On Saturday, May 29th, War in the Pacific NHP will host a star gazing party at the historical Asan Beach Park to celebrate Memorial Day.
We'll gather around 6:30 and watch a beautiful tropical sunset. You might even see the fabled green flash! As it grows dark we'll even Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter in the sky. You'll get free star charts and instructions on how to use them.
So bring your blankets, your binoculars and your kids and head on out to Asan. Bring some snacks, sodas, and water (no alcoholic beverages in the park) and learn a little bit about Guam's wonderful and unique skies. Stellar expertise will be provided by Pam Eastlick, the UOG Planetarium Star Lady.
Pam will answer your questions, teach you how to use the star charts, and show you cool things to look at with your binoculars. Don't miss this Stellar event!
READ BELOW FOR A SNEAK PREVIEW OF THIS WEEK'S "STARRY, STARRY, NIGHT" COLUMN THAT PAM EASTLICK WRITES FOR THE PDN.
Greetings everyone and welcome to Guam’s beautiful skies. As you watch that gorgeous tropical sunset tonight, you’ll see four bright stars in a long gentle sweeping curve emerge in the darkening western sky. The brightest one is, of course, Venus, speeding toward its transit on 8 June at 75,000 mph. The second brightest is the star on the left end of the curve. That’s Sirius the brightest star.
The red one between Venus and Sirius is Orion’s right shoulder star, Betelgeuse. If you skim over the word because you don’t know how to pronounce it, you’re not alone. The English speakers who first saw the Arabic word didn’t know how to pronounce it either, so they called it Beetlejuice and that’s how we pronounce it today. The star to the right of Venus is Capella, the sixth brightest star and they will all disappear into the glare of the Sun in the next couple of weeks.
Mars and Saturn have become a new sword for either Castor or Pollux in Gemini the Twins. They are a little less than two fist-widths above Venus in the 11:00 position and Mars is now above Saturn. Saturn and Mars are less than two degrees apart. (Your clenched fist held at arm’s length spans ten degrees.) If you look straight up tonight, you’ll see the Moon and a very bright star. The Moon will be, as it always is; half lit up. First quarter Moon will be at 5:58 p.m. today. Of course, we don’t always see it half lit up, but that’s the way it always is! That bright star isn’t a star, of course, it’s the planet Jupiter.
I’ve been receiving many calls and e-mails about the transit of Venus. The transit is big news and the answer is “Yes, it is visible from Guam.” The transit starts here at 3:09:13 p.m. (13 seconds after 3:09 p.m.). The Sun will set here on Guam while the transit is in progress. Venus will be large enough (just barely) to see on a projected Sun. An easy way to view the transit is to take an ordinary flat hand mirror and project the Sun’s image onto a shaded white surface (like a wall. The image will be roughly one inch wide for every ten feet it’s projected.
Sometime this week or next, take your mirror, a lawn chair and a lump of clay, Play Doh® or a small pillow and find the Sun’s location at 3:00 p.m. Prop your mirror on the clay or pillow so the Sun’s image is aimed at your shaded white wall. If you see sunspots, you’ll see the transit of Venus from your own yard or parking lot. And even if there are no visible sunspots, your equipment is ready!
The National Park Service wishes to thank the communities of Guam for the many years of support and patronage!
