If it’s about space, it’s about time

Did you know telescopes are time machines? Yes, they can look deep into the past but can someone really time travel? Before we answer this hypothetical question we have to make a qualification: you can’t separate time from space — so time travel is also space travel.

Now, let’s assume you have actually figured out a way around the relativistic effects of traveling faster than the speed of light (which would be necessary to space/time travel). Besides figuring out the “when” you want to visit, you have to figure out the “where” you want to visit.

For example, you decide you want to see who was behind the fence on the grassy knoll when President Kennedy was shot. We now set our space/time machine to Nov. 22, 1963. Great. But now we need to figure out “where” the Earth was on Nov. 22, 1963.

You see the Earth is not only rotating on its axis at 1,000 miles per hour at the equator, but it is orbiting the Sun at around 70,000 miles per hour. On top of that, the solar system is orbiting the Milky Way galaxy at 450,000 miles per hour. This does not include the Milky Way’s movement in relationship to the other galaxies, etc.

So not only do you need to know the time you want to visit (future or past) you have to know where in the Universe the Earth was or is going to be so that you can “hit” your target.

Morning sky: Saturn is rising around midnight but will enter the evening sky around 10 p.m. by the end of the month.

Evening sky: Mars continues to hang low in the southwest and soon will disappear into the Sun’s glare. Mighty Jupiter dominates the night sky but setting before sunset. Venus shines very bright in the west and is starting to go into its gibbous phase. Mercury joins the evening sky but never gets very high above the horizon.

4th: Lunar eclipse begins at 6:30 a.m. but Moon will set by 7 a.m. while partially eclipsed. You need a clear view of the west. Tallahassee Astronomical Society’s ($1 donation requested) planetarium show at the Downtown Digital Dome Theatre and Planetarium at the Challenger Learning Center (not recommended for children under 5). Doors close at 10 a.m. sharp so get there by 9:45 a.m. Stay for the 11 a.m. planetarium show at half-price for those attending the free show.

8th: Moon near Saturn.

10th – 12th: Venus shares sky with Pleiades star cluster (looks like a little dipper).

19th: Use binoculars to view Mercury and Mars near thin crescent Moon.

20th: TAS general meeting at the Challenger Learning Center. Meeting begins at 6:30 pm.

20th – 21st: Moon joins Venus near Pleiades.

22nd: Lyrid meteor shower after 11 p.m. best view.

27th: Catch the Sky Guy on V89 (89.7 FM) “Your Voice” program with Rich Templin at 6:05pm.

30th: Mercury furthest from Sun (look near Pleiades).

Check out TAS’s events calendar at www.stargazers.org.

Ken Kopczynski is the president of the Tallahassee Astronomical Society, a local group of amateur astronomers. He is the recipient of the 2013 Partners in Excellence Award presented by the Big Bend/Leon Association.