The Near Sky: Our Celestial Backyard

When you look at the night sky, much of what you see is very far away (the Moon, planets, stars). In this program, we'll discover what you might see that's not so far away. Meteors streak through the atmosphere, auroras arc across the sky, and artificial satellites abound. Jim Hahn teaches us how to find these and other phenomena of the near sky. We'll start with a brief study of Earth's atmosphere and how it helps create many of the nearby phenomena we see in the night sky. If the weather is clear, we will take telescopes out at the end of the program for views of the Moon and Jupiter.