91.5 KRCC's Looking Up

This week on Looking Up Bruce Bookout tells us a bit about the naming process for asteroids. During another 80's musical interlude, I wondered how asteroids are named. Asteroids are those left-over parts of the cloud that formed our solar system. These planetesimals didn't quite make it to a full planet and literally are our debris field among the planets. There are more than 794,000 known minor planets known.

Mars does a disappearing act in the early morning sky on February 18. But not to worry, it's just hiding behind the moon, as Hal explains on this week's Looking Up. We’ve talked before about how the planets revolve around the Sun in pretty much a flat plane that is roughly circular. And remember too that the moons going around the planets in the Solar System are also going around in that same basic plane. That means that every now and then, from a particular observer’s point of view, planets and

This week on Looking up Hal informs us about a star named Porrima. But is it one star or two? High in the east in the Colorado night sky is the very interesting star Porrima. Or rather, I should say stars, because there are actually two stars orbiting each other, only 38 ly away. Or maybe I should just say “star” because whether you see one or two stars through a telescope depends on what year it is.

This week on Looking Up Hal grabs a celestial lion by the tail. One of my favorite constellations is Leo the Lion, now rising in the east after sunset. Leo has lots of interesting stars, and it also actually looks a bit like what it is supposed to be, a lion.

This week on Looking Up Bruce Bookout takes on a listener question. One of our listeners, Scott K., asked a great question that is the basis of how we know, what we know about the universe. His question is: “How do astronomers determine things such as the existence of water and/or the estimated temperature on a planet that is light years away?”

This week on Looking Up Hal doubles our pleasure and doubles our fun by revealing some of the secrets of the Gemini Twins. Did you ever wish you had a twin brother or sister? Someone to be with and to talk to all the time? How about to spend all eternity with in the Colorado night sky? If you said yes to the latter, you may well be talking about the wonderful constellation of Gemini soaring in the Colorado night sky now through May.

This week's Looking Up has a certain flow to it as Hal talks about the river constellation. There are lots of constellations up in the Colorado night sky all year round, with 88 total constellations all told. Today I want to tell you about one you may never have heard of, but is low in the Colorado sky right now, the river constellation, formally known as Eridanus.

Fortunately, our very own star won't be falling down from the sky anytime soon. However, we are the closest to ol' Sol right now than at any other point of our yearly path around the sun, as we learn on Looking Up this week. Well, we are now in the deep, dark, days of winter. The holidays are behind us, and we’re still about a month away from having a groundhog predict when Spring will arrive. And so, with the cold winter winds blowing past you, let me ask, were you a bit warmer yesterday?

This week on Looking Up Hal gets around to telling us about an asterism visible in the night sky this time of year - the Winter Circle. If you are a weather wimp, like I am, you prefer warm weather. That point of view is a bit unfortunate for astronomers, because the winter night sky seen here in Colorado is in many ways far more beautiful and interesting than what we see when it’s warm outside.

Yes, the darkest days are still ahead but spring can't be too far behind as we learn on Looking Up this week. We’ve talked before about how the Earth is tilted on its axis, and that tilt gives us seasons and days of varying length, in terms of how many hours of Sun and darkness we have.