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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.
IN THIS UPDATE:
- Anouncements
- Classical Astronomy Store Spotlight - Signs & Seasons
- Dance of the Planets
- Venus, the Morning Star
- The Moon Passes Saturn - April 7
Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner
stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and
all the sons of God shouted for joy? - Job 38:6-7
Welcome to the Classical Astronomy Update!
Hello Friends,
Springtime has arrived to the snow-swept shores of the Great Lakes. As a skier and a winter weather enthusiast, I'm always sad to see the snows melt and the warmer days arrive. But the benefit is, now that spring has arrived, we can expect more clear evenings ahead for observing the Moon, stars and planets.
I was recently interviewed by the Science Mouse, a slick, clever ezine created by a homeschooler. Check it out at http://www.sciencemouse.com/.
Announcements
Classical Astronomy Store Spotlight - Signs & Seasons
If you like the topics we discuss and if you have learned anything about the sky from reading the Classical Astronomy Update, you might also like our Signs & Seasons curriculum. Though created specifically as a homeschool curriculum, Signs & Seasons is intended as a general guide to learning the sky, which can be used for all ages. Many adults readers have discovered
Signs & Seasons and have used it to learn about the starry sky.
At its heart, Signs & Seasons explains the three basic cycles of astronomical timekeeping -- the Day, the Month and the Year. Signs & Seasons shows the God-given order in telling time by the Sun and Moon, and how the times of Passover and Easter are found from these cycles. The book explains about the constellations and the annual cycles of the stars that follows from the cycles of the Sun and Moon. The planets and their cycles are also explained, along with resources for helping you find the planets in the night sky.
We recently produced a Signs & Seasons workbook to accompany the text. The workbook includes handy tables for recording observations of sights in the sky. Worksheets are included for recording positions of the planets through the stars and around the Sun. A test manual section is included for measuring the student's progress and assigning a letter grade. As a special feature, a number of pre-made volvelles are included -- dial calculators for measuring positions of the Sun, Moon and stars. The
workbook is created to enable a highschooler to record 120 work hours for a full high school science credit.
Dance of the Planets
Venus, the Morning Star
After a beautiful apparition, the bright evening star Venus has disappeared from the evening skies. Venus is at inferior conjunction on March 27, when it passes between the Earth and the Sun. Into April, Venus moves to the west of the Sun and will then be visible before sunrise as the morning star. We will not see Venus again in the evening sky for the remainder of 2009.
During early 2009, Venus was moving into a position between the Earth and the Sun. As Venus drew toward the Sun, it descended lower in the evening sky, finally vanishing into the sunset. After aligning with the Sun at inferior conjunction, Venus continues to move to the other side of the Sun. As a result, Venus then appears to emerge from the sunrise, and is visible in the morning sky.
Beginning sometime in April, Venus will draw far enough away from the Sun's glare to visible as the Morning Star. Venus will move farther away from the Sun throughout the spring, and will reach its maximum elongation on June 5, when it is farthest from the Sun in the morning sky. Afterwards, Venus will linger in the morning through the summer and fall, as it begins to swing behind the Sun.
Jesus refers to Himself as the morning star, though I don't think He is referring literally to the bright planet Venus:
I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. - Revelation 22:16
Venus will disappear again into the Sun's glare, passing behind the Sun at superior conjunction on January 11, 2010. After that, Venus will emerge again from the sunset, and be visible again as an Evening Star throughout 2010.
The Moon Passes Saturn - April 7
Following the New Moon on March 26, the waxing crescent Moon returns again to the evening sky. For the first time in many months, the Moon will not be passing Venus. Though the evening sky is running short of planets at the moment, Saturn is currently passing through the stars of Leo, rising in the eastern half of the sky in the early evening.
The waxing gibbous Moon will pass below Saturn on the evening of April 6. The Moon will not be very close to the ringed planet, passing six degrees to the south, which is about twelve lunar diameters.
After passing Saturn, the Moon will be full on Thursday, April 9, 2009. This Full Moon is the Paschal Moon and is the first day of Passover. According to the calendar rules, the Sunday after the Paschal Moon is Easter, which is April 12, 2009. For more information on the astronomical basis for Passover and Easter, check out the following articles from previous newsletters:
The Astronomy of Easter
Since the early centuries of the church, Christians have honored the death and resurrection of Jesus in the celebration of Easter. And while the observance of Easter has changed over the centuries, it is based on the Hebrew Passover.
The Paschal Moon
The Paschal Moon is the first Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox, and signals the arrival of Easter the next Sunday.
Is Easter Pagan? ("Pagan Influences?" Series)
The feast of LORD's resurrection, commonly known by the name Easter in the English language, is one of the most ancient observances in Christianity. However, in recent years, there has been an increasing trend among evangelicals to shun Easter as allegedly being derived from a pagan source. This article examines some of the "urban legends" surrounding this claim.
For still more articles, please visit the Archives linked throughout our web site.
Coming in future Classical Astronomy Updates:
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In 2009, we will celebrate the Quadricentennials of Galileo and Kepler.
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In July, 2009 we will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
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The Earth will cross the ring plane of Saturn on September 4, 2009, and event that only occurs every 15 years.
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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