October is a great month to look up into the night sky and see some of the wonders of the universe including “the comet of the century,” the northern lights and a second moon.
October is a great month to look up into the night sky and see some of the wonders of the universe including “the comet of the century,” the northern lights and a second moon.
Dr. Irwin Horowitz is a mathematics professor at the College of Western Idaho and past president of the Boise Astronomical Society and he sat down with our Morning Edition host George Prentice to take a look at the night sky.
(upbeat music) - More Idaho matters right now. October is a great month to look up into the night sky and see some of the wonders of the universe, including the comment of the century, the Northern Lights and a second moon. Dr. Erwin Horowitz is a mathematics professor at the College of Western Idaho, as well as past president of the Boise Astronomical Society. And he sat down with our morning edition host, George Prentice, to take a look at the night sky. Let's take a listen. I have been hearing or reading about the comment, and I want to get this right, Chuchishan, Comet Atlas. And the headlines say it's the comment of the century. Could you tell us a little bit about that? - Well, first of all, let's just call it Comet Atlas. - Okay. - 'Cause trying to pronounce the name of the other discoverer is kind of difficult. - Yes. - But it is a comment on a very long period orbit, like 80,000 years, so this is the first time it's returned to the inner solar system since, I guess, the time when the Neanderthals, a chromanium man, were wandering on the surface of the Earth. But it makes a very close flyby of the sun. In fact, it will have made its closest approach just a few weeks ago in late September. And then in sun, it's outbound trajectory right now. It had been an object visible in the early morning sky prior to this week. And in the upcoming weeks, it will become more visible in the evening sky, starting with this weekend on the 11th and 12th, if you have a nice clear horizon on the Western direction, right after sunset, you may start to see some evidence of the comet. - Wow, I love that. And you said like 80,000 years, it's tripped around the sun, right? That's amazing. By the way, a couple of weeks ago, here's another funny headline. "A second moon has officially entered Earth's orbit." Sort of. - Was that anything or something or? - Well, this happens reasonably regularly. It's not an everyday occurrence, but it happens maybe every couple of years, where a lot of size space rock in this case, the object is roughly the size of a school bus, about 30, 35 feet in size, happens to wander in the vicinity of the Earth, and will temporarily orbit the Earth before it returns to orbiting back in the sun. - And is that because it's captured by our gravitational pull for a short while? - For a short while, yes. It enters a region of space for the Earth's gravity, manages to hold onto it, but it has too much energy for that to be a permanent feature. And so it eventually flies away again. - Indeed, we are on the radio, but Dr. Hurwitz, I have to ask about a shirt you're wearing. And on it, it says stars that go boom. What did you talk to me about that? - What is that? - Okay, well, first of all the, this was the theme of the Idaho Star Party this past summer, and at which I gave a talk about a particular star that was predicted to undergo a Nova eruption sometime between May and September, as it happens, it did not yet blow up. It will at some point, but the prediction did not come to pass. - If it happens, we don't know when it might happen then. - Not specifically, but we expect it to happen at least sometime in the next couple of years. This was a star that erupts roughly every 80 years or so. And the last time it erupted was in 1946. So 80 years later would be 2026, but there were some signals from that star system indicating it might erupt a few years earlier. And so astronomers had made a prediction that it would erupt sometime between May and September, but it did not do so. And I will note that when it does erupt and it will, the star itself will become roughly as bright as the North Star. So if you're familiar with the North Star, you get a sense of how bright this object will be, you just have to know roughly where to look when it does go off. - Oh my gosh, so to the human eye. - Yes. - I'd be remiss if I didn't ask a little bit about Northern Lights. People go crazy when they see Northern Lights, even in Boise a couple of times this year, including this month. - So the Northern Lights are driven primarily by activity on the sun. And right now our sun is ramping up to its high period of activity sometime early next year. And so there is an increase in the amount of material the sun is blasting out into space. Every so often those blasts happen to be directed towards the Earth and our planet's magnetic field captures those particles, channels them into both the North and South polar regions. And when they smash into the upper atmosphere, they give rise to these colorful displays. - Okay, but it is gorgeous and people take photos all the time and Facebook and Tiktok are filled with photos from Idahoans. Speaking of which, I know that for those of us who are truly amateurs when we like to stargaze, some of us, if we're lucky, we can go to the Dark Sky Reserve, of course. But here in our area in the Treasure Valley in Boise, like pollution is always kind of a challenge. May I ask where the Boise Astronomical Society likes to go for some stargazing? - There are a variety of locations that we use as we're starting to head into the cooler months. Most of us don't like to get up into the mountains where it's even chillier. So the most commonly used location is south of CUNA at Dedication Point, just off of Swan Falls Road. So about 15 miles south of CUNA, there's a little rollout area that we use and we set up our telescopes and spend an evening down there. - Great tip. Oh, but I'd be remiss if I didn't ask about the moon, of course, we do love a full moon in October. A hunter's moon, believe that is what it's called, yes. - October 17th, there's always something. And I know that the holidays are coming up, but for any parent out there, my first telescope, I was a kid and it was pretty modest. It was a kid's telescope, but it was a life changer for me. And to other people who love the planets and stars, getting your first telescope, it's quite wonderful, which is why we love having Dr. Erwin Horowitz join us here. Dr. Horowitz, thank you so very much. - It's always a pleasure, George. Thank you for having me. - That was Dr. Erwin Horowitz, a mathematics professor at CWI and past president of the Boise Astronomical Society, speaking with our morning edition host, George Prentice, about what to watch for in the night sky this month. - Thanks so much for listening to Idaho Matters. Boise State Public Radio and Idaho Matters are members of the NPR Network. It's an independent coalition of public media podcasters. You can find more shows in the network wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jamaka Dett, we'll see you tomorrow. The candidates for November are set. - I know Donald Trump's tight. - Between now and election day. - We are not going back. - A campaign season unfolding faster. - Kamala Harris is not getting a promotion. - Then any in recent history. - Make America great again. (crowd cheering) - Follow it all with new episodes every weekday on the NPR Politics Podcast.
