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“Starry Night is an excellent
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--ZDNet, 5 star rating
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StarGazer
Each week most PBS stations air Star
Gazer with Jack Horkheimer, the world's first and only weekly TV series
on naked-eye astronomy. The images on this page illustrate the show for
the week of Monday,
April 10, 2000.
Using The Big Dipper To Find Two Wonderful Stars
The handle of the Big Dipper points to Arcturs and then Spica, two of the brightest stars in the spring sky. This view was taken just after sunset on April 10 looking east. Notice that Spica is shaded blue, indicating that it is a young, hot star.
Spica and Arcturus are two of the four bright stars in the asterism known as the "Diamond of Virgo". This shows how the stars appear at the present time.
This view is taken from the year 9000 AD. Note how far Arcturus has moved from its original location. Because the other three stars in the diamond are more distant and not moving as fast, they have hardly shifted in position at all over the past 7000 years.
Still want to know more?
Click here for an archive of the past shows.
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