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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:
- Announcements
- Dance of the Planets
- Conjunctions of Venus, Mars and Saturn
- Late Night Moon Passes Jupiter
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD. There
be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the
light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my
heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine
increased. I will both lay me down in peace, and
sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me
dwell in safety. - Psalm 4:5-8
Welcome to the Classical Astronomy Update!
Hello Friends,
Hope you all are enjoying this hot, sticky summer! We're currently enjoying a much-needed reprieve from the heatwave here along the Great Lakes, and have had the AC off and the windows open. The days are growing noticably shorter these days. During the longest days, the Sun goes down about 9:00 PM in our latitude and longitude, but lately it's getting dark about 8:30. Soon the hot summer days will pass into the cool days of fall, and we'll get to see the seasonal wheel turn once more.
Quick note, keep in mind that the Perseid meteor shower peaks on the night of August 12. This is usually a reliably good meteor shower each year.
Announcements
New Homeschool Sites
Our good friend John Wilkerson of "Jesus Geek" fame has recently started The Wired Homeschool, a blog and podcast all about computers, technology and Christian homeschooling. John is a homeschool dad and a computer genius, a resource on matters of technology. Recent posts have discussed tips on purchasing a new computer and also homeschool and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Bookmark John's site and visit frequently to learn more.
www.HomeSchoolAstronomy.com is another new site you might want to check out. This site emphasizes the amateur astronomy approach, where all astronomy activity centers around telescopes. Though that's not an approach that we advocate here at Classical Astronomy, your family can learn more about the sky from this site.
Dance of the Planets
Conjunctions of Venus, Mars, and Saturn
For many months now, we've been covering the celestial dance of the visible planets Mars, Saturn and Venus. Well friends, the main event has finally arrived! These visible planets are now lining up and will result in a series of conjunctions in the first week of August.
If you have NOT been following this event, shame on you! The planets put on a free show in the sky, and all you have to do is take a few minutes out of your busy life to round up the kids, go outside, and take a quick look. So why not just do it already? But even if you have missed it so far, it's not too late!
Look for this trio of planets low in the western sky in the fading evening twilight. Venus will be the first "star" you see in the night sky, as the blazing evening star is the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and Moon. You'll need a fairly clear horizon to the west, without a lot of trees or buildings, to see Venus and the other planets this month.
If you haven't seen it before, yes, that is indeed Venus! I writes these Updates all the time, and yet I still get several emails each month from people asking "what's that really bright star in the west after sunset?" It really is Venus, folks, and it's there every night, if you'll only go out and take a look!
Keep an eye on Venus as night falls. While looking at Venus, try to note the two little "stars" to the left, somewhat more elevated, at about maybe the 10 o'clock position. These are the planets Mars and Saturn.
They won't be very bright, nowhere as bright as Venus. At this time, these planets are on the far side of the Sun from the Earth, and appear even more dim when they are so low to the horizon, since their light must pass through a thick layer of Earth's atmosphere.
If you go out every clear evening over the next couple weeks, you can see the positions of these planets change from night to night. On the evening of Sunday, August 1, Mars will align with Saturn. These two will be separated by two degrees, which is about four lunar diameters.
These planets will shift around from night to night, and will be in different configurations each evening during the first week of August. Venus will align with Saturn on the evening of Monday, August 9, during the astronomical New Moon. At this time, Venus and Saturn will be separated by three degrees, about six lunar diameters.
After that, Venus will chase after Mars, but will not overtake it for several more weeks. Meanwhile, the Hebrew month of Elul will begin on Wednesday, August 11, at the Rosh Chodesh or first appearance of the new waxing crescent Moon in the evening sky. The waxing Moon will pass by this trio of planets on the evening of Friday, August 13.
Venus will finally catch up to Mars and align with that planet on the evening of Monday, August 23, about four degrees apart.
In an interesting twist, Venus will have just reached its maximum eastern elongation on August 20. This is when Venus is at its greatest visible distance from the Sun, as seen from Earth. After this, Venus will be quickly drawing again toward the Sun, to disappear into the sunset in the early fall, so as to align with the Sun at inferior conjunction on October 29.
The punchline is, Venus will pass Mars again on the way back, and will align with Mars on the evening of September 29! However, this is likely be very difficult to see, and Venus and Mars will be a distant six degrees apart, not as closely aligned in September as they will in August. Nonetheless, the coming two months promise to offer a fine celestial ballet that won't be repeated anytime soon.
During this season, the first magnitude star Spica in the constellation Virgo will be to the left of these planets. Spica is easily found from the brighter star Arcturus, which is overhead in the summer. The rule for finding Arcturus and Spica from the Big Dipper is mentioned and illustrated on page 126 of our Signs & Seasons curriculum:
Follow the Arc to Arcturus, and Follow the Spike to Spica
This doing this will help you orient yourselves to find the planets and to better understand the positions of the constellations. If you haven't yet ordered Signs & Seasons, what are you waiting for? :)
As mentioned in recent newsletters, this summer offers a great opportunity to learn the visible planets by following these conjunctions. As we've said many times before, if you have any success in finding any planets for the first time, please drop us an email and let us know!
(The motions of the Moon and planets are explained in detail in our Signs & Seasons astronomy curriculum. You can also learn more about the maximum elongations and inferior conjunctions of Venus. Please check it out if you'd like to learn more! )
Late Night Moon Passes Jupiter
If you read this in time, keep in mind that tonight, Friday evening, July 30, sometime before midnight, the waning Moon will be rising very close to the bright planet Jupiter. The Moon and Jupiter will cross the sky together throughout the night. This will be a pretty sight for anyone still up at that time.
Jupiter is now rising before midnight, and will soon be visible in the evening sky once again. We'll be mentioning Jupiter more as it reached opposition on September 21, and will be visible in the evening skies throughout the fall and winter.
Coming in future Classical Astronomy Updates:
- We'll keep an eye on Jupiter as the cold season approaches.
- We hope to finally have time to answer some reader questions about celestial navigation, and the simple techniques of using the stars to steer a sailing ship from one end of the world to the other!
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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