Eye On The Night Sky For Thursday, March 26

0:00I'm Mark Breen. Welcome to Night Sky for Thursday, March 26. The primary reason for the emotion of the stars and planets is the spin of the Earth on its axis once every 24 hours. Over your lifetime, no appreciable difference will be noted. However, as far back as Greek astronomers and perhaps even deeper in the past, changes were measured, though not specifically the alignment of the North Pole and the North Star. The Greek astronomer Hipparchus discovered that the sun's position against the background of stars had changed, shifting about one degree per century. The timing of the equinoxes and solstices didn't change, but the stars were shifting ever so slightly forward, preceding the sun, and it was termed the precession of the equinoxes. This shift also alters where and when we see any of the stars. For example, Orion's passage fairly high in the winter will eventually migrate to summer, however, he will be placed so low that his belt will remain below our horizon.

1:04Tomorrow, the inevitable question, why? On Night Sky. Night Sky is a production of Vermont Public in the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium.