet
in the solar system and is sometimes referred to as a 'star that didn't make
it'. If Jupiter were five times or so more massive than it is, it would be
just massive enough to start nuclear reactions in its core like the sun has.
It would then appear as a faint red star, much cooler and fainter than the much
more massive sun. Astronomers have been intensively searching for examples of
these so-called 'infrared dwarfs', stars that are just barely massive enough to
have nuclear reactions in their core and consequently shine completely by
reflecting sunlight.
Later on in the evening, a tight cluster of stars will rise in the
southeast. These stars the Pleiades, well known since ancient times. The
Pleiades look a little like a small dipper or ladel on the sky. This cluster
is very young by astronomical standards, having formed within the last 100
million years. We know this because the Pleiades cluster contains very bright,
hot,blue stars. These stars must burn nuclear fuel in their cores at a
tremendous rate in order to shine so bright. This means they are quickly using
up the unprocessed gas in their cores and will run out of fuel in a very much
shorter time than a star like sun. Consequently they will have very short
lives compared to the sun and the fact that we see them at all means they
cannot be very old.
Halley's comet continues to make its approach to the sun. It has passed
inside the orbit of Mars and will spend November traveling between the orbits
of Mars and the Earth. The Earth unfortunately, will be moving away from the
comet by the end of this month.
The current show at the Minneapolis Planetarium is "Catastrophe". Show
times are Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 pm. 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 the WCCO Weather Center.
--
Brian C. Grande ihnp4!umn-cs!ncs-med!bcg
National Computer Systems
Health Systems Division
5700 Green Circle Drive Work 612-893-8158
Minnetonka, MN 55343 Home 612-938-2437