The Pistol Star and Nebula (false-color image)

Bang! The most luminous star in our galaxy may be the “Pistol Star”! Crazily, we can’t see it with our naked eyes due to the amount of dust in the way-but through special infrared cameras we can see it spark out quite clearly! It’s a massive ball of gas, unstable and destroying itself through its own size. Like a massive Pizza the Hut, it may well cannibalize itself in a massive supernova-soon!

How does this star relate to us? Well, to quote a wise old person, “Don’t bite off more than you can chew.” You may find yourself surrounded by many responsibilites, and tempting as it may be to take on more, stop and consider before you do. You may spontaneously combust from too much stress, as has been proven by scientists.

STRESS TIP: Smoking increases your chances of spontaneously combusting.

I hopped off the plane at SFO,
with a dream and my smartphone.
Welcome to the land of geeky styin”,
am I gonna fit in?

Jumped in on the BART,
Here I am for the first time.
Look to the right and I see the Oakland sign!
This is all so crazy!
Everybody seems so amazy!

My tummys turnin’ and I’m feelin’ kinda home sick.
Too much pressure and I’m nervous,
That’s when I rolled down the rental car window,

and the Plieades was shining on,
and the Pleiades was shining on,
and the Plieades was shining on…

Pleiades

CHORUS:
So I put my eyes up,
I’m seein’ my stars,
And the fireflies fly away.
Crankin’’ my neck like yeah,
Movin’ my eyes like yeah.
And I put my eyes up
I’m seein’ my stars,
I know I’m gonna be okay.
Yeah, they’re the stars in the USA.
Yeah, they’re the stars in the USA.

Get to the park in my rental car,
Everybody’s lookin at me now.
Like, “Who’s that dude lookin’ at Google Maps?
He gotta be from out of town.”

So hard with my nerds not around me;
Its definitely not a Brushton party!
Cause’ all I see are lights-oh!
I guess I never got the memo.

My tummys turnin and I’m feelin kinda home sick.
Too much pressure and I’m nervous.
That’s when the I looked up from the bonfire,

and Orion was shining on,
and Orion was shining on,
and Orion was shining on…

Orion

CHORUS:
So I put my eyes up
I’m seein’ my stars,
And the fireflies fly away.
Crankin’’ my neck like yeah,
Movin’ my eyes like yeah.
And I put my eyes up,
I’m seein’ my stars,
I know I’m gonna be okay.
Yeah, they’re the stars in the USA.
Yeah, they’re the stars in the USA.

Feel like hoppin’ on a flight (on a flight)
Back to my hometown tonight (town tonight)
Something stops me everytime (everytime)
The skies show my stars I feel alright!

CHORUS:
So I put my eyes up,
I’m seein’ my stars,
And the fireflies fly away!
Crankin’’ my neck like yeah,
Movin’ my eyes like yeah.
And I put my eyes up,
I’m seein’ my stars,
I know I’m gonna be okay.
Yeah, they’re the stars in the USA.
Yeah, they’re the stars in the USA.

SONG TIP: You may find yourself listening to a Top 40 station after a visit to the dentitst, pumped full of hydrocone, and…really enjoying it.

The horrible wonder of the Orion Drive would be a mighty thing to behold! An engine powered by nuclear detonations-such a spaceship could travel to Mars in days!

If man built one, would Buck Rogers style antics occur? It would certainly be awesome. Do you think this will happen? Ponder this while you sleep and you may have science fiction dreams tonight!

SLEEP TIP: Sweet dreams!

You may know of the term “Red Dwarf” from the weird old TV show, but maybe you gave also heard of the term applied to stars! In THAT case a red dwarf is a type of star much smaller than our sun but bigger then Jupiter, which burns its hydrogen dim and red.

The cast of TV's Red Dwarf!

Red dwarf stars are by far the most numerous stars in the universe! They are small and dim and everywhere, as they don’t take up too much space.

Red dots are red dwarf stars in this HST picture.

What do red dwarf stars have to do with us? Dwarves take care of us if we are being pursued by evil stepmothers. Perhaps you are being pursued by one! In THAT case, do not fear, for you can always escape to a faraway red dwarf.

Diagram of a Red Dwarf Star

Two stars, merged into a constellation as one. Castor and Pollux, the heads of the twins of Gemini! You can see Gemini rising to the northeast, slanted and to the left of Orion and Taurus in our 10:00 PM nighttime sky! And they are pretty danged bright, too!

The rising of twins early in our nightime view reminds of of the double nature of certain things. Air can become water, water, air; Batman is at turns noble and menacing. Such are our own lives, and ourselves. Ponder your contradictions, but do not be taken slave to them, but embrace them and understand them. Only then will you become a true Jedi.

FORCE TIP: The Force surrounds us, and binds us-and connects us to Castor and Pollux!

Gemini

A clear night can still be blurry. How can this be?

Bad seeing,as it is called by astronomers...the turbulence in the air makes things wiggly. Bad seeing,as it is called by astronomers...the turbulence in the air makes things wiggly.

The air above, invisible and both life-giving and -taking, mixes withing itself. Sheer bands can collide above us of hot and cold currents. The invisible storms cause our friendly stars to twinkle-and blur our atempts to see our celestial compatriots in fine detail. A slightly cloudy night, oddly enough, offers our best views of our fair skies.

How do we figure this fact into our new day? A seemingly clear and bright time may be more chaotic upon further inspection. Beware events that seem perfectly simple for they often display complications when viewed with a critical eye.

BLURTIP: Squinting your eyes may help. No Asian people jokes, please.

If you are one of those lucky people near the equator with access to a sweet telescope, you might be able to spy the Twin-Jet Nebula, M2-9! It hangs out at magnitude 14 in the constellation Ophiuchus.

The Twin Jet Nebula.

The massive jets appear to be created by two stars ripping each other and feeding in their last bits of stellar life, like two fine and voracious old cannibals. They may destroy each other soon and turn into something new…in that respect its name of the “Butterfly Nebula” is a rather apt description.

These massive cosmic jets serve to remind us of jets on our Earth, those massive engines of modern transportation! Perhaps you should consider your holiday travel plans today.

RAIN MAN: Qantas never crashed (until recently)!

Time-lapse of the Twin Jet Nebula.