Homebound Astronomy: Insider’s Guide to the Galaxy – Intro to Stellarium and MISSION ONE questions

Welcome, Stargazers and Space Enthusiasts!

In partnership with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, AstroGeo is delivering hour-long live webcasts during the COVID-19 shelter-at-home period. Our intention is to provide family-friendly Astronomy and Space content on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 3:30 to 4:30 pm Eastern Daylight Time. Anyone can register for the Zoom stream by using this link:

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/2415851638025/WN_kGvVp9EvTaSReiWsPbqTig

Since the sessions will have a 500-attendees limit, our stream can also be streamed live on RASC’s YouTube channel, where it will be available to watch later, too – or over and over again! The channel is https://www.youtube.com/user/RASCANADA

We’re going to equip you with the perfect tool to explore the sky – Stellarium! We suggest that you download and install Stellarium on your computer. It’s free, fun, very powerful, and easy to learn. I’ll teach you how. The software is available at http://stellarium.org/

There is also a web browser version of Stellarium here https://stellarium-web.org/ It doesn’t require an install – but it also doesn’t offer nearly as many neat features. And for those who’d like to take the software outside, Stellarium is available as Android and iOS apps, too – for a small fee.

In future Homebound Astronomy sessions, we’ll highlight what’s happening in the sky, answer viewer questions, and dive deeper into topics in space and astronomy. If you’d like to request topics, email chris.vaughan@astrogeo.ca or use the comment box at the bottom of this post.

At the end of each Tuesday’s session, we’ll give you some questions to investigate using Stellarium – or by heading outside on a clear night, or by Googling. Think of it as an astro-scavenger hunt!

ou can watch the recording of the livestream here, and the session where I answered the questions below here.

———- Here are the questions for MISSION ONE ———-

(We will reveal the answers on Thursday, April 2nd. Good luck!)

When can you see Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn this week?

Which planet or planets are hidden by the sun’s glare this week?

What constellation is the sun in right now?

What shape is Venus currently showing through a telescope?

What constellation is setting in the west as the sky gets dark this week?

What constellation hosts the object named Messier 42, also known as M42?

Which two bright springtime stars have a connection to the Harry Potter series?

Which constellation represents a Unicorn, and where is it located?

Which bright stars form the Winter Hexagon asterism?

On April evenings, will the Big Dipper hold water, or spill it?

What kind of creature is the constellation Camelopardalis?

Please don’t post your answers in the comment box. Save them for the online session on Thursday!