Andy’s Astronomy: Where in the Universe is Carillon?

Last week this column noted the colonies featured in the original Battlestar Galactica television series. This week we explore the first planet encountered by the survivors of the Cylon sneak attack on the colonies.

The ships are operating at low fuel levels and food stocks have been contaminated, but they stumble upon the planet Carillon, a mining colony with resources they need. Unknown to the refugees, Carillon’s inhabitants, known as Ovions, are in league with the enemies of human civilizations. Bipedal creatures, the Ovions are insectoids.

The Ovions welcome the human survivors to their world, promising the resources needed and hosting a huge party for the humans. Everything is free until it is discovered the Ovions are subjugating small groups of humans at a time and taking them into subterranean tunnels where they are fed to Ovion larva. In addition, the Ovions have contacted the Cylons who are responding to the planet.

Of course the humans managed to survive and escape the trap.

So, is there a planet known as Carillon? The short answer is no and to date there is no celestial body that carries the name. The planets and its inhabitants were simply figments of a writer’s imagination. That said, the special effects were good for the time period.

Integrity is back home in Florida.

The command capsule of Artemis II arrived back at the Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, April 28.

After splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on April 10, the capsule was recovered by the US Navy and transported to Naval Base San Diego. It was prepared for transport, loaded on a flatbed trailer, and trucked to Florida. No doubt that truck driver had some interesting conversations along the way.

Integrity will now undergo “de-servicing operations” which means the component parts will be removed and tested to ascertain potential future issues. The heat shield will be removed and closely inspected.

All of the information gleaned will be used in the Artemis III project.

Keep your eyes on the sky for passing fireballs.

Meteors can flash across the sky anytime, day or night, with extraordinarily bright meteors often referred to as fireballs — and they are spotted quite often.

On Monday, Apr. 27, 21 people across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee reported seeing a fireball.

The fireball was first reported at 4:30 am Central Time by a skywatcher in Panama City, FL. The fireball was seen as far north as Blountville, TN, as far east and south as Orlanda, FL, and as far west as Bessemer, AL. One skywatcher said he was driving “when a bright light flashed overhead, faster than anything I’ve seen before, and incredibly bright.”

In Georgia skywatchers in Acworth, Buford, Marietta, Milton, Monroe, and Roswell reported seeing the fireball which appeared to be travelling from southwest to northeast.

None of the skywatchers reported hearing noise made by the fireball but six witnessed it fragment into smaller pieces.

Anyone seeing a fireball is urged to report the sighting to https://amsmeteors.org

We will continue researching planets found in science fiction soon. In the meantime going outside and looking at the sky, especially the night sky, can be fun and educational for the entire family.

There are a number of free apps available to help identify stars and constellations, and some of the apps will show satellites.

Happy skywatching!