Spring 2013
Sky Report: Middle Schools
by Dr. Bob Doyle, Portable Planetarium Teacher

Resources for Primary School Teachers

• Middle School Sky Basics
  
  
• Spring (Apr. - Jun.) 2013 Skies for Middle Grades

Spring (Apr. - Jun.) 2013 Middle School Sky Basics

On a clear night, you can see a dark sky, hundreds of near by stars, possibly our moon and perhaps a few planets (seen as bright steadily shining points). The night sky appears dark due to the emptiness of space and the expansion of the universe. The night stars are distant suns whose light takes many years to travel to the Earth. These stars are likely still there as stars shine for million or billions of years.

The moon is our Earth's companion as we travel each year about the sun. The moon's visible shapes (phases) are due to the moon being lit by the sun as it orbits the Earth. The moon can be seen growing in lighted width in the evening sky for about a dozen days. The moon then appears full for an evening or two and then begins to shrink, spending just as much time shrinking in the morning sky as it did growing in the evening sky. Even the nearer planets are so far away compared to their distances that they appear as steady points in the sky. In order of brightness as seen from Earth, Venus is by far the brightest planet, with Jupiter in 2^nd place.

Spring 2013 Sky Sights (Apr., May & June) for Middle School Students

The brightest evening star on April evenings is Sirius, the night's brightest star that sparkles in all the colors of the rainbow. To be sure of identifying Sirius (sounds like serious), look for three stars in a row that makes up Orion's belt. On early April evenings, these stars point left to Sirius. In May, the sun's apparent advance into Taurus will cause both Sirius and Orion to be lost in the western twilight glare. In the spring months, the Big Dipper appears upside down high in the North. It's two leftmost stars point downward to the North Star, a rather modest star about half way up in the North. If you follow the curve of the Big Dipper's handle, you come to the bright golden star Arcturus, the brightest evening star in May and June. Further along this curve is the bright star Spica of Virgo. Below and to the left of Spica is the planet Saturn, shining steadily in contrast to Spica's twinkling.

The bright planet Jupiter dominates the western dusk in April and most of May in 2013. Jupiter is even brighter than Sirius, the night's brightest star. In late May, as Jupiter drops lower, the brilliant planet Venus appears just to the right of Jupiter. Joining these two brightest planets is the planet Mercury. In June, Jupiter is lost in the twilight glare while Venus becomes prominent. Venus is about 6 x brighter than Jupiter.

On Sundays, there are free public nature talks in the Science Discovery Center just off the 1^st floor entrance Of Compton Hall (faces the construction area) starting at 4 p.m. The talks are "African Predators" on April Sundays at 4 p.m. and "Grazers of the African Plains" shown at 4 p.m. on the first three Sundays of May. Call (301) 687-7799 to request a 2013 talk schedule and small campus map.

For additional information, contact:

Dr. Robert Doyle, Planetarium Director
Frostburg State University
Department of Physics and Engineering
101 Braddock Road
Frostburg, MD 21532-1099
(301) 687-4270
rdoyle@frostburg.edu