Minnesota Starwatch for February 2007
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Starwatch Newsletter

Minnesota Starwatch is a newsletter describing the night sky in the Midwest.

It is updated monthly, and is produced by the
Department of Astronomy, University of Minnesota
116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455

Minnesota Starwatch for February 2007

Hello, this is Minnesota Starwatch for February 2007. The western sky early in the evening is still dominated by the spectacular, rich constellations of winter. Most prominent among these is the hourglass-shaped constellation of Orion, the Great Hunter. As he has for eons, Orion pursues his prey Taurus the Bull who is fleeing westward. Three bright stars cross the center of the hourglass and define Orion's belt. At the tip of the sword that hangs from the belt is Messier 42, one of the most active star formation regions in our Galaxy. M42, popularly called the Orion Nebula, is spectacular when viewed through a small telescope or binoculars. You should be able to pick out the four hot, young stars of the Trapezium, surrounded by a large, greenish gaseous nebula. Three more hot young stars can be seen just to the southeast of the Trapezium. The NASA Spitzer Space Telescope ( http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/), an infrared observatory that was launched on August 25, 2003, has returned stunning images of M42 (http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/ssc2006-16/ssc2006-16a.shtml), showing that the region is aglow with new stars harboring potential planetary systems.

Betelgeuse, the reddish star that defines the northeast corner of the Orion hourglass, is a swelled-up star called a red supergiant. This is a phase that massive stars enter when they exhaust the hydrogen fuel that sustains their heat during most of their lifetime. When Betelgeuse reaches the end of its supergiant phase, sometime within the next few million years, earthlings will be treated to a spectacular sight as it erupts in a supernova explosion. The explosion, caused by the rapid gravitational collapse of the fuel-exhausted core, will cause Betelgeuse to become ten billion times as luminous as the sun, and even at earth it will approach the Full Moon in brightness! Within a year, the ejected shell will be big enough to easily see with a small telescope, and the explosion will be seen reflected off the nearby Orion dust clouds for many years. Of course, since Betelgeuse is 540 light years away, the explosion will not be seen on earth until the year 2544 even if it were to happen tomorrow!

The moon will be full on Thursday, February 1st and will be near the planet Saturn on February 3rd . Both the Moon and Saturn will lie in the constellation of Leo near the sickle early in the month, rising near twilight. Venus will be low in the southwestern horizon, with a very bright white appearance (almost looking like an aircraft on its final runway approach). In the early morning twilight, Jupiter, the largest planet in the Solar System, will blaze brilliantly in the constellation Ophiuchus. Mars, the "red planet", will be very dim and located in the constellation Sagittarius, low in the southeastern horizon.

FREE Movie Passes: As an exciting addition to Starwatch this month, we would like to invite our first 20 readers the opportunity to receive FREE passes for a screening of the new movie The Astronaut Famer at Southdale AMC Theaters in Edina, MN on Saturday, February 10th at 10:00am. This movie stars Billy Bob Thornton and Virginia Madsen, and is rated PG (Bring the family!). Just send an email to astronautframer@yahoo.com mentioning Starwatch, along with your complete name and how many passes you'd like! Screening details will be sent to your email address.

SYNOPSIS: Dismissed from NASA's space program, former astronaut-in-training Charles Farmer ( BILLY BOB THORNTON ) pursues his lifelong dream by building his own rocket, in the Polish Brothers' family film The Astronaut Farmer. On the eve of his launch, Farmer must battle foreclosure on his ranch and a small-town community of disbelievers, while simultaneously drawing heavy scrutiny and surveillance from the FBI, CIA, FAA and the U.S. military, all of which see him as a potential risk to civilian safety and will take the necessary steps to shut down his operation. But he remains determined to reach his goal and instill in his children the courage to pursue their own dreams, no matter the odds.

The link to the official movie site can be found here: http://theastronautfarmermovie.warnerbros.com/.

For fun Astronomy Outreach programs check out our Public Outreach link, or if you're interested in how you can help build the new Minnesota Planetarium, please call 612-630-6151 or visit http://www.mplanetarium.org.

The Minnesota Starwatch is produced by the University of Minnesota Astronomy Department.