1 00:00:20,687 --> 00:00:24,791 DEAN: WELCOME TO STAR GAZERS. 2 00:00:24,891 --> 00:00:27,660 I'M DEAN REGAS, ASTRONOMER FROM THE CINCINNATI OBSERVATORY. 3 00:00:27,761 --> 00:00:31,564 JAMES: AND I'M JAMES ALBURY, DIRECTOR OF THE KIKA SILVA PLA PLANETARIUM IN GAINESVILLE 4 00:00:31,664 --> 00:00:33,433 FLORIDA. 5 00:00:33,533 --> 00:00:36,336 AUTUMN IS FINALLY HERE AND THERE'S A VERY SPECIAL CONSTELLATION THATS GOING TO BE MAKING 6 00:00:36,436 --> 00:00:39,305 ITS REAPPEARANCE IN THE EARLY EVENING SKY IN A FEW WEEKS. 7 00:00:39,406 --> 00:00:41,141 DEAN: THAT'S RIGHT, JAMES! 8 00:00:41,241 --> 00:00:45,745 PERSEUS THE HERO IS BACK, AND NOT ONLY IS HE ASSOCIATED WITH A GREAT STORY IN THE SKY, 9 00:00:45,845 --> 00:00:48,615 BUT HE ALSO HAS SOME INTERESTING CELESTIAL COMPANY. 10 00:00:48,715 --> 00:00:50,450 JAMES: WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT? 11 00:00:50,550 --> 00:00:51,851 LET'S SHOW YOU! 12 00:00:51,951 --> 00:00:55,822 DEAN: OK, WE'VE GOT OUR SKIES SET UP FOR OCTOBER 1ST AT 11 P.M. 13 00:00:55,922 --> 00:00:57,724 FACING EAST-NORTHEAST. 14 00:00:57,824 --> 00:01:02,062 IF YOU LOOK NEAR THE EASTERN HORIZON, YOU'LL SEE WHAT LOOKS LIKE A TINY LITTLE DIPPER-SHAPED 15 00:01:02,162 --> 00:01:05,131 CLUSTER OF STARS, THE BEAUTIFUL SEVEN SISTERS. 16 00:01:05,231 --> 00:01:10,003 NOW, MOST PEOPLE CAN SEE ONLY 6 STARS HERE WITH THE NAKED EYE, BUT IF YOU HAVE REALLY 17 00:01:10,103 --> 00:01:16,242 GOOD EYESIGHT (OR ARE WEARING CORRECTIVE LENSES LIKE FOUR-EYES OVER THERE) YOU MAY SEE SEVEN. 18 00:01:16,342 --> 00:01:19,846 JAMES: AND WITH A PAIR OF BINOCULARS YOU CAN SEE SEVERAL DOZEN. 19 00:01:19,946 --> 00:01:25,385 IN REALITY HOWEVER, THERE ARE OVER 250 STARS HERE, ALL MUCH LARGER THAN OUR OWN SUN, AND 20 00:01:25,485 --> 00:01:27,687 BURNING MUCH, MUCH HOTTER. 21 00:01:27,787 --> 00:01:32,092 COSMICALLY SPEAKING, THEY'RE NOT VERY DISTANT, ONLY 400 LIGHT YEARS AWAY WHICH MEANS THAT 22 00:01:32,192 --> 00:01:38,031 WE SEE THE PLEIADES NOT AS THEY EXIST NOW, BUT AS THEY EXISTED 400 YEARS AGO, AT ABOUT 23 00:01:38,131 --> 00:01:41,768 THE SAME TIME GALILEO TRAINED A TELESCOPE ON THEM AND DISCOVERED THEM TO BE A FAMILY 24 00:01:41,868 --> 00:01:43,703 OF DOZENS OF SUNS. 25 00:01:43,803 --> 00:01:48,508 DEAN: NEARBY WE HAVE THE DOUBLE CLUSTER, WHICH OFFICIALLY BELONGS TO THE CONSTELLATION PERSEUS, 26 00:01:48,608 --> 00:01:52,912 FIRST LOOK UP AND TO THE RIGHT OF THE NORTH STAR WHERE YOU'LL SEE THE 5 STARS THAT TRACE 27 00:01:53,012 --> 00:01:56,883 OUT THE 'M'-SHAPED CONSTELLATION OF CASSIOPEIA THE QUEEN. 28 00:01:56,983 --> 00:02:03,223 THEN JUST TO THE RIGHT OF CASSIOPEIA YOU'LL SEE TWO FAINT, FUZZY, Q-TIP LIKE OBJECTS AND 29 00:02:03,323 --> 00:02:07,560 IF YOU ARE FAR AWAY FROM CITY LIGHTS, YOU'LL NOTICE THAT THEY ARE EMBEDDED IN THE RIVER 30 00:02:07,660 --> 00:02:10,029 OF LIGHT WE CALL THE MILKY WAY. 31 00:02:10,130 --> 00:02:15,335 JAMES: THESE TWO DIM FUZZY BLOBS ARE CALLED THE DOUBLE CLUSTER OF PERSEUS. 32 00:02:15,435 --> 00:02:19,806 EACH HAS ABOUT 100 MORE STARS THAN THE PLEIADES, THE REASON THEY DON'T PRESENT AS DRAMATIC 33 00:02:19,906 --> 00:02:23,776 AN APPEARANCE AS THE PLEIADES IS BECAUSE THEY ARE A WHOPPING SEVEN THOUSAND LIGHT YEARS 34 00:02:23,877 --> 00:02:25,612 AWAY. 35 00:02:25,712 --> 00:02:29,249 MUCH FURTHER AWAY THAN THE PLEIADES, WHICH MEANS WE SEE THEM NOT AS THEY EXIST NOW, BUT 36 00:02:29,349 --> 00:02:31,751 AS THEY EXISTED SEVEN THOUSAND YEARS AGO. 37 00:02:31,851 --> 00:02:37,023 DEAN: HOWEVER, LIKE THE PLEIADES, THE DOUBLE CLUSTER ALSO CONSISTS OF SUPER-HOT BLUE-WHITE 38 00:02:37,123 --> 00:02:42,896 STARS AND THROUGH A PAIR OF BINOCULARS YOU MAY BE ABLE TO DETECT A FEW MUCH COOLER RED 39 00:02:42,996 --> 00:02:44,797 ONES. 40 00:02:44,898 --> 00:02:47,500 JAMES: AND IMAGINE, IF YOU CAN, WHAT THE TWIN CLUSTERS OF PERSEUS WOULD LOOK LIKE IF THEY 41 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:52,105 COULD BE MAGICALLY POSITIONED IN OUR SKIES AS CLOSE AS THE SEVEN SISTERS ARE. 42 00:02:52,205 --> 00:02:54,007 THEY'D BE A DAZZLING SIGHT TO SEE! 43 00:02:54,107 --> 00:02:59,412 DEAN: SPEAKING OF DAZZLING STARS, THERE ARE TWO IN PERSEUS THAT WE WANT YOU TO CHECK OUT. 44 00:02:59,512 --> 00:03:00,613 LET'S GO! 45 00:03:00,713 --> 00:03:03,550 JAMES: OK, WE STILL HAVE OUR SKIES SET TO 11 P.M. 46 00:03:03,650 --> 00:03:09,355 ON OCTOBER 1ST AND AT THE CENTER OF THE CONSTELLATION PERSEUS, YOU'LL SEE A STAR NAMED MIRFAK. 47 00:03:09,455 --> 00:03:11,457 MIRFAK IS ARABIC FOR ELBOW. 48 00:03:11,558 --> 00:03:15,128 GERMAN ASTRONOMER JOHANN BAYER NAMED THIS STAR ALPHA PERSEI. 49 00:03:15,228 --> 00:03:18,231 ITS A SUPERGIANT STAR 590 LIGHT YEARS FROM EARTH. 50 00:03:18,331 --> 00:03:22,936 DEAN: TO THE RIGHT OF MIRFAK WE SEE PERSEUS HOLDING SOMETHING IN HIS OUTSTRETCHED ARM. 51 00:03:23,036 --> 00:03:25,972 TO THE ANCIENT GREEKS ITS THE STAR ALGOL A.K.A. 52 00:03:26,072 --> 00:03:28,274 THE WINKING EYE OF MEDUSA. 53 00:03:28,374 --> 00:03:30,610 SHE'S THE GORGON WITH SNAKES FOR HAIR. 54 00:03:30,710 --> 00:03:35,949 JAMES: BUT OTHER CULTURES HAD SOME VERY FRIGHTENING NAMES FOR THIS STAR, LIKE: THE SPECTRES HEAD, 55 00:03:36,049 --> 00:03:41,688 GHOSTS HEAD, SATANS HEAD, THE DOUBLE EYE, AND DEAN'S PERSONAL FAVORITE, PILED UP CORPSES! 56 00:03:41,788 --> 00:03:43,523 WHY SUCH SCARY NAMES? 57 00:03:43,623 --> 00:03:47,927 DEAN: WELL, ALGOL IS NO ORDINARY STAR - IT'S A SPECIAL TYPE OF STAR CALLED AN ECLIPSING 58 00:03:48,027 --> 00:03:49,128 VARIABLE. 59 00:03:49,229 --> 00:03:51,297 ALGOL IS REALLY TWO STARS THAT ORBIT EACH OTHER. 60 00:03:51,397 --> 00:03:56,569 WHEN THE BIGGER, DIMMER STAR BLOCKS THE LIGHT OF THE SMALLER BRIGHTER STAR, ALGOL DIMS LIKE 61 00:03:56,669 --> 00:03:59,939 CLOCKWORK EVERY 2.87 DAYS. 62 00:04:00,039 --> 00:04:04,844 JAMES: PERSEUS IS USING MEDUSA'S HEAD TO SAVE PRINCESS ANDROMEDA FROM A BRINY BEHEMOTH- 63 00:04:04,944 --> 00:04:06,879 THE SEA MONSTER, CETUS. 64 00:04:06,980 --> 00:04:10,350 LOOK FARTHER TO THE SOUTHEAST, AND MAYBE YOU CAN MAKE OUT THE SEA MONSTER. 65 00:04:10,450 --> 00:04:13,353 DEAN: HIS OUTLINE LOOKS MORE LIKE A RECLINER CHAIR. 66 00:04:13,453 --> 00:04:17,523 JAMES: NEVERTHELESS, THIS WAS POSEIDONS VICIOUS PET SEA MONSTER WHO WE SEE TURNED TO STONE 67 00:04:17,624 --> 00:04:18,524 BY 68 00:04:18,625 --> 00:04:19,525 DEAN: MEDUSA'S HEAD! 69 00:04:19,626 --> 00:04:20,627 JAMES: ALGOL STRIKES AGAIN! 70 00:04:20,727 --> 00:04:22,862 DEAN: SO GO OUTSIDE AND CHECK OUT THE PLIEADES 71 00:04:22,962 --> 00:04:26,432 JAMES: AND THE DOUBLE CLUSTER OF PERSEUS, ALONG WITH MIRFAK, HIS ELBOW... 72 00:04:26,532 --> 00:04:29,202 DEAN: AND ALGOL, THE WINKING EYE OF MEDUSA. 73 00:04:29,302 --> 00:04:30,203 IT'S ALL THERE WHEN YOU 74 00:04:30,303 --> 00:04:34,303 BOTH: KEEP LOOKING UP!