This is the
Classical Astronomy Update, an email newsletter especially
for Christian homeschool families (though everyone is welcome!) Please feel free to share this with any interested
friends.
He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down. Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. - Psalm 104: 19-20 IN THIS UPDATE Another Season of Mars USA Total Lunar Eclipse - Tuesday Morning, Before Sunrise Hello Friends, Have you seen beautiful sunsets in your area the last few evenings? Last night's was spectacular here in Cleveland, Ohio -- stunning shades of red, orange and pink that extended far above the horizon and persisted over 10 minutes past sundown.
This gorgeous sky reminded me of the incredible sunsets we had in 1991 and 1992 following the volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Phillippines. This was one of the largest volcanic eruptions
ever recorded and spewed volcanic ash high into the atmosphere, which caused beautiful sunsets all over the globe. I personally confirmed the global extent as we saw "Pinatubo Pink" sunsets on the other side of the planet while visiting New Zealand in 1992. The current rosy sunsets might be due to the January, 2022 eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano in the Pacific Ocean, which hurled volcanic ash way up into the mesophere layer of the atmosphere. Here's an article with more details about the recent findings of that event. If you haven't already heard, don't forget to "fall back" tonight as daylight savings time ends. Standard time resumes at 2:00AM on Sunday, November 6, 2022. So we all get back that extra hour of sleep we lost back in the spring. This is the one Sunday of the year when no one has an excuse for sleeping in and being late for church!
For more information about topics from Classical Astronomy discussed in this newsletter,
please check out a homeschool astronomy curriculum (but popular with adult readers too!) Visit our archive of previous editions of the Classical Astronomy Update newsletters, going back to 2007. ***** Another Season of Mars Another evening apparition of the red planet Mars is approaching. Every two years, this planet increases dramatically in brightness as the Earth draws into close alignment. Mars will be closest to Earth at opposition, when the Earth passes between Mars and the Sun in its orbit. This happens every two years or so when the faster-moving Earth "laps" the
slower-moving Mars. Opposition occurs this year on December 8, 2022 when the red planet will be seen rising in the east at sunset as the Sun goes down in the west. After opposition, Mars will be above the horizon in the evening hours as night falls for the remainder of 2022 and into 2023. Here in the early days of November, Mars is rising about 2 hours after sunset, and is not appreciably high in the sky until after 9:00 or 10:00 PM. But as a special feature of this current apparition, Mars is visible in the constellation Taurus, sharing the sky with mighty Orion, everyone's favorite constellation. Look for Mars in this familar part of the sky several hours after sunset.
You can't miss it, Mars is the "red" planet, hence the name! It's also the brightest "star" in this part of the sky. Mars isn't exactly "red" but shines with more of a rusty orange color, just like it appears in
NASA photos. Mars is currently passing through the "horns" of Taurus the Bull, directly above Orion as it rises in the east. By about 10:00 PM, this sight should be prominent in the southeastern sky. So go out and take a look before bedtime. Also look for the constellation Gemini and the famous star cluster The Pleiades which also share the sky with Mars. If you still can't puzzle out which one is Mars, take another look on the evening of Thursday,
November 10 when the waning gibbous Moon passes Mars in a beautiful lunar conjunction with the red planet. If you can spot the Moon that night, you should notice that Mars is the bright red object nearby. I'm especially sentimental to see Mars return to Taurus and that area of the sky around Orion. As long time subscribers may have read, Orion
and Taurus were among the few constellations I knew growing up. But I didn't know much else. So one day in the winter of 1989, when my wife and I were newlyweds living in the Washington, D.C. area, on the TV news, meteorologist Bob Ryan (no relation) announced that that a conjunction of Jupiter and Mars was approaching in Taurus. The next night, when I coming home from work, I looked up and saw these two really bright "stars" out of place among the familiar constellation of Taurus, near Orion. I correctly surmised that the really bright "red" one was Mars and the other really bright "star" was Jupiter. I was so excited that I RAN all the way home to tell my wife!
(And anyone who knows me knows that I DO NOT RUN, EVER! Even though I was 27 at the time! That's how excited I was!) That night was the genesis of Classical Astronomy. I became a diligent observer of the sky and devoured all available astronomy information. And I still do to the present day. So I'm always happy every decade or so when there is an opposition of Mars that happens in Taurus. So be sure to take advantage of this opportunity and observe Mars in the current apparition. USA Total Lunar Eclipse - Tuesday Morning, Before Sunrise There will be a total lunar eclipse visible before dawn on the morning of November 8. This eclipse favors North America and the USA, so don't miss it! There will not be another total eclipse of the Moon visible from the USA until March 14, 2025! As shown in the image above, a lunar eclipse occurs
when the Moon passes through the shadow of the Earth, becoming dark for a time, and usually appearing with a reddish glow, depending on the amount of dust and dirt in the Earth's atmosphere. With the recent volcanic eruption, we might expect a very dark eclipse, a deep red or perhaps even smoky gray color. A lunar eclipse always begins with a penumbral phase, when the Moon comes into contact with the Earth's penumbra or partial shadow. The first contact of the leading edge of the Moon with the penumbra is P1. There's usually not a lot to see during the penumbral phase, just a dimming of the limb of the Moon as it enters a region of reduced sunlight. For this eclipse, P1
occurs at 3:00 AM back east and midnight on the west coast. The eclipse starts getting good as the phase of partial eclipse begins, as the Moon makes first contact with the Earth's umbra or full shadow. There is a
notable edge of darkness along the Moon's limb which increases as the Moon more fully enters the terrestrial umbra. This is ingress, as the Moon enters the eclipse. The first umbral contact -- U1 -- begins at 4:09 AM EST and 1:09 AM PST. The main event is totality, when the Moon is fully immersed in the Earth's umbra. Totality begins at second umbral contact, or U2, when the trailing edge of the Moon is enveloped by the Earth's umbra. This occurs at 5:16 AM EST and 2:16 AM PST. Totality ends at U3, third umbral
contact, when the leading edge of the Moon touches the edge of the umbra as it exits. This is egress, a partial phase when the Moon leaves the Earth's umbra. U3 occurs at 6:42 AM EST and 3:42 AM PST. The partial phase ends at U4, when the trailing edge of the Moon touches the edge of the umbra on the way out. This happens at 7:49 AM EST and 4:49 AM PST. The Moon finally exits the penumbra at P4, which is at 8:57 AM EST and
5:57 AM PST. This eclipse "favors" the west coast in that the entire event is fully visible. However, not everyone will want to stay up all night to watch the whole show. Earlybirds back east will have a better shot at
observing the interesting phases of ingress and totality at more reasonable hours, though the Sun will rise and the Moon will set before the entire eclipse event is over. The following map shows the global visibility for this eclipse.
The shaded, labeled curves depict the hemispheres of the Earth in which the contacts of the umbra and penumbra are visible. So the full eclipse event can be seen over the Pacific and the lands to the north of the ocean. The sublunar position on the Earth at mid-eclipse is over the Pacific to the southwest of Hawaii. This is the point on the globe where the Moon is seen overhead at the zenith. Various stages of eclipse are visible before and during sunrise
over most of North and South America, and not at all over most of the Atlantic, Europe and Africa. More specifically, the map below shows the visibility
over the USA. All of the United States will see the ingressing partial phase and most of totality. In the easternmost states, the dawn twilight will begin during totality, and this will make it hard to see the eclipsed Moon. But if you get up an hour or two before sunrise, you should see a fine show. Most everyone west of the Mississippi will see the entirety of totality and both partial phases before dawn twilight becomes too bright. Everyone way out west should be
able to enjoy the full eclipse event, though it will be at the expense of getting a full night of sleep! Since eclipses don't change quickly, I recommend taking a quick look every hour or so and going back to sleep. 
For more information, here's a link to the last eclipse newsletter which includes additional information not
repeated in this newsletter. Note especially the part where I speculate about the traditional, historical interpretation of eclipses as "signs and wonders in the heavens" from the LORD. In centuries past, eclipses had been regarded as "bad omens." Since this eclipse happens on the morning of Election Day 2022 in the USA, perhaps it will be a "bad omen" for the bad guys! Til next time, God bless and clear skies, - jay The Ryan Family Cleveland, Ohio, USA When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? - Psalm 8:3-4, a Psalm of David
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