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//The Discovery Channel Store Night Sky Tour of the Heavens
//April Edition
//Copyright 2004 The Discovery Channel
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TITLE "Night Sky"
AUTO SELECT TEXT "April Tour" "April is the month where we celebrate"
"Astronomy Day. Held on the 24th, public observatories, planetariums, and"
"astronomy clubs across the country celebrate Astronomy Day through"
"public outreach. Go to www.meade.com/astronomyday, or visit your local club or"
"planetarium for more information. On the 3rd Venus will cross the Pleiades..."
"On April 1st you can see all five of the planets known to the ancients, right"
"after sunset, including Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter... "
"On April 5th the Moon is full... On the 19th the Moon is Full... on the 22nd"
"is the peak of the Lyrid Meteor Shower... Northern Hemisphere observers can"
"try to get an early morning glimpse of Comet C/2002 T7 LINEAR at the end of"
"April as it emerges from the Sun, about an hour before sunrise. This comet"
"may be very bright, as it is estimated to reach about 1st or 2nd magnitude!"
"Press MODE to launch our voyage of Discovery."
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AUTO SELECT USER 01:49.40 +14d29m00s "Mercury" "Assuming this is April 1st"
"and it is about 6:30 p.m. we will see a beautiful lineup of five planets"
"starting with Mercury that is just above the Western horizon, no fooling!"
"Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, and is probably the least observed naked"
"eye planet because it can only be observed during twilight. Mercury makes"
"its trip around the Sun in only 88 days, speeding through its orbit at"
"nearly 50 kilometers per second, making it the fastest planet in the"
"solar system! With no atmosphere, Mercury’s surface temperatures vary from"
"467 degrees Celsius in the daytime to a frigid -183 degrees Celsius at"
"night. A Mercurian day is 176 Earth days long. It’s best to sight Mercury"
"with a SP26mm eyepiece, and then move to a medium power eyepiece like the"
"SP15mm eyepiece. Mercury is small, but you may be able to detect that it looks"
"like a tiny crescent Moon, as it is only partially lit by the Sun...Let's go"
"to Venus now by pressing MODE..."


AUTO SELECT USER 03:41.59 +23d10m12s "Venus" "Although the highly reflective"
"global cloud cover prevents us from seeing the surface, Venus is very bright"
"and also goes through partially lit phases like the Moon. Right now Venus appears"
"in a half-lit phase or like the 1st quarter Moon. Although similar in size to the"
"Earth, Venus has no ocean. The thick clouds trap surface heat with temperatures so"
"high that it would melt lead, and pressure so intense that a human standing on the"
"surface would be similar to the pressure that a diver would feel at 900 meters deep"
"in the Earth's ocean. Its atmosphere is a toxic cocktail of carbon dioxide with sulfuric"
"acid droplets. In the upper layers, the Venusian clouds move faster than hurricane-force"
"winds on Earth. Venus orbits the Sun once every 225 Earth days, and its day lasts longer than"
"its year at 243 Earth days. Venus also spins the opposite direction than the Earth,"
"so observers could watch the Sun rise in the West and set in the East. Use a higher"
"power eyepiece like the SP9.7mm or use the 2x Barlow lens with the SP15mm eyepiece"
"to get a more magnified view of the planet. You can also try to detect variations in"
"the Venusian clouds by using a Green Photo-Visual filter. Press MODE to move to Mars..."


AUTO SELECT USER 04:22.11 +22d41m51s "Mars" "Mars has now moved so far away from"
"Earth in its orbit that it now looks very, very small. But still you easily detect"
"the distinctive reddish color of the planet. At this point in time, Mars is the most"
"studied planet in the solar system, aside from Earth. The Mars Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity"
"have all but determined that Mars did indeed have water on its surface. Other observations"
"have proved the existence of Methane in the atmosphere. Since Mars is unable to hold Methane"
"in its atmosphere for long periods of time, it would appear that it is being continually"
"replenished. Methane can only come from two sources, one would be from volcanic activity"
"and the other from living organisms. Since no active volcanoes have been found on Mars,"
"scientists strongly suspect that the Methane comes from bacteria living underground."
"Of course more exploration and study is needed to make definitive determinations."
"Press MODE to go to the ringed planet..."

AUTO SELECT USER 06:29.52 +22d48m46s "Saturn" "Both Saturn and Jupiter have"
"recently passed opposition early this year making them great targets for visual"
"astronomy. Saturn is the most distant of the five planets known to ancient"
"stargazers. In 1610, Galileo was the first astronomer to gaze"
"at Saturn through a telescope. To his surprise, he saw a pair of objects on"
"either side of the planet, which he later drew as cup handles attached to the"
"planet on each side. Saturn, like Jupiter, is a gas giant planet composed of"
"mostly hydrogen and helium. Use a high power eyepiece such as the SP9.7mm or"
"the PL5mm for a more magnified view. Use a #80A Blue filter to enhance the"
"subtle belt structure of the planet. Press MODE for Jupiter..."

AUTO SELECT USER 10:50.20 +08d55m26s "Jupiter" "Jupiter is nearly twice as close"
"to the Sun as Saturn, this gives the largest planet in the solar system even greater"
"size advantage when it comes to visual astronomy. The first stargazer with a telescope"
"was surprised to see four small stars near Jupiter orbiting the planet. That was Galileo"
"on January 7, 1610,  from his garden in Padua, Italy. He had discovered Jupiter's four"
"largest moons, now called Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. or what are known today as"
"the Galilean satellites. It is now known that Jupiter has 62 moons - by far the most in"
"the solar system. Use the same high power eyepieces and filter for studying Jupiter, but"
"try using the lowest power eyepiece that you have to get a feeling of what Galileo saw at"
"only 30 magnification. Now before moving on to the next event, look at each planet with"
"the naked eye and mentally connect the dots... you are seeing a rare line up of the planets"
"as they stretch across the sky and you are making out the plane of our own solar system."
"all of the planets are whirling about our Sun at great speed. The Earth that you are standing"
"on is moving at 60,000 miles per hour in its orbit around our star. Press MODE for the April"
"3rd event..."

AUTO SELECT USER 03:49.54 +23d43m06s "April 3rd" "Venus crosses the Pleiades star cluster"
"making for a stunning view at low magnification. Try using a SP40mm eyepiece, and set"
"your Autostar to slew at very slow speeds so that you can cruise the region by pressing"
"the arrow keys to see all of the beautiful richness of stars in this area of the sky."
"The Pleiades star cluster, also known as Subaru in Japanese culture, or called the Seven"
"Sisters in western culture are one of the best known open clusters of stars in the heavens."
"Press MODE for the April 22nd event..."

AUTO SELECT USER 17:59.12 +32d00m00s "April 22nd" "Tonight is the peak of the Lyrid meteor"
"shower. This is not an event that one would typically use a telescope for, but the Autostar"
"has now pointed you to the radiant, or the source in the sky where the Lyrid meteors will"
"strike our atmosphere. Meteor showers are watched with the naked eye from a dark location."
"Just keep your eyes open and relaxed, but looking in the same general area of the sky where"
"the telescope is now pointing. You will see faint and bright meteors from this shower as they"
"streak across the sky. Try counting how many you see in an hour. The Lyrid meteors are nearly" "as bright as the main stars in the Big Dipper, and there can be anywhere from 10 to 100 events"
"per hour making the Lyrids one of the more anticipated meteor showers of the year. Lyrid"
"meteors are the leftovers of an ancient comet debris path that orbits the Sun, and it gets"
"its name because the radiant is near the constellation Lyra. We see them as these"
"particles strike the upper atmosphere at great speed and become ionized. Press MODE for the" "Astronomy Day event..."

AUTO SELECT USER 06:36.16 +22d46m50s "April 24th" "Today is National Astronomy Day, and we will"
"celebrate it by observing a conjunction of Saturn and the Moon which are only separated by 5"
"degrees of arc. The telescope is now aimed at Saturn, but if you look up you will see the"
"lovely pair with a beautiful crescent Moon. Astronomy Day was created in 1973 by amateur"
"astronomer Doug Berger, and the first Astronomy Day celebration was held at the Chabot"
"Space and Science Center in Oakland California. Today the event is celebrated at" "observatories, and planetariums across the country. To learn more about Astronomy Day"
"you can visit www.meade.com/astronomyday. Press MODE for the next celestial event..."

AUTO SELECT USER 23:59.13 +03d16m13s "April 26th" "Rising at about 3:22 a.m. Comet C/2002 T7" "LINEAR has just emerged from its pass around the Sun, and for the next few days, we in the"
"northern hemisphere has an opportunity to get a glimpse of this bright comet, that is"
"estimated to be around magnitude 2 or brighter. Use a very low power eyepiece, such as the"
"SP40mm and bring along your binoculars too. Telescopic views often can reveal jets and other"
"details in the comet's nucleus, while binoculars can give you the best views of the tails."
"See if you can see color differences in the tail or tails. Bluish tails come from gasses being"
"released, and point straight away from the Sun as the solar wind pushes it back. Yellowish"
"tails are from reflected sunlight of the dust particles of a comet that may someday become" "meteors. Comet LINEAR will only be with us for a short time from Northern latitudes and will"
"be very low to the horizon. It will slide further and further south giving great views high" "in the sky for our neighbors who live down under. Press MODE..."

AUTO SELECT TEXT "Coming Next Month" "In May's Discovery Channel Night Sky Tour,"
"Comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) should put on a spectacular show! For more details or an"
"expert array of stargazing tools, books, and videos, visit your nearest Discovery Channel" "Store or discoverystore.com."
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