August Stargazing

Time marches on.  So do the heavens.

SkyTips: August 2013

Spiders in Space
Arabella, a small garden spider launched into space in 1973, found the trip to orbit a little disorienting at first, as this picture of her first web shows. After a few days, though, she was spinning webs much more like those she produced on Earth. [NASA]

Stargazing Summary

Three of the five planets that are easily visible to the unaided eye congregate in the eastern sky at dawn as the month begins. Dazzling Jupiter stands highest in the sky, with fainter Mars close below it as the month begins and Mercury below Mars. Jupiter and Mars pull higher into the sky each morning, while Mars begins to dive back toward the Sun by mid-month. Scorpius and Sagittarius continue to beckon in the south for much of the night, while the Summer Triangle climbs higher at each nightfall.

More stargazing information »

Radio Program Highlights

Welcome New Affiliates: StarDate is pleased to welcome new affiliates in St. Louis (107.3 FM or HD2 96.3 at 7:20 a.m. every morning) and St. Cloud, Minnesota (on KVSC-FM, 88.1 FM, at 9:15 a.m., 4:15 p.m. and midnight every day). If you want to start hearing the StarDate program in your area, you can request a station to carry our program by emailing the request to stations@stardate.org.

August 1-4: Morning Encounters. The Moon slides past a bright array of planets in the dawn sky this weekend, and we'll have the lineup card for you. We'll also talk about an ancient city of stars, plus a pair of stars in a tight orbital embrace.

August 5-11: Seeing the Darkness. Thousands of stars are visible in a dark summer sky, plus the starry band of the Milky Way. Yet the glowing stars represent just a tiny fraction of the material that makes up the universe. Join us for dark matter and more.

August 12-18: Hot Planets. We have tales of a couple of hot planets this week — one that gets heated from the outside and inside by its star, and another that actually cools its star. Join us for strange planets, plus Moon rocks that fall to Earth.

August 19-25: Unseen Visions. Our eyes see only some of the wonders of the universe. But forms of energy that are invisible to the human eye reveal many more. Join us for the universe in the infrared and radio waves, plus much more.

August 26-31: Moon Meanderings. The Moon passes the bright eye of the bull this week. It also passes the brilliant planet Jupiter, and takes aim at Mars. Join us for this and other beautiful close encounters in the night sky.

August program schedule »

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Coming up in StarDate Magazine

In our September/October issue, find out how astronomers study the behavior of galaxies in giant clusters hoping to crack the mystery of dark matter. We'll also bring you fall skywatching tips, the latest astronomy news, and Merlin's cosmic wisdom.

Subscribe today »

75th Anniversary Sponsorship Opportunities

The Observatory will celebrate its 75th anniversary of great science and great outreach in 2013 and 2014. Please join in and make a gift to McDonald Observatory to help us continue to improve science education. Giving opportunies are available at all levels, including anniversary sponsorships. Your gift can make a big impact! 

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News from the Observatory

Northrop Grumman to Sponsor StarDate
Northrop Grumman, a leading global security company and NASA's partner building the James Webb Space Telescope, will become official sponsor of the nationally syndicated StarDate radio program starting Sept. 1. StarDate is produced by The University of Texas at Austin's McDonald Observatory.

Hemenway Receives National Award for Contributions to Public Understanding of Astronomy
The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) bestowed its 2013 Klumpke-Roberts Award for outstanding contributions to the public understanding and appreciation of astronomy to Dr. Mary Kay Hemenway of The University of Texas at Austin. Past awardees include Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov. The award was presented at the society's annual meeting in San Francisco on July 23.

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About SkyTips

SkyTips is a monthly email newsletter for visitors to McDonald Observatory and StarDate Online. Each issue features stargazing highlights, upcoming StarDate radio program descriptions, and other news. Please feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends and family.

SkyTips is a publication of the University of Texas McDonald Observatory Education and Outreach Office, 2609 University Ave. A2100, Austin, TX 78712. Reproduction of SkyTips content is permitted with proper credit given to McDonald Observatory.

The truth is out there.  Somewhere.

support gay marriage

Take One:

Take two:

a new cat

Well, it's looking like we have a new cat.  

Some good friends of ours befriended a feral cat awhile back.  They took him to the local SNAP (Spay-Neuter Assistance Program), where he got his shots and got neutered.  And THEN they gave him to us.

It's still an open question as to how well our first cat, a (black) female we call Luna, is going to get along with the new kid on the block.  The hissing and back-arching has subsided, but they're not exactly playing with each other yet.  

Even though we have given him his own stuff, he eats from her bowls, he pees and craps in her litter box, and she lets him, which is great.  He still has a feral habit of digging in the dirt (in our indoor potted plants) and leaves a "treat" there, along with a lot of dirt on the floor.  Need to break him of that habit.

When we got him, his given name was Goober.  He just didn't seem like a Goober, so we have been playing with names for him.  Currently, we are calling him "Frankie P-Brain Goober".  (Frankie for his ol' blue eyes; P-Brain for his ... tiny brain)

He's very lovable.  He wants constant petting and his purr machine cranks right up, while Luna keeps a wary distance.  She's never been too much of a touchy-feely cat.  He's still very nervous around people, though.  If you try to pet him with both hands, he thinks you're trying to pick him up, so he just lays down on the floor.  Sometimes he backs up while laying on the floor, which looks pretty funny.

I have not been able to get a good, clear photo of this wild animal yet.  He won't stay still for more than 1/2 a second, so most pictures I've tried are blurry.

We think he may be part vampire, because he will sleep all day downstairs under the bed.  When the sun goes down, he comes out and comes upstairs until morning.  As soon as the sun starts coming up, he goes back downstairs.

We took him and Luna to our vet last week and fortunately, both animals got a clean bill of health.  When we told him that the cats were not getting along (and they were not, last week) they said to give it another couple of weeks.  If, in that time, the two cats are still not getting along, then they can help us find another home for the P-Brain.  We'll see.

safer than alcohol

This ad was going to be shown at a NASCAR event last weekend, but it was pulled.

I look forward to MANY more of these.  Time to get creative!!

It can wait

http://www.itcanwait.com/

You have probably heard about the anti-texting while driving campaign they are calling, "It Can Wait."  Well, it can.  

It's horrible enough that too many people still STUPIDLY insist on reading texts and/or writing texts while driving an automobile, and many of them are crashing and dying, often taking innocent, non-texting drivers with them.

But there is another insidious problem with all the capabilities of modern smartphones.

Just about EVERY SINGLE TIME I am stopped at a red light behind someone, the light will turn green and the car in front will just sit there.  Why don't they move?  Well, they have their heads bent downward and they are reading something on their phones.  It is happening almost EVERY SINGLE TIME!

When I am stopped alongside someone, first in line at a red light, I look over at the driver next to me, and 99 times out of 100 they are looking downward at their phones.  The light turns green, I go, I look in my rearview mirror and they are STILL sitting there at the light, peering into their phones.

It's EPIDEMIC!  About the only good thing I can say about this is that these people, who are seemingly always GLUED to their phones, continue to sit at a green light while others in cross traffic are busy running the red light.  So by sitting there for a few extra seconds, they are avoiding some T-bone collisions.  That's great, but they are still pissing off everyone behind them waiting at the green light for this moron to GO!

It's like clockwork now.  These idiots will sit there for two, three, four, five seconds until they FINALLY look up and see the light is green.  Of course, the idiot behind them is still looking at their phone, so instead of 15 cars getting through the green light, maybe five will.

I have honked my horn more often over the last year than I honked it my entire life, because everyone has something SO important happening on their phone, they can't be bothered with traffic lights.  

I realize that I am sort of taking my life in my own hands by honking.  This is Texas, where just about everyone is packing heat, and if you honk a little too often or a little too long, you just might eat some lead.  Still...IT CAN WAIT!!

Speaking of which, the City of Houston recently launched an "It Can Wait" campaign and got high school students involved.  Several schools here in Houston created some short videos to drive the point home.  Obviously amateurish, but still, as long as it sinks in....

Here is the entry from Bellaire High School, who won the competition...

Here's Memorial High School's effort (how many of these people were texting and crashing?

And then Kingwood...

Mayor Annise Parker encourages all Houstonians not to text while driving. The City of Houston campaign, It Can Wait, Houston, was launched April 2, 2013, as a part of National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. In conjunction with this effort, the Mayor's Youth Council held a video contest promoting the No Texting While Driving Campaign. 

A total of 11 videos were submitted by students from high schools all over the city.  The top three videos will be promoted through social media and Bellaire's winning submission will be used by the Houston Fire and Police Departments in safety presentations at area schools. 

Often youth think nothing can hurt them and that they are invincible.  That is why this contest was so important to Mayor Parker.  The videos do an excellent job of depicting the dangers of texting and driving.  It is her hope that their messages will help convince their peers, as well as adults, to put the phone down while driving.  The Mayor reminds us that we all have to change our habits and refuse to put our own lives and the lives of others at risk.

Those who text while driving are 23 times more likely to be in a crash.  In 2011, 13 percent of the over 3,000 traffic fatalities in Texas were due to texting while driving.  Research released by AT&T indicates that 43 percent of commuters admit to a "habit" of texting while driving, even though they are aware of the risks.  Take the no texting while driving pledge by visiting http://www.itcanwait.com/