FDC-couch

today

8:30 a.m. Audubon Society Field Trip See Event Description

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9 a.m. Arcata Farmers' Market Arcata Plaza

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9:30 a.m. Discovery Walk: Unknown Waterfront See Event Description

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9:30 a.m. Manila Dunes Restoration Manila Community Center

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10 a.m. Manila Dunes Guided Walk Manila Community Center

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10 a.m. Library Book Sale Humboldt County Library

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10 a.m. Dia de los Muertos and Mexican Folk Art Sale Private Eureka home

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10 a.m. Final Arcata Farmer's Market Arcata Farmers' Market (off the plaza)

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11 a.m. Donlin Foreman Dance Workshop Dell'Arte

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2 p.m. Humboldt Coastal Nature Center Draft Trails Plan Walk Stamps House

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5 p.m. Bati Zado and Show Redwood Raks World Dance Studio

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6 p.m. The Tumbleweeds Chapala Cafe

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6 p.m. Ali Chaudhary (jazz duo) Libation

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6:30 p.m. Not Evil, Just Wrong Humboldt Area Foundation

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7 p.m. Guitar Stan (country) Old Town Coffee & Chocolates

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8 p.m. Guitar Orchestra of Barcelona Arkley Center for the Performing Arts

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8 p.m. Stones in His Pockets Arcata Playhouse

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8 p.m. A Christmas Carol North Coast Repertory Theater

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8 p.m. Donna Landry Swing Dance Moose Lodge

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8 p.m. North Coast Wind Ensemble Fulkerson Recital Hall at HSU

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8:30 p.m. The Last Minute Men (international) Cafe Mokka

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9 p.m. Ian McFeron Band (folk rock) Six Rivers Brewery

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9 p.m. The Michael Paul Band WAVE @ blue lake casino

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9 p.m. The Generatorz (classic rock) Central Station Cocktail Lounge

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9 p.m. Taxi Bear River Casino

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9 p.m. VJ Itchie Fingaz Pearl Lounge

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9 p.m. Jack Ruby Presents + Blue Street + Acufunkture (DIY rock) Jambalaya

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9 p.m. 2nd Annual Scorpio Bash The Red Fox Tavern

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10 p.m. Music by DJ Sidelines

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10 p.m. DJ Icy Hot Aunty Mo's Lounge

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10 p.m. Jemimah Puddleduck (rock) Humboldt Brews

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10 p.m. White Manna + Midday Veil + The King Salmon Duo (rock) Jambalaya

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11 p.m. Radio Moscow (psychadelic blues) + Mosquito Bandito (one-man surf/garage) The Alibi Lounge and Restaurant

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previous columns

Jan. 15, 2009

Undamming the Klamath

When I'm kayaking the lower reaches of the Klamath, it ...

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Jan. 8, 2009

Reach Out and Touch Someone

Water is a weird and wonderful substance. Most liquids are ...

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Jan. 1, 2009

A Dip in the Bay

My wife Louisa is an open-water swimmer. Her idea of ...

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  • Simplified sky chart for late January at Humboldt's latitude, looking southwest. Saturn lies about halfway up the sky, below the constellation Leo (the Lion). Leo's brightest star Regulus is one of the brightest in the sky. Simplified sky chart for late January at Humboldt's latitude, looking southwest. Saturn lies about halfway up the sky, below the constellation Leo (the Lion). Leo's brightest star Regulus is one of the brightest in the sky.
Pre-dawn Saturn

Pre-dawn Saturn

By Barry Evans

Trying to stargaze from downtown Eureka is a bit like someone suffering from agoraphobia setting up camp in the middle of Times Square: not the smartest move. Still, the optimists in our ranks can try to spot a few glimmers in the night sky, especially the most prominent ones. My shortlist would definitely include the bright planets Venus, Jupiter and Saturn.

Saturn's an easy target now, unless the pre-dawn sky is completely socked in by clouds. At 5 a.m. in January, a Humboldt county resident would see the planet about halfway between the southwest horizon and the zenith (directly overhead). Saturn is unmistakably bright and colored ochre (to make the point, there's an official pigment color, "Saturn Yellow"). Of course, if you have a telescope, even a very modest one, you'll be able to make out Saturn's bright rings. Binoculars won't quite do it, unfortunately.

However, at 5 a.m. this New Year's morning, when I walked out onto the balcony, Saturn was nearly overhead! Instead of shining from 45 degrees up in the sky, it was all of 65 degrees up from the horizon. How can that be? Well, the planet sure didn't move -- it's been cruising around in the same orbit for a few billion years, and it's unlikely (make that, impossible) to suddenly switch tracks. Meaning, it must have been me that moved.

Let's look at this more closely: Eureka's latitude is about 41 degrees, meaning it's located on a circle of latitude that makes an angle of 41 degrees with the equatorial plane. (So the latitude of the North Pole is 90 degrees.) If I'm seeing an object in the night sky 65-45 = 20 degrees higher than it appears in Humboldt, I must be 20 degrees of latitude closer to the equator, that is, 41-20 = 21. Bingo! My present latitude is 21 degrees.

If I tell you that I didn't cross any oceans to get from Eureka to where I am now, you could easily deduce that I'm in Mexico. And if I gave you the added information that I'm equidistant from the Atlantic and Pacific, you could look at a map of Mexico, check what towns lie right in the middle at a latitude of 21 degrees, and guess that I'm in Guanajuato, right in the geographical center of the country.

And you'd be right. ¡Felicitaciones!

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