030226 - March Skywatch! - Dr. Buddy Stark

So we could witness a blood red moon in the wee hours of the morning on Tuesday.

Let's find out more about the sky for the month of March.

He's back, Dr. Buddy Stark, director of the University of Michigan Planetarium and Dome

Theater.

He joins us once a month here on Ann Arbor's talk station, 1290 WLBY.

Seems like everyone's talking about the blood red moon.

Yes, it always makes headlines on this, every couple of years or so, we get one of these.

What is it?

Well, yeah, often you'll hear it called a blood moon, which kind of harkens back to various

cultures throughout history, have seen this, and if you didn't know what was going on,

you can imagine it would be quite terrifying, right?

The moon suddenly turning red in your sky, and if you don't know why, that seems like

an omen of some kind.

Of course, now we also call them lunar eclipses.

We understand that it is the shadow of our planet lining up perfectly and being cast down

onto the surface of our moon.

Why does it look red then?

Yeah, so that's an excellent question.

Why does it look red?

Because shadows are very dark.

They're supposed to be black, right?

And if the earth did not have the air that we're breathing right now, if we didn't have

an atmosphere, that's what the moon would just sort of vanish in the sky.

It would just look like it was black, right?

So you just see a part of the sky with no stars.

I hadn't thought about that.

Right.

That's what it should happen.

That's what happens to other moons.

In Jupiter's moons, when they get into eclipse, there's no light hitting them.

But we are in a fortunate situation where our planet has an atmosphere, again, for a variety

of we're breathing.

It's useful.

It keeps us alive.

But also, it kind of acts like a lens.

And so a little bit of sunlight is actually is able to be bent around our planet through

the atmosphere and then focus back onto the moon.

And the type of light that does that best is a red wavelength.

And so the moon turns red because it's mostly that bent red light that's hitting it.

So what's the prognosis here?

I mean, are we going to be able to see this with the weather we have?

Yeah.

So whether, you know, everyone knows the weather Michigan is quite unpredictable.

So about half the lunar eclipse that happened aren't visible because you're on the wrong

side of the planet.

Right.

It's got to be nighttime where you are.

And this one is one that we are just catching.

So it's going to be here tomorrow morning and the full eclipse, the total eclipse starts

at about six o'clock in the morning and ends at about seven o'clock in the morning.

So it's not going to be super dark.

You know, we're going to have that sort of twilight of the rising sun.

But if the weather cooperates, right?

If we don't get clouded out, then it will be visible in sort of the morning sky and

the moon will be turning red, even though it's not particularly dark outside.

All right.

It's about the time I walk my dog.

So we'll be looking for.

I know.

Yeah.

That's about when I wake up to.

So I'm going to go outside and see if I can't find it.

Oh, that sounds like fun.

All right.

And that's just one of many things that are happening this month, the March.

Yes.

We have a log going on this month.

So the other thing that happens every March is we have an equinox.

So the first official day of spring always happens in March.

And this year, it's March 20th.

Sorry.

Got something?

No, I was just thinking, all right, March 20th is the equinox.

But there's something coming up before then.

March 8th.

Oh, I'm doing things out of order.

Yes.

No, that's okay.

Because this is concerning to me.

Sure.

I want it to stop.

Yeah.

You're not alone.

I don't want it to happen anymore.

Yeah.

Be done with it.

I don't care.

Which one we stay at.

Right.

But do we have to spring ahead?

Right.

Do we need to keep switching our clocks back and forth?

Do you like this?

I mean, do you want to do this?

You're going to lose an hour this week.

We don't lose anything.

I don't know why I say that.

Well, you could, but temporarily you do, right?

I guess you do because like when you go to bed, it's 10.

And then eight hours later, it should be six o'clock,

but eight hours later, it's five o'clock now.

Right.

You've lost something.

Wait, five o'clock?

Well, I know you're right.

It'd be seven to four.

Seven o'clock.

Yeah.

So you got to get up.

You got to get up earlier.

You only get seven hours of sleep,

even though it should have been eight, right?

But if you're smart, you'll go to bed earlier.

Now, if your body allows you, right?

Like what do you think?

Oh, it's true.

Derek, what do you think?

I mean, I don't, I'm sure it's annoying,

but I don't mind it.

Let's just get over it, you know, over a day.

But you young people, you go to bed really late.

So I don't know how you deal with this.

Yeah.

I mean, there's 20s.

There have been studies that suggest that there is like a financial cost to it

because people are more tired the next day.

And so like productivity goes down.

There is a fiscal thing to do that too.

So, okay, March eight.

March eight is the start of daylight savings time,

which I usually talk about because people sort of think of it

as an astronomy thing, right?

Because again, like our clocks are moving,

so the sun is like it's either up earlier or later depending on

so it feels astronomy related, but it's not actually.

It's just something that we have decided to do.

It has nothing to do with the sky.

Like it's a very human thing.

Well, and then it percolates in Congress, you know,

people talk about it and how we need to stop it.

They have a pillar too that never goes anywhere.

Well, in some like there's parts of Indiana for a while

that didn't observe it.

I don't know if they still do or don't.

I don't know.

So yeah, like some people have just sort of locally abolished it, right?

I think Arizona too, if I'm not mistaken, yeah, parts of it.

And yeah, life would be a lot easier if we didn't have to.

Yeah, there's like a county in Indiana, isn't there?

Yeah, like I think a few.

We refuse to go.

Maybe we should just do it at the local level.

Yeah.

Confused everyone.

Start pushing counties.

Yeah, wash, knock, and go no more daylight savings time.

No more.

All right.

And that's happening this coming Saturday going into Sunday.

Yes.

So Sunday morning is when we, as we change our classroom.

All right.

So let's move back now to what did you say it was?

Oh, the equinox.

That's when spring officially arrives.

Yes, absolutely.

And one confusing thing, or if you pay close attention,

it can be a little confusing, is that some years,

the equinox is on the 21st.

Other years, it's on the 20th.

Sometimes it's on the 22nd, right?

So that also feels like it's weird changing.

Why is that?

It's actually really pointed that we're talking about daylight savings time

because it's the same kind of thing.

Our year is 365 and one quarter days.

But we don't keep track of the quarter extra day every year.

Every four years, we just sort of catch up, right?

A leap year.

Oh, is that why we do leap year?

Yeah, because the day the year is not actually exactly 365 days.

Well, how did I not know?

Yeah, the earth actually takes 365 point like two six.

So it's like a quarter and extra quarter days.

Really?

And so then every hundred years, when you should have a leap year,

normally you don't because you're trying to account for that extra point of one.

So like the year 2000 should have been a leap year,

but it wasn't because it was the first of the six.

Really?

This is why it goes like that.

But other than that, every four years.

So 2004 was, and it was, and 2012 was.

Seriously, did you know this, Derek?

Yeah.

Every day is not quite 24 hours.

Yeah.

Really?

Yeah.

So the fact that we don't account for most years, right?

Most years, we're just like, okay, a quarter day, whatever,

we're just going to get on with our lives.

Uh-huh.

And that means that the point at which the earth hits the equinox,

which is like when our axis is pointed in directly the line of our motion, right?

That's sort of how it's defined.

On our calendars, the day is slightly different because we don't account for that extra quarter every year,

so that can start to add up.

But then four years later, it sort of resets,

and we go back to the 20th.

And then it sort of works his way to the 21st and the 20th day,

and then we reset it.

Go back to the 20th.

So what are we doing this year?

We're doing it on the 20th.

The 20th.

This year is the 20th, which is about as early as you can find an equinox.

Well, it couldn't come here soon enough as well.

I agree.

Yeah.

I know.

I'm done with the snow.

Yes.

And hopefully the weather will cooperate with spring on the calendar this month.

Yes.

On the 20th of March, next year, it'll be on the...

I didn't look into next year.

Mostly.

It's most years it's the 21st.

It might still be the 20th next year.

Oh, okay.

All right.

All right.

All right.

All having to do with the fact that we have more time on our hands than we know what to do with.

Yeah.

That's some ways.

We're talking with Dr. Buddy Starkey is the head of the University of Michigan Planetarium,

and we'll tell you more about the plantarium, what you need to know about it,

because they've got some really cool things happening there.

One other thing this month.

What else do we got?

The conjunction of the moon and Jupiter.

What is that?

So Jupiter is a very bright planet that's been up for a long time.

And if you haven't been able to see it, if you're not sure if you found Jupiter,

the 26th of this month will be a good night to see it.

Because the conjunction is the term that we use for when one thing gets really close to another thing in our sky.

All right.

So of course, the moon's not actually close to Jupiter out in space, but from our point of view,

if they look like they're next to each other.

Okay.

So that night, you'll actually be able to use the moon.

You can go outside and find the moon, and the bright thing right next to the moon will be Jupiter.

So if you're having trouble finding it without any help, that's a good night to see if you can't find it.

Oh, okay.

Great.

Lots of fun things.

And if you really want to learn about it, go to the U of M Planetarium.

Tell us what you have happening this month.

Yeah.

So if you want to learn about the sky in detail, we do run public shows about the sky tonight,

every Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Those are at one and three.

And we also have some films about T-Rex and other dinosaurs at 12 and two.

And this month, because Anna Republic Schools has a spring break right at the end of the month, starting on the 30th,

we also have some extra shows.

Normally, we only do Friday, Saturday, Sunday, but that week, starting the 31st, so we start on Tuesday.

We'll have some extra shows on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, that week, too, if you're looking to do some with your kids.

Just Google University of Michigan Planetarium.

Absolutely.

And the website will come up with all of the cool things they're doing there.

I love it.

It's in the dinosaur museum.

It sure is.

We call it.

Natural History Exhibit Museum.

Great talking with you today, Dr. Buddy Stark.

Thanks, Lucy.

Just got his PhD recently, so got to use that doctor.

Right, yeah.

Got to add that title.

Am I the only one using it?

For the most part, yeah.

I was going to call you, buddy.

Well, that's okay.

We got a good platform to do it on.

Thank you, buddy.

Dr. Stark, to you.

Annover's Talk Station, 1290 WLBY.