Announcements
Leadership Radio Podcast
As mentioned in the last Update, I was interviewed by Bob Cranmer of
Leadership Radio in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the October 20 broadcast. If you'd like to hear the interview, the show is now available on
podcast. Bob and I discussed sundials and almanacks and a bit about astrology. We're about 24 minutes into the show. Be warned, this is about a 15 meg download.
4th Day Alliance Promotion
Our friends from
4th Day Alliance are currently offering a promotion. Anyone who joins the 4th Day Alliance astronomy ministry before December 1st will automatically be entered to win a free green laser pointer -- a $99 value.
If you haven't seen these green laser pointers in action, they are an awesome tool for pointing out objects in the night sky. Unlike a red laser pointer, the green laser beam is visible as it extends into the night sky, like a green finger that reaches up from the ground to point out specific stars. A green laser pointer is indispensible if you're interested in sharing the sky with friends and family.
For this drawing, your odds of winning are good since 4th Day Alliance is a new group and still small. For more info about the laser,
visit their webstore.
Wilkerson's Backyard Compass
One of the main features of our astronomy curriculum
Signs & Seasons is the Field Activities in which our homescholars can learn to observe the sky and become skilled visual astronomers. The Field Activities begin with instructions for making a "backyard compass" that will help the students find the compass point directions at any hour of the day or night.
We've received some pix from the Wilkerson family in New York State showing their backyard compass. The dad of this family is John Wilkerson who produces the
Jesus Geek podcast.
The Wilkersons made some very creative marker stones for the cardinal points. Here's what John explains:
We made our own paving stones for the cardinal points by using some old Chinese food trays as molds and filling them with quick-drying concrete. When it was almost hardened, we inserted some glass stones we bought from a local craft store. We haven't added the inter cardinal points yet. Those will be added in the future.
If your family makes a backyard compass, please send along some pix and we'll include them in a future Update.
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Order online at our website or from one of our fine distributors.
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Signs of the Seasons
Vega and Capella "Balanced"
I'm always noticing interesting little details of the stars and their motions in the sky. One thing I like to notice is the motion of the bright northern stars Vega and Capella. These stars are both bright first magnitude stars, and are at similar distances from the North Star Polaris. Both of these stars rise and set very far to the north, and are usually above the horizon for some part of the night on each night of the year.
In this time of year, these two bright stars can be seen at the same height above the horizon if if you look at about 8:00 or 9:00 PM. Vega is the bright star to the west of Polaris and Capella is to the east of Polaris. Since these two stars are about "level" with Polaris, they seem to be "balanced" in the sky.
As part of the Summer Triangle, Vega represents the summer constellations that are disappearing into the sunset. Meanwhile, Capella, being a neighbor of Orion, represents the winter constellations that are moving toward the evening sky. So the "balancing" of these stars is a sign in the sky of autumn for those of us in the northern hemisphere, just as sure a sign as the cooling days and the falling leaves.
(A detailed explanation of this arrangement and more info on the seasonal motions of the stars is found in our Signs & Seasons Classical Astronomy curriculum.)
Dance of the Planets
Don't Miss Comet Holmes!
We just wrote about Halley's Comet in the last Update. At the time, we had no idea that another comet event was about to unfold. A little known comet known as Comet Holmes has returned dramatically to the night sky. Holmes isn't a "great comet" like Halley or like the conspicuous Comet Hale-Bopp that visited the inner solar system in 1997. However, Comet Holmes is still a pretty cool sight in the night sky at this present time.
From what I've been reading lately, Comet Holmes was discovered in 1892 by an astronomer named Edwin Holmes. It's official designation is 17P/Holmes, meaning it was the 17th "periodic comet" ever discovered, which is to say, a comet in an elliptical orbit that brings it periodically into our night sky. Comet Halley, as the first periodic comet discovered, has the designation 1P/Halley.
For whatever strange reason, on October 25, Comet Holmes suddenly brightened from invisibility to magnitude 2.8, becoming the third brightest "star" in the constellation Perseus. This "outburst" was essentially an explosion in which its dusty body expanded to a diameter of about a half-million miles. Comet Holmes is now the largest object in the solar system after the Sun, having three times the diameter of Jupiter, and would fill the area between the Earth and the Moon.
One remarkable thing is that Comet Holmes is currently between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter over 100 million miles away from Earth. Comet Holmes has an orbital period of about seven years, so it reaches this point in the sky quite often. However, outbursts are not common. The current outburst is similar to what it did in 1892 when it was first discovered.
The coolest part of this event in my opinion is that astronomers cannot really explain what's going on with Comet Holmes. You'll read various theories, but their all just someone's educated guess. These little mysteries really show that the LORD is in control, and that man can only scratch his head.
Comet Holmes can be seen in the evening sky in the constellation Perseus. This constellation is a lambda-shaped arrangment of stars, in between the bright star Capella and the constellation Cassiopeia (which looks like a "three" in the northeastern sky.) If you mentally draw a line between Capella and the Pleiades cluster, Perseus is right above this line. Comet Holmes is currently below the star Alpha Perei, the brightest star in Perseus. The comet will move in a path within Perseus over the next couple months but is expected to fade in the coming weeks.
If you live under dark rural skies, Comet Holmes should be a treat to see with the unaided eye. Our family can even see it easily from where we live in the city, two blocks from a major freeway. However, with a pair of binoculars, Comet Holmes is a stunning sight -- a large, bright, fuzzball that stands out against the night sky. It'll take your breath away! Please drop us a line if your family is able to see this comet in the coming weeks.
