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Eagle Eye Observatory ~ Twilight Program
April 3, 2019 @ 8:00 pm - 9:15 pm
Join us for an educational Twilight Program that takes place before our Dark Sky Program.
There is no telescope viewing during the Twilight Program. This program consists of educational video and images of the night sky, as well as special target discussions on what you will see at the Dark Sky Program.
Complimentary for in-house guests.
$7/per person park entry fee for day-use guests (ages 11 and over).
SKY WATCHER EVENTS ~ APRIL
As we move into April, the Great winter circle of bright stars, located in six different constellations, are moving into the western sky during the evening. They are Sirius (Alpha Canis Majoris), Rigel (Beta Orionis), Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri), Capella (Alpha Aurigae), Castor (Alpha Geminorum) and Pollux (Beta Geminorum), then Procyon (Alpha Canis Minoris). See if you can locate these stars with an app or sky map.
Moving East below the Gemini twins is the constellation Cancer the crab which is devoid of any bright magnitude stars. Below Cancer along the Zodiac (Ecliptic) is the constellation Leo rising above the eastern horizon. Leo’s head looks like a sickle (part of a circle and looks like a backward question mark. The handle of the sickle is the bright star in Leo called Regulus (Alpha Leonis). Regulus is 77.5 light-years from our solar system. It is a main-sequence Star like the Sun that is fueled by the internal fusion of hydrogen into helium. Regulus is a blue white star of spectral class B7 V with a surface temperature of 12,000k, twice as hot as our Sun.
By about 11:00 pm during April the next constellation rising along the ecliptic is Virgo. Virgo’s brightest star is Spika (Alpha Virginis) and will rise to about 10 degrees above the eastern horizon. Spika is about 250 light years away and has a visual luminosity about 2300 times the Sun’s. Spika actually consists of two stars so close to each other they orbit each other with a period of 4 days.
These are a few things to look for during April’s warming weather. Come to the Eagle Eye Observatory and see for your self.
Jim Sheets
Astronomer