Moving out of the Light and into Darkness

As we move closer to the Winter solstice enjoy daylight savings while you can. You may remember the time change coming the last weekend in October, but a number of years ago an act of congress changed the date to the first Sunday in November with the idea that this was a way to save energy. The government is still waiting to see the results, but it sparks the question, why not daylight savings all year round? The standard is different state to state and country to county. Depending where you are there may be no time change at all. Also, there are new theories on how planets are formed.  Imagine observing a group of planets that don’t have a parent star. In fact, discoveries like this have taken place recently. Since we know so little about how solar systems develop, scientists and researchers can only work with the model we have so far. With so many more stars in this galaxy alone, our galaxy may be one of many models of planet formation. All this and more on this week’s Sky Talk.[audio: st20111024.mp3]