BLC-Anigif

today

7 a.m. Annual Twice Nice Rummage Sale Oddfellows Hall

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8 a.m. Tire Amnesty Day Humboldt Coastal Nature Center

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9 a.m. North Group Sierra Club Hike See Event Description

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

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10 a.m. Spiff Up The Zoo Sequoia Park Zoo

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10 a.m. Humboldt Botanical Gardens Humboldt Botanical Garden

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

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10 a.m. Annual Juggling Festival Humboldt State University

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10 a.m. Exploring the I-Ching Humboldt Wellness Center

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11 a.m. Soups and Salads for Shoes Fortuna Monday Club

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noon Landscape Design from the Top Down Living Earth Landscapes

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1 p.m. March and Rally for Peace Humboldt County Courthouse

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1 p.m. 35th Annual Daffodil Show Fortuna River Lodge

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1:30 p.m. Afternoon Tea Humboldt Area Foundation

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1:30 p.m. Eureka Photoshop Users Group Adorni Recreation Center

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1:30 p.m. For the Next 7 Generations Morris Graves Museum of Art

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1:30 p.m. Spring Equinox Celebration Manila Community Center

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2 p.m. Friends of the Marsh Tour Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary Interpretive Center

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2 p.m. Betty Peugh Sweaney Collection Presentation Trinidad Museum

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5 p.m. Humboldt Roller Derby Redwood Acres Fairground

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5 p.m. Elephants and Tigers: A Bollywood Extravaganza Wharfinger Building

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5 p.m. Downey for Sheriff Spaghetti Dinner Fortuna Veterans Hall/Memorial Building

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5:30 p.m. Arcata Rotary Spring Wine Festival Kate Buchanan Room at HSU

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5:30 p.m. Arcata Rotary Spring Wine Festival Kate Buchanan Room at HSU

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6 p.m. The Tumbleweeds (cowboy songs) Chapala Cafe

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6 p.m. Blue Lotus Jazz Libation

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6 p.m. McKinleyville Land Trust Dinner Azalea Hall

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7 p.m. Ghoulies and Ghosties and Long-Legged Beasties Mantova's Two Street Music

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7 p.m. Juggling Festival Show Van Duzer Theatre

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7:30 p.m. Joe & Me (Greek/Turkish) Cafe Mokka

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7:30 p.m. A Midsummer Night's Dream Arcata High School

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7:30 p.m. Tenor Recital Christ Episcopal Church

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7:30 p.m. We Are All Related Accident Gallery

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7:30 p.m. For the Love of the Dance Redwood Raks World Dance Studio

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8 p.m. Karaoke w/ Chris Clay Boiler Room

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8 p.m. On the Wings of a Dove Carlo Theater (Dell'Arte)

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8 p.m. Antigone College of the Redwoods

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8 p.m. So Hum Tales Mateel Community Center

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8 p.m. The Phoebes Mosgo's

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9 p.m. Vintage Soul (R&B) Cher-Ae-Heights Casino

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9 p.m. Cadillac Ranch Six Rivers Brewery

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9 p.m. The Roadmasters (country) Bear River Casino

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9 p.m. Trevor 101, Children of the Sun (rock/blues) Lil' Red Lion

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9 p.m. Band Behind Your Hedge (classic rock) Central Station Cocktail Lounge

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9:30 p.m. For the Love of Dance After Party Arcata Theater Lounge

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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. Polyhood Productions Pearl Lounge

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10:30 p.m. Splinter Cell, Watch it Sparkle (rock) 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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