The third annual Arizona Science and Astronomy Expo will be held this Saturday and Sunday at the Tucson Convention Center.
Thousands of amateur astronomers come to Tucson for this annual event, which features multiple vendor exhibits, presentations, kids exhibits, and telescopes set up outside for safe viewing of the sun.
The entrance fee is $10 per day. The Expo runs from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. I have attended the first two Expos and thoroughly enjoyed them, particularly all the wonderful astronomical equipment for sale. I highly recommend this meeting. For more information see: www.scienceandastronomy.com
Tonight in the fading twilight: Look south at 6:30 p.m. to find the first quarter moon. If you have a very clear southern horizon free of city lights and a pair of binoculars, you will be able to see the “Peacock Star” Alpha Pavonis just skimming about a degree above the horizon. It is the brightest star in the faint southern constellation Pavo the Peacock.
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Alpha Pavonis is the 44th brightest star in the sky and is a fairly conspicuous blue-white star if viewed in the southern hemisphere. Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office (HMNAO) — now part of the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office — bestowed the name in the 1930s. A navigational almanac that included 57 stars was being created for the Royal Air Force.
Since Alpha Pavonis did not have a classical name, it was assigned the name the Peacock Star. It deserves it name as it has six times the sun’s mass and five to six times the sun’s radius. It is actually a close pair of stars which orbit around each other with a period of 11.8 days.
