Announcements
Signs & Seasons 25% off Christmas Sale!
It's the off-season for homeschool curriculum and we have a basement full of books that are not moving! As a special limited-time Christmas offer, we will be offering our
Signs & Seasons astronomy curriculum for
25% off until Satuday, November 24, 2007!!! With a regular list price of $39.99, you can now get
Signs Signs & Seasons for only
$29.99, plus $5.00 shipping and handling.
More than just a curriculum,
Signs & Seasons is a handbook to learning the sky! Learn how to observe and understand the Sun, Moon, stars and planets and their various motions. The constellation
Orion will soon be visible in the evening sky, and this is the best time to begin learning the constellations! Don't wait another year, be prepared for the coming season!
Signs & Seasons discusses the historical traditions of Classical Astronomy, unlike the current emphasis on telescopes and modern cosmology and astrophysics as are ubiquitous in other books. We wrote this book to meet a long-felt need, and we guarantee that you won't find another like it. If you like the Classical Astronomy Update, don't pass this up!
A hardbound book printed on nice glossy paper,
Signs & Seasons includes 400 illustrations that show what you can see in the sky, and detailed "field activities" for acquiring skill in observing the sky.
Signs & Seasons would make a great Christmas gift for everyone who wants to know more about God's creation -- young kids, dads, uncles and even grandpas!
Order online at our website using PayPal or use our
mail order form to send a check. (Mail orders must be postmarked no later than November 24, 2007.) This offer is only available directly from Fourth Day Press and is not available from our other distributors. We're a small family business so please allow 2-3 weeks for us to process and ship your order.
Make 2008 the Year that Your Family Studies Astronomy!
Dance of the Planets
Comet Holmes Mailbag
Comet Holmes is all the buzz in astronomy circles this month. If you missed the report in the last Update, you can
read our article at the Classical Astronomy website. Hope your family has some clear skies for observing this celestial marvel.
Here's a photo of Comet Holmes, taken by my friend Mr. Bernie Doherty of Cleveland Heights, Ohio. As you can see, this comet has a couple "shells" indicating layers of expanding comet material. This is the "coma" of the comet -- a fine "cloud" of particles that surround the actual "head" of the comet (the bright "star" in the middle of the coma.)
The words "comet" and "coma" both come from the Greek word kome, which means "hair." Down through history, comets have been known as "hairy stars." (It looks to me like Comet Holmes has an afro!) The word kome turns up in the New Testament in this verse:
But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering. - 1 Corinthians 11:15
Here are some of the reports we've received from Update readers. The Hagmann Family wrote to say:
Thanks for sending us this update! Right after reading it, my son Ben and I zipped out at 10:30 p.m. to take a look. We had a chilly time in the convertible with the roof down, but it was worth it! We saw the comet Holmes very clearly, just where you said it would be! And you were right --- it was very cool with the binolulars! We will keep watching it until it fades back out of sight!
The Harper Family in Arkansas reported:
We saw Comet Holmes lastnight (11/04), in Gentry, Arkansas, and it was just as you described it - a big "fuzz ball" in the night sky. Beautiful!
Angel and her family enthused:
We saw it! Comet Holmes! I love the "Dance of the Planets" section. You make it so easy to read the sky. It looked just like you said, "a fuzzball". I focused in on the stars of Cassiopia and then moved down to Perseus and lo and behold, a fuzzball! I tried to focus in on it but it remained the same. Only the stars could I focus in and out on. I'm so excited. Thank you.
Lyn in Nebraska wrote:
We went outside last night and had great viewing from our backyard. Using binoculars, even 7yos could see the "fuzzy snowball" easily. Here in western Nebraska we're often unable to see things because of overcast skies, but even in town, this comet was clearly visible. Thanks for encouraging us to go out and have a look.
From Laura in New Mexico:
Thank you for the 'heads up' about Comet Holmes! We live in Northern New Mexico, in the mountains, so usually have an incredible view of the sky. Last night we were able to find the comet glowing in that dark area of the Milky Way, first with binoculars, then with the naked eye. Strange, beautiful sight!
An unidentified reader wrote:
We found it! It was cool looking through binoculars, kind of reminded me of a spider and very colorful. At first with the bare eye, we thought it was Mars because it looked red. Through the binoculars, it was so different from other stars and planets.
Jennifer in Arizona had this interesting report:
We saw comet Holmes on Tuesday night from Lowell Observatory here in Flagstaff, Az. We had a private viewing with three of our students who are studying your Signs & Seasons course this year. Another homeschool student, who works at the observatory, allowed us to look through the McAlister telescope but we enjoyed the view more from a very good pair of high powered binoculars. What a fantastic sight! He then showed us various celestrial bodies and star clusters through the Clark telescope that is over 100 years old. We had an awe inspiring evening. Thanks for the newsletter and keeping us updated on Comet Holmes. I wouldn't have known otherwise! Blessings to you.
I'm sure the Lowell Observatory is an outstanding astronomy resource for people who live in and around Flagstaff, Arizona. It must have been a treat to look through a vintage Clark telescope. The telescopes from the Alvan Clark & Company are some of the finest refracting telescopes ever made, and though made in the 19th century, are still superior to the high-tech, mass-market scopes cranked out today.
The Lowell Observatory is a respected institution of modern astronomy, being the place where the ex-planet Pluto was discovered. However, people still snicker at this observatory because of the reputation of it's founder, Percival Lowell, a crackpot occultist who first popularized the "life on Mars" hoax in the 19th century. We mention Lowell in these two Update articles:
Planet X? (a discussion of the discovery of Pluto)
Folks, if you like the things we discuss in the Update, you should spend some time exploring the archives at the website, which link over 200 articles from the Classical Astronomy Update newsletter going back to 2002. The archives are linked in the side navigation in this newsletter and in just about every page within the website.
Anyway, back to Comet Holmes. Some readers remarked about why this comet does not have the characteristic "tail." We had a report from Becky who told us:
I had heard about the Holmes comet from Sky & Telescope's weekly "Sky at a Glance." We went out right away and looked for it. We found it and grabbed the telescope for a closer look. What a cool sight! It's too bad the tail is pointing at earth so you can't see the characteristic tail streak in the sky but it's still really neat.
Actually, the only way I understand that the tail could point toward us is if the comet were between the Earth and the Sun, and thus invisible within the Sun's glare. But if my friends at Sky & Telescope said that, they would surely know better. The Lauers in Pennsylvania wondered:
So the big question we had, since it has no sideways tail, we figured it is coming straight towards us or heading straight away, more or less. Which is it?
Comet Holmes is more or less at "opposition" from the Sun as seen from Earth, which would mean the comet is in a "full moon" phase as seen from our skies, and so the tail would be pointed away from us. But this comet doesn't really have much of a tail. It's 200 million miles from the Sun, between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter, and the "solar wind" doesn't blow very strong at that distance. Comet tails are very long and bright when comets are closer to the Sun, inside the orbits of Venus or even Mercury. They are then practically grazing the Sun, and thus receive a strong "blowback" from the solar wind.
The "outburst" of Comet Holmes, particularly at this great distance, is an anomaly. God only knows why it flared up like it did. But people really want answers for things that puzzle them, and I believe this is why scientists always feel compelled to try to offer some explanation for every little thing. Keep your eyes on Comet Holmes folks! We'll report on it again if anything interesting develops.
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Order online at our website or from one of our fine distributors.
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Seasonal Skies
The Evening Sky of November -- the Perseus Sky
The November sky is the best time of year to observe the constellations associated with the myth Perseus. In this pagan fairy tale, Perseus is a great hero who kills evil monsters, rides on a winged horse named Pegasus, and rescues the beautiful princess Andromeda. This doesn't sound too different from the storylines of many Hollywood action movies!!!
As we've seen in other Updates, fall is a good time to learn to find the constellation "Cassiopeia" (pronounced "Cassy-oh-PEE-a"). This constellation is supposed to depict Queen Cassiopeia, the mother of Andromeda, sitting regally on her throne in the Perseus myth.
While most people have trouble envisioning a Queen, this star pattern does include five stars that look remarkably like a number "3" on fall evenings. After it gets dark look to the North. Cassiopeia will be above and to the right of the North Star. Don't look for the Big Dipper in the early evenings this month since it is low in the trees, on the opposite side of the North Star from Cassiopeia.
Once you find Cassiopeia, look up and to the right of the top of the "3" pattern. At about one and a half Cassiopeia-lengths away, you should be able to see The Great Square of Pegasus. Though you'll have a hard time seeing Pegasus as a winged horse, it's a fairly plain square of bright stars. To properly see the Great Square, turn around toward the South and it should be high in the sky.
If you learned to find the Summer Triangle in previous Updates, this asterism can still be seen in the evening sky, but now turning toward the western sky. The Great Square the next brightest star pattern to the left of the Summer Triangle. If you learn the Great Square this month, it will help you in learning the constellations moving in from the east that will be visible in coming months.
(((((( BINOCULAR ALERT!!! ))))))
In between Cassiopeia and the Great Square is the faint, indistinct constellation Andromeda. The stars of this constellation are harder to pick out, especially from light polluted skies in the cities. About 2/3 of the way from Cassiopeia to the upper corner of the Great Square lies M31, the famous Andromeda Galaxy. This can be easy to see with modest binoculars, even from the city.
Through binoculars, the Andromeda Galaxy will appear as a fuzzy blob. Don't expect to see a spectacular view like some magazine photo. Such astrophotographs are taken over long time exposures through fancy telescopes. You can't see anything nearly as bright or detailed through binoculars or even a telescope. But you can see a blob which science teaches is another galaxy, incomprehensibly far from our little Earth.
Perseus
From most places in the northern temperate zone, you can see a very bright star called Capella rising above the trees in the early evenings, right below Cassiopeia. In between Cassiopeia and Capella is the constellation Perseus himself. Unlike other constellations we've seen, Perseus does not have an easy shape to describe. I see it as a "reverse-lambda" shape -- a diagonal line of stars, extending from upper right to lower left, with two branches extending downwards.
It would be easier to first learn Cassiopeia and use a star map to help you find Perseus. I also recommend an astronomy shareware program called "Skyglobe." If you are serious about learning the sky, this program can be a big help.
Skyglobe shows you the sky from just about any place on Earth. Plus, you can go forward and backward in time to see the positions of the stars and planets in past and future years (and even centuries!) You can download Skyglobe from many places on the Internet, including this web page:
http://astro4.ast.vill.edu/skyglobe.htm
Algol
An interesting feature in the constellation Perseus is the star
Algol, which represents the head of the slain monster Medusa. This star is of a type known as an "eclipsing binary." It's actually two stars where a dimmer star passes in front of a brighter star, eclipsing it and making Algol appear to change in brightness from night to night. The period of Algol is about three days. So if you spot this star one night, it'll look bright. The next night it'll look noticably dimmer. Two days after that, it will be back to its original brightness again. While Perseus is not the easiest constellation to learn to find, it's worth the effort just to follow the changing brightness of Algol.
