Next week, Jupiter and Saturn are the closest in 400 years. On this Thursday evening, a crescent moon is expected to rise alongside Jupiter and Saturn as they approach, creating a stunning night sky. The constellation Orion, the prince of the winter constellation, is moving more and more towards the center of the southern sky. The destination for this week’s constellation tour is the constellation Eridanus, located west of the constellation Orion. Although the name symbolizes the River of Death, you can find this constellation with a little comfort if you imagine the hunter Orion pissing on the street in the sky.
Gemini meteor shower
When the Earth passes through the orbit of a comet or asteroid, more shooting stars than usual fall. Debris from comets and asteroids travels in orbit and is attracted by Earth’s gravity to become shooting stars. This phenomenon is called a meteor shower. Up to 100 or more shooting stars per hour fall in the three major meteor showers in January, which are known as the Quarter meteor shower, the Perseus meteor shower in August, and the Gemini meteor shower in December.
Gemini meteor shower radiation point. Ⓒ Stellarium, Astronomical Space Project
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The night of the 14th is the extreme day of the Gemini Meteor. The Gemini meteor shower is a meteor shower that occurs when the debris debris made by the asteroid Paeton enters the Earth.This year there is no moon, so if the weather is clear, you can see up to 100 shooting stars per hour in the dawn sky. The meteor shower in Gemini is expected to continue spraying more shooting stars than usual until the night of the 17th, even after the peak of the day.
Since the shooting star appears to fall in all directions around the point where the Earth meets the orbit of a comet or asteroid, this point is called a radiation point, and the meteor shower is named after the constellation where the radiation point is located. Gemini is a constellation located to the left of the constellation Orion. Shooting stars fall all over the sky centered on the radiation point, so it is better to keep your gaze wide and look at the whole sky without looking at a specific place.
Crescent moon and jupiter, The day Saturn meets
Jupiter is an exceptionally bright star in the western sky these days. At present, Jupiter’s brightness is -1.5 degrees, about 10 times brighter than the first star. Right next to Jupiter is a first-class Saturn.
Southwest sky around 6:30 pm on December 17th. Ⓒ Astronomical Space Planning
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Jupiter and Saturn are expected to shine side by side in the southwestern sky on the evening of the 17th. The moon and the two planets are about 4 degrees, and Jupiter and Saturn are as close as 0.5 degrees, the apparent size of the moon. On this day, the sun sets at 5:15 p.m., and around 6 o’clock you can see the crescent moon and the two planets. However, since it is close to the horizon, it is better to see it in the southwest without obstacles such as mountains or buildings.
The Chungju Guryeo Astronomical Science Museum plans to broadcast live broadcasts of the meeting of the moon, Jupiter, and Saturn through the YouTube channel’Dr. Star’s 3 Minute Universe’ from 5:30 to 7 pm. It would be nice to see the scene with the naked eye, but the magnified view with a telescope is expected to be very beautiful.
In the future, you will have to wait at least a year to see Jupiter and Saturn like a crescent moon. This is because Jupiter and Saturn cannot be seen in the evening sky from the following moon. Of course, the distance between Jupiter and Saturn in the night sky is getting closer and farther after they get their closest at the beginning of the next week, so you have to wait 20 years to see the crescent moon next to Jupiter and Saturn that get this close. The distance between Jupiter and Saturn is getting closer and closer, closest to the dawn of the 22nd.
Earth Joe
crescent. Ⓒ Photographed by Soeun Lee at the Guryo Astronomical Science Museum, Chungju
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The 17th is November 3rd of the lunar calendar, the day when the crescent moon shaped like a slender eyebrow appears to the right. If you look closely at the new moon on this day, you can see a faintly rounded moon to the left. This faint light shining on the other side of the sun is called an earth-like, or’light of the earth’. The thinner the moon, the better you can see this because the closer the moon is to the hapsak, the rounder and brighter the Earth sees from the moon.
The appearance of the Earth Bird. Ⓒ Photographed by Soeun Lee at the Guryo Astronomical Science Museum, Chungju
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Since the Earth is four times the diameter of the Moon, the round Earth viewed from the Moon is 16 times larger than the full Moon. Also, on Earth, the ocean and atmosphere reflect sunlight, so the round Earth actually seen from the Moon is tens of times brighter than the full Moon seen from Earth. If you think of dozens of full moons rising at night, you can imagine how bright the surroundings will be. As the moon gradually rises and becomes brighter, the brightness of the Earth seen from the moon decreases and the tectonic pattern disappears. In other words, the tide is a special phenomenon that can only be seen when the new moon or the old moon rises.
The principle of the Earth Joe. Ⓒ Astronomical Space Planning
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The river of death connecting this world and the other world ‘Eridanus‘
The brightest and most colorful constellation on a winter night is Orion. As such, the constellation Orion is an important guide to finding other constellations. You can see the faint stars winding to the right of Samtaeseong, which represents Orion’s waist, and Rigel, the first star, which is the left foot. This is the constellation of Eridanus, the river of death that connects this world with the underworld. On last week’s constellation tour, we talked about the story of the three stars of Orion rising from the eastern horizon that it was considered like a staircase to the underworld. If you go up this staircase, that is where the Eridanus River begins.
On December 14th, the southern sky at around 10pm. Ⓒ Stellarium, Astronomical Space Project
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If you remember that Orion’s name comes from the Greek word’ouria,’ meaning pee, you can easily find the constellation of Eridanus. The nickname I gave to this constellation is Pissing on the road in the constellation Orion. It’s not that difficult to find the constellation Eridanus when you imagine Orion watching his business in the sky. Find the third star in the north of Rigel, the beta star of Orion, that marks the beginning of the river, and follow the faint stars to the west from there. However, unfortunately, Akernar, the first-class castle at the end of the river, is not seen in Korea due to its low altitude.
According to Greek mythology, the constellation Eridanus flows between the underworld and the earth as a river where Paeton, the son of Apollon, the sun god fell with a carriage and died. Paeton rented Apollon’s carriage to prove that he was the son of Apollon, the sun god, but did not know how to handle horses, so he turned the world into a sea of fire. The god Zeus, startled, thundered lightning at the wagon, and in the end, Paeton emitted a long flame like a shooting star and fell into the Eridanus River and died.
The epsilon (ε, quadratic) star of this constellation has been known as a star of the same size as the Sun since the 1960s, along with the tau (τ) star in the constellation Cetus, and the star with the highest possibility of extraterrestrial life. In 2000, a planet the size of Jupiter was discovered on this star, and scientists looking for extraterrestrial life believe that it is very likely that there will be a planet similar to Earth inside.
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