Our Ask an Astronomer contest is underway and hundreds of you have already sent in fantastic questions for a chance to win a Dwarf Mini telescope! In the August episode, we are tackling your biggest cosmic mysteries including a question by Kim in Medicine Hat who wants to know the best time of year to spot the gas giants in our night sky. Robyn Foret with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada’s Calgary Centre reveals why you might want to wait for autumn to see Jupiter and Saturn, and why you don’t even need an expensive telescope to get started. “If you don’t have a bracket for your binoculars, they are about 15 dollars at a camera store,” he said. “It screws into the center of your binoculars and attaches to your camera tripod and this will make it easier to use your binoculars in the night sky. “The nice thing is, point this for your grandkids at Jupiter and in these binoculars you will see Jupiter as a little ball and you’ll see four of its moons.” Meanwhile, Darcy in Calgary asks a mind-bending question: Can we actually locate planets orbiting stars light-years away? Dr. Phil Langill with the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory will explain the clever trick astronomers use to spot these hidden worlds. Here’s a breakdown of what’s covered in August’s episode by timecode: There’s still time to get your questions in for the telescope contest. If you live in Alberta, head over to our Ask an Astronomer page and submit a question to our astronomers. If we feature your question on the show, you’ll be entered into a draw for your chance to win a Dwarf Mini telescope courtesy of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. Full contest details can be found here. You can also watch full episodes of Ask an Astronomer on our CTV News Calgary website and on our CTV News YouTube page.
