Science
How to spot the planets hiding in plain sight


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Most people are aware that if you live in the city, light pollution limits your view of the night sky. If you want to see lots of stars, comets and the Milky Way, you have to get out into the countryside, where the sky is dark.
However noble the cause, awareness campaigns to educate people about light pollution have had an unintended side effect: people think you can’t see anything in the urban night sky except a handful of bright stars and the moon.
So if you are a city dweller and you don’t look up, what are you missing out on?
The planets.
Even in the most light-polluted skies, we can see five planets with the naked eye: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
How to find the planets
It’s not unusual to be able to see the planets. Normally, some appear in the evening and some in the morning, depending on where they are in their orbit around the sun.
How do you know when and where to look?
In June 2022, we had a rare opportunity: all the naked-eye planets were visible in the early morning. At dawn, you could see all five of them lined up before the sun rose and washed their light away.
Why did they appear to line up, as they did then?
The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. In the northern hemisphere, the sun appears to move through the sky in the south.
Now imagine a line was drawn out behind the sun as it travels in the sky through the day. Astronomers call this “the path of the ecliptic.”


At night, you can roughly follow this imaginary line, and that’s where the planets can be found. This is because the planets all orbit the Sun on the same plane, much like a frisbee or a vinyl record. Because all the planets travel more or less on the same plane, from our view on Earth, they appear to line up and are always visible in the southern sky from the northern hemisphere.
Embedded in our daily lives
We can see seven significant celestial objects with the naked eye: the sun, the moon and the five planets closest to the sun.


Where else do we see the number seven in our day-to-day lives?
In the calendar.
Through the magic of myth and etymology, each day of the week corresponds to these celestial objects.
- Monday is moon day, named for the moon. (In French, la lune becomes lundi.)
- Tuesday, named for Tiw, the Germanic god of war, corresponds to the Roman war god Mars (in French, mardi).
- Wednesday is named for Woden, the Germanic god corresponding to the Roman god Mercury (in French, mercredi).
- Thursday is named for Thor, the Norse god corresponding to the Roman god Jupiter. (In French, from the Latin Jovis, a name for Jupiter, we get jeudi.)
- Friday is named for Frigga, the Germanic goddess corresponding to the Roman goddess of love, Venus (in French, vendredi).
- Saturday is named for Saturn.
- Sunday is named for the sun.
Think about which day you’re reading this. Which celestial object does it correspond to?
Not only are the planets hiding in plain sight in the urban night sky, they’re hiding in our calendars — embedded in our daily lives.
The Creator Network, which works with emerging visual storytellers to bring their stories to CBC platforms, produced the piece. If you have an idea for the Creator Network, you can send your pitch here.





Science
Media Advisory – Minister Champagne to announce the Canadian Space Agency astronaut who will fly around the Moon – Canada NewsWire
LONGUEUIL, QC, March 29, 2023 /CNW/ –— On Monday, April 3, at 10:00 a.m. CT (11:00 a.m. ET), the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, will join NASA and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) leadership in Houston to announce the names of the astronauts assigned to the Artemis II Moon mission.
The event will be broadcast on NASA TV and streamed on the CSA’s YouTube channel and Facebook page (with simultaneous interpretation).
Media are also invited to join CSA President Lisa Campbell and the Honourable Marc Garneau, first Canadian to fly to space, at CSA headquarters for this historic event. CSA experts will be on site and available for interviews.
All interview requests for the CSA astronaut assigned to Artemis II and/or CSA leadership and experts, in Canada or in Houston, must be coordinated with the CSA Media Relations Office (information below). Interview requests for Minister Champagne must be coordinated directly with his office.
Canada will make history when a CSA astronaut flies around the Moon as part of Artemis II, the first crewed mission to the Moon since the Apollo missions.
Event at NASA Johnson Space Center – Ellington Field
Monday, April 3, 2023 |
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Time |
What |
Who |
Where |
10:00 a.m. CT 11:00 a.m. ET |
Artemis II crew announcement event in Houston |
The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
CSA astronaut assigned to Artemis II |
Ellington Field – Johnson Space Center Hwy. 3 and Brantly; 12400 South Brantly Houston, TX 00000 The event will be broadcasted on NASA TV and streamed on the CSA’s YouTube channel and Facebook page |
2:10 p.m. CT 3:10 p.m. ET |
Media callback |
The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
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Members of the media are asked to contact ISED Media Relations at [email protected] to receive the dial-in information. |
Event at CSA headquarters
Monday, April 3, 2023 |
|||
Time |
What |
Who |
Where |
9:50 a.m. CT 10:50 a.m. ET |
Artemis II crew announcement event, including NASA live broadcast, at the CSA |
Lisa Campbell, CSA President
The Honorable Marc Garneau, retired CSA astronaut
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John H. Chapman Space Centre 6767 Route de l’Aéroport Borough of St-Hubert Longueuil, Quebec J3Y 8Y9 |
More information
Canada’s role in Moon exploration
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SOURCE Canadian Space Agency
For further information: Canadian Space Agency, Media Relations Office, Telephone: 450-926-4370, Website: https://asc-csa.gc.ca/, Email: [email protected]; Laurie Bouchard, Communications Director, Office of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, [email protected], +1 343 574 8014; Media Relations, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, [email protected]
Science
Ice Age Squirrel Found in Canada! » Expat Guide Turkey – Expat Guide Turkey


The remains of an Ice Age squirrel that was mummified to death during hibernation some 30,000 years ago have been found in Canada.
The 30,000-year-old animal found in the Klondike goldfields in 2018 will soon be on display in Whitehorse, Northern Canada.
Yukon paleontologists this week unveiled another unusual find from the gold fields near Dawson City: an Arctic squirrel that curled up and mummified as if it died during hibernation during the Ice Age.
A Squirrel Mummy Found by Yukon Paleontologists at the Gold Field near Dawson City
The Ice Age squirrel was actually found a few years ago, but its announcement is now being made as the government is preparing the dead rodent for display at the Yukon in Whitehorse.
At first glance, this mummified animal looks like nothing more than a dried up pile of brown fur and skin.


Intact Bone Structure Detected Inside the Remains
Yukon government paleontologist Grant Zazula says, “It’s hardly recognizable until you see the tiny hands and claws, a little tail, and then the ears.” says.
“I’m always examining bones and these are very exciting. But when you see a perfectly preserved animal, especially if it’s 30,000 years old and you can see its face, its skin, its fur, it’s really special.”
Science
Apr 1: Tyrannosaur lips, bald eagles dine on beef, saving the orbital environment and more… – CBC.ca


Quirks and Quarks54:02Tyrannosaur lips, bald eagles dine on beef, saving the orbital environment, how your fingerprints are built and how humans run on electricity
On this week’s episode of Quirks & Quarks with Bob McDonald:
Tyrannosaurus rex had lips covering its terrifying teeth
Quirks and Quarks8:33Tyrannosaurus rex had lips covering its terrifying teeth
Many depictions of the iconic Tyrannosaurus rex show the dinosaur’s huge teeth as constantly exposed in a crocodilian smile. But a new study published in the journal Science concludes that theropod dinosaurs like the T. rex likely had scaly, lizard-like lips that covered their teeth completely when the dinosaur’s mouth was closed. Canadian paleontologist Dr. Thomas Cullen, a professor at Auburn University, and his co-authors analyzed wear patterns on tooth enamel of the dinosaurs, as well as jaw sizes, and compared them to modern-day animals. He said the T. rex mouth would have likely been most similar to that of a Komodo dragon.
Eagles are eating cows instead of salmon – and farmers are happy
Quirks and Quarks7:59Eagles are eating cows instead of salmon – and farmers are happy
In the Pacific Northwest of the U.S., bald eagles, which have historically fed on the carcasses of spawning chum salmon, have run short of their traditional food due to climate change and other factors. But a new study in the journal Ecosphere by Ethan Duvall, a PhD student in ecology at Cornell University, indicates the eagles have moved inland and are now scavenging cattle who have died on dairy farms. Farmers, it turns out, are happy with this, as it solves a troubling disposal problem, and because the eagles also displace rodents and other birds that do harm to the farms.


Inspired by the High Seas treaty, scientists are calling for the protection of space
Quirks and Quarks7:47Inspired by the High Seas treaty, scientists are calling for the protection of space
In early March, nearly 200 United Nations member countries agreed to the first-ever treaty to protect the world’s oceans. Imogen Napper, a marine biologist at the University of Plymouth in England, and a group of colleagues are calling for a similar legally binding treaty to protect the Earth’s orbit from exploitation by the ever-growing global space industry. Their concerns were put forward in a letter in the journal Science.


Arches, loops and whorls — how your unique fingerprints are made
Quirks and Quarks7:40Arches, loops and whorls — how your unique fingerprints are made
There are eight billion people in the world, each with a unique pattern of ridges on our fingertips. Now, scientists have discovered that the process by which these intricate and complex patterns arise is similar to how animals get their spots or stripes. Duelling genetic and chemical signals during fetal development give rise to changes in the ridges and spaces between them that cover our fingertips. Denis Headon, a geneticist from the University of Edinburgh, traced how this interplay results in the complex whorls, loops and arches that make up our fingerprints. His research was published in the journal Cell.


Humans are fueled by food — but we run on electricity
Quirks and Quarks19:31Humans are fueled by food — but we run on electricity
Every living cell works as a battery, with the ability to respond to and send out electrical signals. Science and technology journalist, Sally Adee, became fascinated with this realization after participating in an experiment in which a gentle electrical current, delivered to her brain, gave her the abilities of an expert sharpshooter. Bob McDonald speaks with her about her new book, We Are Electric: Inside the 200-Year Hunt for Our Body’s Bioelectric Code, and What the Future Holds. In it, she explores how much our biology — from our bodies’ ability to heal to the higher order processes of human thought — works through electricity.


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