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My Page: Irwin Horowitz

6degrees Astroblog

Tomorrow is Astronomy Day. Here in Boise, the Boise Astronomical Society will be holding a public solar and lunar viewing opportunity at the Discovery Center of Idaho beginning at 10 a.m. and going until mid-afternoon. We invite members of our community to come down and join us as we use specially filtered telescopes for solar observing and we’ll also observe the crescent Moon rising over the mountains in the early afternoon. This event is free.

6degrees Astroblog

For nearly a century a battle has raged in our country over the nature of science and how it should be taught to public school students. When Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species” in 1859 based on his observations of various animal species during his voyage on the H.M.S. Beagle, it immediately crystallized a growing disagreement between the proponents of a divinely inspired origin to life on Earth and those who looked for a natural explanation for the multitude of species.

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6degrees PoliticsBlog

Last evening, Idaho senatorial candidate and former congressman Larry LaRocco met with Democrats from the 20th legislative district at the Library Coffee House in Meridian. He began his campaign for the seat currently held by Sen. Larry Craig over one year ago. During his 2006 campaign for Idaho's Lieutenant Governor he shook over 22,000 hands across the entire state, demonstrating a commitment to retail politics that can make a noticeable impact in a state like Idaho.

This year, he believes that we are approaching a threshold of change, comparable to the Reagan revolution of 1980. As such, 2008 is the year for Democrats to go out and win all across the state as well as around the country.

His “working for the Senate” campaign, which has seen him complete his 20th job this past Friday, is the centerpiece of how he plans to upset the political landscape and return a semblance of bipartisanship to the Idaho congressional delegation. He performed this latest job at Bear Mechanical Service in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, joining a highly varied list of employers from around the state. He expects to complete another ten to fifteen day jobs over the remaining months of the campaign. These experiences have provided him with a golden opportunity to listen and interact with everyday Idahoans and find out what are the issues and concerns that are uppermost in their minds.
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6degrees Astroblog

In 1610, Galileo Galilei turned a small self-built telescope towards the heavens and for the first time humans observed the sky using something more powerful than their own eyes. He made several key discoveries, including the presence of craters and mountains on our Moon, the phases of Venus, the uncounted multitude of stars comprising the Milky Way and most notably the four large moons orbiting around the planet Jupiter that are collectively known as the Galilean satellites.

Another “discovery” he made was of two large bodies encircling the planet Saturn, which he believed to be moons like those near Jupiter. However, in 1612, both objects seemed to disappear, only to return the following year. This totally confused him and he never truly understood what he had actually observed.

It wasn’t until 1655, 13 years after Galileo’s death, that Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens employed a more powerful telescope on Saturn and realized that what Galileo believed to be a pair of satellites was actually a ring encircling the planet. In addition to identifying the ring, he is also credited with the discovery of the large moon Titan. Two decades later, Giovanni Cassini noticed the presence of a large gap in the rings (a feature which would later bear his name). Other gaps in the rings have led to their identification into several subdivisions using the first several letters of our alphabet.

The planet Saturn has long captured the imagination of people everywhere. Known in ancient times, it was one of the seven “planetes,” Greek for wanderers (along with the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter). It appears in the sky with a golden hue, and is usually amongst the brightest objects visible at night. Only a few stars as well as the above list of planets outshine Saturn when it is at maximum brightness.
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6degrees AstroBlog

Astronomy impacts our everyday lives in ways most people rarely consider. For example, our methods of recording time on a daily, monthly or annual basis have their origins in various astronomical cycles. Similarly, we recognize the different seasons on our calendars but often don’t understand their astronomical source.

March heralds the passage of winter into spring in the northern hemisphere and of summer into autumn for locales south of the equator. But why is this so? Why do our “days” grow longer?
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6degrees Astroblog

When I woke up this morning, I found a voicemail message on my cell phone left by someone named “Steven.” He informed me that he had observed a bright flash of light earlier and was wondering if I could help him figure out what it was.

While checking out the Idaho Statesman website, I came across this report describing a bright flash seen across western Idaho and eastern Washington around 6:30 a.m MST. A pilot for Horizon Airlines observed an object hit the earth somewhere in Adams County, Washington.

UPDATE: According to scientists from the University of Washington, the meteor apparently disintegrated at an altitude of about 19 miles above La Grande, Oregon. It is unlikely that any fragments would have managed to make it to the surface.
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6degrees AstroBlog

This month, I want to focus on one of the most awe-inspiring objects in the night sky, the Orion Nebula.

When one looks at the constellation of Orion, which dominates the night sky at this time of year, the three belt stars (Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka) bisect his midsection in a straight line. Above them lies Betelgeuse, a red supergiant star that is so vast that if it were placed in the center of our solar system its outer fringes would extend beyond the orbit of Mars. Below and to the right of the belt lies brilliant Rigel, a hot blue supergiant star with a surface temperature of 11000 K, about twice as hot as our Sun.

The nebula is located within the sword that dangles under the belt of Orion. From a dark sky site, it is readily visible to the unaided eye as a faint smudge. Charles Messier, the 18th century French comet hunter, listed it as the 42nd object in his famous catalog (M42). Viewing the object through a telescope barely provides the merest glimpse of its stunning beauty, as our eyes are too weak to capture the rich colors seen in long exposure images such as this fantastic mosaic acquired by the Hubble Space Telescope. [more]

6degrees AstroBlog

Memories are tricky things. I often can’t recall what I did last week, but can remember vividly what I was doing over two decades ago. Of course, major historical events have a way of burning such memories into us. No doubt, those who were alive at the time recall where they were and what they were doing on December 7, 1941 as if it were yesterday. On November 22, 1963, everyone who was old enough can recount the horrors of what occurred on the streets of Dallas. 9/11 is a date that everyone reading this will forever remember.

January 28, 1986 was such a date. [more]

6degrees AstroBlog

Winter skies are dominated by a number of bright stars located in well recognized constellations. The most prominent of these stellar groupings is Orion, the Hunter. This constellation has a multitude of bright, easily discernible stars which present a figure that unlike many other groupings actually looks like its namesake! It is dominated by a ruddy star in its right shoulder, Betelgeuse (pronounced Beetle-juice) and a brilliant sapphire blue star in its left knee, Rigel. Through Orion’s midsection a line of three bright stars form his belt (from left to right: Alnitak; Alnilam; and Mintaka).

Beneath the belt lies his sword. The middle “star” in the sword is actually one of the most well known nebulae in the night sky, called appropriately enough, the Orion Nebula. This nebula is actually a hotbed of stellar birth and infancy. This entire region of space represents one of the most active stellar nurseries found in our galaxy, with many fascinating features associated with this activity such as the Horsehead Nebula.

Above Betelgeuse, a grouping of fainter stars form a club shape that Orion is holding over his head, while further west a string of stars form a shield to protect the hunter from Taurus, the Bull.

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6degrees AstroBlog

The end of the year brings with it the long awaited return of the Red Planet, Mars, to our evening skies. On Christmas Eve, Mars will be in opposition, meaning that it lies on the opposite side of the Sun as seen from the Earth. It will rise as the sun sets that evening and will be visible all night long, weather permitting. It shines brighter than all of the stars in the sky (except the Sun, of course) and is only bested by the Full Moon and the morning star, Venus.

The previous evening (23 Dec) we will be fortunate to see both the full moon and Mars pass right by each other in the early evening after sunset. If you have clear skies that night, I highly encourage you to bundle up and spend a few minutes outside marveling at the sight. You’ll need a clear view of the northeastern horizon to enjoy this conjunction of these two celestial bodies.
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