THE M PLANETS
DEAN: HEY THERE STAR GAZERS, I'M DEAN REGAS, ASTRONOMER
FOR THE CINCINNATI OBSERVATORY.
JAMES: AND I'M JAMES ALBURY, DIRECTOR OF THE KIKA
SILVA PLA PLANETARIUM IN GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA.
WE'RE HERE TO HELP YOU FIND YOUR WAY AROUND THE SKY.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS TRY ALL SORTS OF WAYS TO GET THEIR STUDENTS TO REMEMBER THE
ORDER OF THE PLANETS.
DEAN: MY FAVORITE HAS TO BE THE SAYING, MY VERY
EDUCATED MOTHER JUST SERVED US NACHOS.
JAMES: YUM.
I COULD GO FOR SOME NACHOS RIGHT NOW.
DEAN: ME TOO, BUT, JAMES,
WE NEED TO FOCUS.
THE FIRST LETTER OF EACH WORD STANDS THE FIRST LETTER OF EACH PLANET.
JAMES: SO MY IS FOR MERCURY.
THE CLOSEST PLANET TO THE SUN.
VERY IS FOR VENUS AND ALL THE WAY TO THE FARTHEST PLANET FROM THE SUN, NACHOS,
I MEAN NEPTUNE.
DEAN: OF COURSE THERE ARE TWO MS IN THERE.
MERCURY AND MARS.
AND IT JUST SO HAPPENS THAT THE TWO M-PLANETS ARE COMING TOGETHER IN THE EVENING SKY.
JAMES: AND THAT MEANS ITS CONJUNCTION TIME!
DEAN: LETS HEAD TO THE SKY AND CHECK IT ALL OUT!
DEAN: OKAY, WE HAVE OUR SKIES SET UP FOR SATURDAY
NIGHT, JUNE 15TH JUST AFTER SUNSET, FACING TOWARD THE NORTHWEST.
AS THE SUN SETS, THE STARS WILL START
TO POP OUT.
JAMES: NOW FINDING OUR
M-PLANETS IS GOING TO BE A TOUGH ASSIGNMENT.
YOU WILL NEED A CLEAR VIEW TO THE NORTHWESTERN HORIZON AND YOULL HAVE TO TIME IT PERFECTLY.
DEAN: LOOK TOO EARLY AND IT'LL STILL BE TOO BRIGHT
OUTSIDE.
JAMES: LOOK TOO LATE AND THEY WILL HAVE SET.
DEAN: JUST ABOVE THE HORIZON, AND I MEAN JUST ABOVE
THE HORIZON, YOU MAY SEE TWO STARS APPEAR VERY CLOSE TOGETHER.
JAMES: THE BRIGHTER OF THE TWO IS THE ELUSIVE PLANET
MERCURY, WHILE THE DIMMER ONE IS THE RED PLANET MARS.
DEAN: LET'S LOOK AT THIS FROM SPACE TO SEE HOW TWO
PLANETS, THAT ARE VERY FAR AWAY FROM EACH OTHER, LOOK ALL LINED UP.
DEAN: HERE WE ARE, HIGH ABOVE THE SOLAR SYSTEM,
LOOKING DOWN ON THE INNER PLANETS.
THERES MERCURY, VENUS, EARTH, AND MARS.
JAMES: NO NACHOS UNFORTUNATELY.
DEAN: NO, NEPTUNE IS BILLIONS OF MILES OUT OF THE
PICTURE.
JAMES: THE PLANETS REVOLVE AROUND THE SUN IN THE
SAME DIRECTION, BUT THEY DONT GO THE SAME SPEED.
THE CLOSER YOU ARE TO THE SUN, THE FASTER YOU GO.
DEAN: SO WHILE IT TAKES EARTH 365 DAYS TO CIRCLE
THE SUN, IT ONLY TAKE MERCURY 88 DAYS.
AND MARS, WHOS MOVING A LOT SLOWER, TAKES 687 DAYS.
JAMES: NOW AS WE APPROACH MID-JUNE, 2019, WE WILL
SEE THE ALIGNMENT OF MERCURY AND MARS.
MERCURY IS IN BETWEEN US AND THE SUN AND ONLY ABOUT 90 MILLION MILES AWAY.
DEAN: "ONLY 90 MILLION MILES!"
HE SAYS, BECAUSE MARS IS ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE
SUN AND IS A WHOPPING 232 MILLION MILES AWAY!
THIS IS WHY TINY MERCURY SEEMS SO MUCH BRIGHTER THAN LARGER MARS.
ITS A LOT CLOSER TO US.
JAMES: SO THESE M-PLANETS ONLY APPEAR CLOSE TOGETHER
FROM EARTH.
LETS HEAD BACK HOME TO SEE THE PEAK OF THE CONJUNCTION.
JAMES: OKAY, WE'RE BACK ON EARTH ON JUNE 15TH SEEING
MERCURY AT 90 MILLION MILES AWAY, AND MARS AT 232 MILLION MILES AWAY.
WHAT MAKES PLANETS INTERESTING TO OBSERVE IS HOW THEY MOVE FROM NIGHT TO NIGHT.
DEAN: LETS MOVE TIME FORWARD, ONE NIGHT AT A TIME.
HERES JUNE 16TH…
JUNE 17TH…
AND JUNE 18TH.
JAMES: MERCURY SEEMS TO SNUGGLE UP NEXT TO MARS AND
HERES THE ZOOMED IN VIEW.
THEY'LL ONLY BE ABOUT A QUARTER OF A DEGREE APART,
SO YOU MAY BE ABLE TO SEE BOTH PLANETS THROUGH A TELESCOPE AT THE SAME TIME.
DEAN: OF COURSE YOUR VIEW WONT BE NEARLY AS GOOD
AS THESE.
THIS IS THE VIEW OF MERCURY FROM THE MESSENGER SPACECRAFT WHICH ORBITED THERE FROM 2011 TO
2015.
JAMES: AND HERE IS THE GLOBAL MAP OF MARS TAKEN BY
THE MANY ORBITING SATELLITES WE SENT UP THERE.
DEAN: THE M-PLANETS ARE TRULY MARVELOUS!
CLOSE-UP ENDING
JAMES: SO THERE YOU HAVE IT.
HOW TO LOOK FOR MERCURY AND MARS IN THE NIGHT SKY THIS WEEKEND.
DEAN: MERCURY IS ALWAYS TOUGH TO FIND SINCE IT DOESN'T
STRAY FAR FROM THE SUN.
JAMES: AND THIS MIGHT BE THE LAST CHANCE TO SEE MARS
BEFORE IT HEADS BEHIND THE SUN.
DEAN: AND IF YOU NEVER LEARNED THE ORDER OF THE
PLANETS - SHAME ON YOUR TEACHERS - REPEAT THE SAYING DAILY, MY VERY EDUCATED MOTHER
JUST SERVED US NACHOS.
JAMES: WE HAVE TO DO A SHOW ON NEPTUNE.
DEAN: JUST SO WE CAN GET SOME NACHOS?
JAMES: EXACTLY!
DEAN: THE UNIVERSE IS FULL OF PLANETS AND NACHOS,
AND IT'S ALL THERE WHEN YOU…
BOTH: KEEP LOOKING UP!