STAR HUSTLER
THE INTERNATIONAL EDITION
STAR HUSTLER is seen nationally on most PBS stations. If it is not currently
on your PBS station we suggest you contact your local PBS programming director
and let them know it is available free to all PBS stations. You may take
a months worth of STAR HUSTLER off satellite for personal use, classroom
use, astronomy club use, etc.
Satellite feed for August 1996 is as follows: The feed will be August 26
from 10 to 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Telstar 401, transponder 7-U.
Satellite feed for September 1996 is as follows: The feed will be September
30 from 10 to 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Telstar 401, transponder 7-U.
Satellite feed for October 1996 is as follows: The feed will be October
28 from 10 to 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Telstar 401, transponder 7-U.
Notice : These are working drafts of the scripts for STAR HUSTLER. Changes
may well be made as production requires.
STAR HUSTLER Episode #371-I
978 th Show
To Be Aired : Monday 9/2/96 through Sunday 9/8/96
"A Hale-Bopp Update! And A Great Celestial Line-Up Reminder!"
Horkheimer: Greetings, greetings, fellow star gazers and as we told you
just over a year ago, a great comet is on its way, getting ready to make
its best appearance on April 1st, 1997. But it is so big and so bright that
it is already visible to the naked eye if you have clear dark skies far
away from city lights and know exactly where to look. Let me show you how
to find it: OK, we've got our skies set up for 8 to 9 pm your local time
any night this week. And if you look almost directly South you should see
our old friend, the teapot-shaped portion of Sagittarius and directly above
the teapot's pointed lid the outrageously bright and largest planet of our
solar system, good old Jupiter. Then down to the right another old friend,
the fish-hooked shaped constellation of Scorpius with the giant red star
Antares marking its heart. Now we're going to use this bright red star Antares
and the brilliant white planet Jupiter to find the much dimmer comet Hale-Bopp.
You see if you draw a line between Jupiter and and Antares and then imagine
two more lines almost as long forming a triangle on top of this line,
and then if you look just to the left of the top, or apex of this triangle
you should see a dim star-like object and that's comet Hale-Bopp. And to
confirm that you've found it use a pair of binoculars which will reveal
not only the head of Hale-Bopp but also a small distinct tail. And if you
go out and look once or twice a week for the next couple of months you will
notice that Hale-Bopp will slowly and steadily grow brighter. But you must
have clear dark skies far away from city lights with no moonlight. And you'll
see it better, of course, if you use binoculars or a small telescope. And
we'll update you every few weeks from now through next April. Now one
more reminder of the great celestial lineup next Monday morning September
9th, just before sunrise looking East. Indeed, you will see in an almost
perfect lineup five celestial objects. Starting with the closest to
the horizon, a slender sliver of a crescent moon; just above it brilliant
Venus; above Venus a not-so-brilliant red planet Mars; and above Mars the
two brother stars of Gemini the Twins, Pollux and Castor. And if you can,
just for a moment, imagine space as being 3 dimensional which it really
is, you will see on what a vast scale each one of these objects lies from
planet Earth. For if we can use light as a measuring stick, knowing that
light travels 186 thousand miles per second, the light we see from the Moon
left it just over one second ago. The light from Venus left it 7 minutes
ago and the reddish light from Mars 17 minutes. But Pollux is another
story for its light will have taken 35 years to reach us. And the light
we see from its twin Castor, a twin in name only, left it half a century
ago in 1946, just after the end of World War II. Oh, what a wonderful sky
to wonder at if you remember to Keep Looking Up!
* This week's Sky At A Glance and Planet
Roundup from Sky & Telescope.
This week's Sky At A Glance displays current week only.
STAR HUSTLER
THE INTERNATIONAL EDITION
STAR HUSTLER is seen nationally on most PBS stations. If it is not currently
on your PBS station we suggest you contact your local PBS programming director
and let them know it is available free to all PBS stations. You may take
a months worth of STAR HUSTLER off satellite for personal use, classroom
use, astronomy club use, etc.
Satellite feed for August 1996 is as follows: The feed will be August 26
from 10 to 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Telstar 401, transponder 7-U.
Satellite feed for September 1996 is as follows: The feed will be September
30 from 10 to 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Telstar 401, transponder 7-U.
Satellite feed for October 1996 is as follows: The feed will be October
28 from 10 to 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Telstar 401, transponder 7-U.
Notice : These are working drafts of the scripts for STAR HUSTLER. Changes
may well be made as production requires.
STAR HUSTLER Episode #372-I
979 th Show
To Be Aired : Monday 9/9/96 through Sunday 9/15/96
"Eclipse of the Harvest/Saturn Moon; And How To Watch It. Part
1"
Horkheimer: Greetings, greetings, fellow star gazers and mark Thursday evening,
September 26th and early Friday morning, September 27th on your calendar
as the last total eclipse of the moon over North America until the year
2000. For although Asia and part of Europe will enjoy a total lunar eclipse
in 1997, most of you watching this show aren't going to experience a total
lunar eclipse until all the years beginning with 19 are over. But just what
is an eclipse? And what causes one? Well there's a lot of confusion about
eclipses and the phases of the moon. You see, every month we're used to
watching the moon go from a new nothing to a full something and back again
to a new nothing with all the accompanying phases in between. Now most of
us know that when the moon is new it is in the same part of the heavens
where the sun is located so that although the moon is in the sky, it travels
across the sky all day with the sun and the sun is so bright it wipes the
moon out from view; so a new moon is always invisible. Most of us also know
that whenever the moon is on the opposite side of the earth it is so situated
that its face is completely lit up by the sun's rays and we call that a
full moon. You see moonlight is nothing more than reflected sunlight. But
every so often at time of new moon, the moon instead of riding just above,
or just below the sun, passes directly in front of the sun in the daytime
and covers it up. And when that happens we experience an eclipse of the
sun. But if, during the time of full moon, when the moon is on the opposite
side of the earth from the sun, if it rides not above or below the earth's
shadow, but directly into the earth's shadow, the earth's shadow will block
the sunlight bouncing off the moon and the moon will slowly grow dark, and
we'll experience an eclipse of the moon. And that's what we're going to
experience Thursday and Friday the 26th and 27th. Indeed, our moon will
ride directly through the earth's dark shadow and for over 70 minutes will
be in deep, dark eclipse. And almost everybody in North America, Mexico
and South America will see it. Now although I'll give you eclipse times
in Eastern Daylight Time, simply extrapolate for your own time zone. Partial
eclipse begins at 9:12 pm Thursday night the 26th and for the next hour
and seven minutes you will be able to watch the progress of the earth's
curved shadow as it slowly covers the face of the moon. Total eclipse will
begin at 10:19 pm, mid or darkest part of the eclipse will be at 10:54 pm
and total eclipse will end at 11:29. Then for the next hour and seven minutes
until 12:36 am you will be able to watch the moon as it slowly slides out
of the earth's circular shadow and reveals itself once again as a full harvest
moon. But this eclipse of the Harvest/ Saturn moon has two special added
attractions: Planet Saturn being number one and an eclipse contest being
number two. And anyone who sees this eclipse can play. More about that next
week. In the meantime remember to Keep Looking Up!
* This week's Sky At A Glance and Planet
Roundup from Sky & Telescope.
This week's Sky At A Glance displays current week only.
STAR HUSTLER
THE INTERNATIONAL EDITION
STAR HUSTLER is seen nationally on most PBS stations. If it is not currently
on your PBS station we suggest you contact your local PBS programming director
and let them know it is available free to all PBS stations. You may take
a months worth of STAR HUSTLER off satellite for personal use, classroom
use, astronomy club use, etc.
Satellite feed for August 1996 is as follows: The feed will be August 26
from 10 to 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Telstar 401, transponder 7-U.
Satellite feed for September 1996 is as follows: The feed will be September
30 from 10 to 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Telstar 401, transponder 7-U.
Satellite feed for October 1996 is as follows: The feed will be October
28 from 10 to 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Telstar 401, transponder 7-U.
Notice : These are working drafts of the scripts for STAR HUSTLER. Changes
may well be made as production requires.
STAR HUSTLER Episode #373-I
980th Show
To Be Aired : Monday 9/16/96 through Sunday 9/22/96
"Eclipse of the Harvest/Saturn Moon
And How To Win A Telescope Just By Watching. Part II"
Horkheimer: Greetings, greetings fellow star gazers and once again let me
remind you to mark Thursday evening, September 26th and Friday morning September
27th as the night of the last total lunar eclipse for North America until
the year 2000. And as I said last week, this eclipse has a couple of extra
added attractions, one of which is that it occurs on the night of the Harvest
Moon which is always the full moon closest to the Autumnal Equinox, the
first day of Autumn, which will have occurred only 4 days earlier on September
22nd in addition to which 2 hours before eclipse time the ringed planet
Saturn will come into opposition and will thus ride across the sky in the
company of the moon all night long before, during and after total eclipse.
And finally if you keep track of this eclipse's progress and make note of
its color and brightness you will have an opportunity to win a telescope.
But first, once again, let me give you the exact eclipse times, all in Eastern
Daylight Time; extrapolate for your own time zone, keeping in mind that
the farther west you live in North America, the less of the eclipse you
will see. OK, from 9:12 p.m. until 10:19 p.m. you'll be able to watch the
moon as it is slowly covered by the darkest part of the earth's shadow,
the umbra. And you'll clearly see the curvature of the earth's shadow on
the face of the moon itself, which was used over 2,000 years ago by Aristotle,
as one of his proofs that the earth was round. Then from 10:19 'til 11:29
the moon will be totally eclipsed. And from 11:29 p.m. to 12:36 a.m. the
moon will slowly move out of the earth's shadow and brighten back into a
full harvest moon. Now just as no two people are exactly alike, so too are
no two eclipses alike especially when it comes to color and brightness.
Eclipses can range all the way from light copper to orange to blood red,
from shades of gray/brown with bright rims to jet black. It all depends
upon the amount of dust in our earth's atmosphere. And we want you to record
the brightness and color of this eclipse at its deepest point which is mid-eclipse,
roughly 11:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time or your local equivalent. Send
your results to: " Star Hustler" Eclipse, P.O. Box 2, Miami, FL
33261 and we'll have a drawing for a telescope. You can use the standard
Danjon Luminosity scale which reads from L-0 to L-4. L-0 is an extremely
dark, almost invisible, eclipse; L-1 is a dark eclipse with gray or brownish
coloration. L-2 is a deep red or rust colored center with a relatively bright
outer rim. L-3 is a brick red center with a bright or yellow rim. And L-4
is a very bright copper-red or orange center with a very bright bluish rim.
And don't forget this eclipse is especially special because the brilliant
planet Saturn will ride across the sky with the moon all night long. Indeed,
through a small telescope Saturn and the eclipsed moon will provide a super
sight! So, have a happy eclipse of the Harvest/Saturn moon and who knows,
you may even win a telescope if you just Keep Looking Up!
* This week's Sky At A Glance and Planet
Roundup from Sky & Telescope.
This week's Sky At A Glance displays current week only.
STAR HUSTLER
THE INTERNATIONAL EDITION
STAR HUSTLER is seen nationally on most PBS stations. If it is not currently
on your PBS station we suggest you contact your local PBS programming director
and let them know it is available free to all PBS stations. You may take
a months worth of STAR HUSTLER off satellite for personal use, classroom
use, astronomy club use, etc.
Satellite feed for August 1996 is as follows: The feed will be August 26
from 10 to 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Telstar 401, transponder 7-U.
Satellite feed for September 1996 is as follows: The feed will be September
30 from 10 to 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Telstar 401, transponder 7-U.
Satellite feed for October 1996 is as follows: The feed will be October
28 from 10 to 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Telstar 401, transponder 7-U.
Notice : These are working drafts of the scripts for STAR HUSTLER. Changes
may well be made as production requires.
STAR HUSTLER Episode #374-I
981st Show
To Be Aired : Monday 9/23/96 through Sunday 9/29/96
"Saturn At Opposition/ An Eclipse Reminder;
And The Loneliest Star In Heaven"
Horkheimer: Greetings, greetings fellow star gazers and as you regular viewers
know, this is the week of the spectacular Harvest Moon/Saturn eclipse. Indeed,
this Thursday evening, and Friday morning, September 26th and 27th North
America will experience the last total lunar eclipse until the year 2000.
Now partial eclipse begins at 9:12 p.m., E.D.T. when the moon starts its
ride into the earth's shadow. At 10:19 p.m. the total eclipse commences
when the moon will remain in darkness for over an hour until 11:29 p.m.
, after which the moon will slowly ride out of the earth's shadow and turn
back into a bright Harvest Moon at 12:36 a.m. All times are Eastern Daylight,
simply extrapolate for your own time zone. Now if you notice something bright
riding across the sky along side the eclipsed moon don't be surprised because
the bright ringed planet Saturn will attend the moon all night long. In
fact, not since 1968 has an eclipsed moon glided across the sky with a bright
companion beside it, and back then it was a much dimmer companion, the star
Spica in Virgo the Virgin. In fact, we could say that this night of the
upcoming Harvest Moon eclipse is the official opening of the Saturn season
because on this night Saturn comes into opposition which means that it will
be in the sky all night long from sunrise to sunset for the next few weeks.
Don't miss this please because it'll be a long, long time before you'll
ever see an eclipsed moon ride across the heavens with a brilliant planet
in tow. And if you have a small telescope, take a look at Saturn now because
although back on February 11th the rings of Saturn disappeared when they
presented themselves edge on to us, by now they have opened up in such a
way that through a small telescope they appear almost three dimensional.
And while you're out there you might want to look for what some people call
the loneliest star in the heavens. Its name is Fomalhaut and in Arabic it
means the mouth of the fish. Now although Saturn is in the constellation
Pisces, the Fish, Fomalhaut is in the constellation Piscis Austrinus, the
Southern Fish and it appears in a part of the heavens that has very few
bright stars, thus its nickname, the lonely or solitary one. An easy way
to find it on eclipse night is to use Saturn during the darkest part of
the eclipse, which is around 11:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time because then
Fomalhaut will be due South. To make sure you've found it, face Saturn,
then measure 3 fists away to the right of it and there you'll find this
friendless star. In fact, one writer wrote of this star at the beginning
of this century, "On early acquaintance the loneliness of this star,
added to the somber signs of approaching Autumn, sometimes gives one a touch
of melancholy." At any rate, this week, the night of the Harvest/Moon
Saturn Eclipse, notice how much brighter Saturn and Fomalhaut will appear
during totality than they do at either the beginning or end of the eclipse.
Oh what a great week to Keep Looking Up!
* This week's Sky At A Glance and Planet
Roundup from Sky & Telescope.
This week's Sky At A Glance displays current week only.
STAR HUSTLER
THE INTERNATIONAL EDITION
STAR HUSTLER is seen nationally on most PBS stations. If it is not currently
on your PBS station we suggest you contact your local PBS programming director
and let them know it is available free to all PBS stations. You may take
a months worth of STAR HUSTLER off satellite for personal use, classroom
use, astronomy club use, etc.
Satellite feed for August 1996 is as follows: The feed will be August 26
from 10 to 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Telstar 401, transponder 7-U.
Satellite feed for September 1996 is as follows: The feed will be September
30 from 10 to 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Telstar 401, transponder 7-U.
Satellite feed for October 1996 is as follows: The feed will be October
28 from 10 to 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Telstar 401, transponder 7-U.
Notice : These are working drafts of the scripts for STAR HUSTLER. Changes
may well be made as production requires.
STAR HUSTLER Episode #375-I
982nd Show
To Be Aired : Monday 9/30/96 through Sunday 10/6/96
"A Star Hustler Classic : Season Without Giants, or,
Time of the Quiet Sky"
Greetings, greetings fellow star gazers and if you're one of those people
who loves the change of the seasons, have you ever wondered whether the
sky changes seasons too? If so, then don't touch that dial because in this
episode I'll let you in on some of the secrets of the seasons and how you
can double up your pleasure not only by watching the face of the earth change
season, but also by watching the face of the night sky likewise metamorphose.
You see it all has to do with our Earth's yearly journey in its orbit around
the Sun because as our Earth makes its annual journey around the Sun it
faces a different part of the starry sky each successive evening so that
is you go outside every night after sunset for a year you will notice that
the various constellations slowly but regularly change their positions in
the heavens being sometimes very prominent and high up in early evening
and at other times completely gone from the heavens. Now when astronomers
talk about sky seasons they mean that the particular star patterns or constellations
of any season are those that are very high above the horizon in early evening
hours during a given season. For instance, in summer time we know that the
great Summer Triangle and the giant Scorpion are always very high and dominant
in early evening summer skies. And in winter, in early evening, the giant
Orion and his dog always ride high and dominate winter's landscape. Springtime
always has its wonderful Leo the Lion and the Big Dipper towering overhead
in early evening; but there is one season when the sky becomes quiet...
a season when there are fewer bright stars visible than at any other time
of year and, quite appropriately I think that season is Autumn, the season
when the Earth too is quieting down. A season of muted sun and muted starlight,
a season without celestial giants; the season of the soft sky. And if you
do what I'm about to show you on at least one October evening every October
for the rest of your life, you will add yet another dimension to your enjoyment
of the exquisite feelings that Autumn brings. Simply go outside any October
evening just after the Sun has gone down and look for the giant summer scorpion
as he sets low in the southwest. Then in the hours before midnight you will
see for yourself the softest of skies with a minimum of bright stars, a
time when you'll be able to delight in the exquisite beauty of the Seven
Sisters rising. Then, around midnight the autumn season's skies will slowly
give way to a preview of winter as Orion, the winter giant, boldly rises
in the southeast. How fitting. How poetic that the sky seasons coincidentally
match our Earth's as regular as clock work. Yes, every October of your life
summer's Scorpion will set at sunset and winter's Orion will rise at midnight.
And the hours in between will be the palettes of a celestial impressionist.
So get thee outside under the heavens softly and remember to Keep Looking
Up!
* This week's Sky At A Glance and Planet
Roundup from Sky & Telescope.
This week's Sky At A Glance displays current week only.
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