THIS IS A CLASSICAL ASTRONOMY ALERT, A SPECIAL EDITION OF THE CLASSICAL ASTRONOMY UPDATE!
Dear Friends,
Some of you might have seen a news story this past weekend of a BIG fireball meteor over Ohio on the evening of Friday, September 27, 2013. I was one of the 1000 eyewitnesses who saw this event! It's an interesting story, which I will tell in a minute, but first we have a brief message from our sponsor....
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Fireball Meteor Over Ohio!
Some of you nice folks might recall my recent offer to do some Classical Astronomy Outdoor Programs. Many people have indicated interest, around the eastern USA and beyond. However, not many replied after I explained that I need folks to plan an event at a dark sky location, where I can just show up and do the program. Here's the story of a homeschool mom who did just that, and maybe got more than she bargained for!
Angela McClain has been a reader of this newsletter for many years. Even though her family lives not far from ours, we never managed to meet in person in all that time. Angela took me up on my offer, and she scheduled a Classical Astronomy Outdoor Program at the Faith Ranch in Jewett, Ohio.
Faith Ranch is a wonderful Christian camp in a rural area of southeast Ohio, far from all the big cities. The camp has an excellent sky for astronomy observing, atop a hill with a clear horizon in all directions. We had been blessed with unusually beautiful autumn weather that week, the sort of golden days we only get in September here in Ohio. My wife Debbie and two of our kids came along, and we met Angela and her husband David and all their kids.
Angela had invited her friends from her homeschool group to the program, and also her fellow photographers from her photography club. A handful of other folks dropped in who heard about the event, and we even had Cecilia and her daughter, from our Northeast Ohio Astronomy (NEOastro) email list. About 60 people were there, and it was a wonderful evening for outdoor astronomy!
As night fell, I pointed my telescope at Saturn, which is currently receding from the evening sky, soon to disappear into the sunset, as the ringed planet passes behind the Sun. Saturn is always a treat, one of the few truly impressive sights in a telescope. The picture below was taken by Angela at Faith Ranch that evening. The bright "star" is Venus, and Saturn is the fainter "star" visible to the right.
(My scope is a homemade 10-inch f/5 Newtonian reflector, with a "Dobsonian" altazimuth mount. I hand-ground and polished the mirror in 1990, and measured the parabolic figure to be accurate to 1/13 of a wavelength of light, for those who appreciate such details. My scope is not too fancy, but the whole thing cost me $300, compared to $5000- $10,000 and up that some people pay for telescopes.)
Once everyone had their fill of looking at Saturn, night had fallen and it was time for the main program. With the Milky Way shining brightly overhead, I used my nifty green laser pointer to point out the evening constellations of early autumn. I pointed the Summer Triangle (visible in this fisheye photo of Angela's) and all the constellations of the Milky Way. I also pointed out Sagittarius low to the horizon, with it's distinctive "teapot" shape. I explained how this constellation marks the point in the sky of the winter solstice, where the Sun reaches on the first day of winter, and how the Sun varies in the sky as the seasons change.
Other stars on the tour included the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper, including Polaris, the North Star. I demonstrated the spherical nature of the "dome" of the sky overhead, and explained how to identify celestial circles, such as the horizon, the meridian, the equator and the ecliptic.
Most importantly, I emphasized the practical value in learning the constellations, how the sky can be a natural tool for telling time and finding direction, and how this is the Biblical, God-given reason for why the Sun, Moon and stars have been created... "for signs and for seasons, and for days and years" (Genesis 1:14).
As far as I know, most everyone enjoyed the presentation. The party broke up around 10:00 PM, as many moms had to get their little kids home, and everyone else went on their way. Such "star party" events always boil down to a "hard core" of die-hards who hang around, who really enjoy spending time under a dark sky.
It was after 11:00 PM, and we were finally preparing to leave for the two-hour drive back to Cleveland. I was standing by our van when suddenly, the whole landscape lit up! It was like night had turned to day! I whipped my head around just in time to see the most AMAZING fireball meteor I had ever seen!
It was BLAZINGLY brilliant, with a very distinct green color, and a very long trail, over 20 degrees in length. I faced the meteor looking straight down a road that runs directly southwest. The meteor flew from the top of the sky to the bottom, cutting a slight angle toward the right. It was brighter than any Fourth of July fireworks, and ASTOUNDING to see! It was mind-blowing, beyond any meteor I've even seen in 25 years of sky observing.
As with all meteors, it was all over in a moment. I bellowed out at the top of my lungs, "WHOA! DID YOU ALL SEE THAT?" My son and daughter saw it, but sadly my wife did not, as she was packing the van. She joined me in time to see the persistent train of the meteor, which glowed brightly at first, and then faded to the color of smoke, lasting for a total of maybe 20 or 30 seconds.
About a dozen people were still hanging around, many of whom saw the fireball, and we all gathered up in a moment. The best view of the event might have been had by John, the director of Faith Ranch, as he was getting into his pickup and facing that direction at the time. It turned out that Angela had her camera set up on a tripod, and happened to be taking a time exposure of the western sky at the time of the fireball. She captured this AMAZING view of the meteor:
Here's the same view, but without the star trails, showing a more realistic view of the sky:
These pics have gone far and wide across the Internet in the last few days, especially once they came to the attention of the American Meteor Society, featured on this page at their site. These pics have turned up on media web sites in Florida and Arizona. Angela was interviewed on TV by News 9 in this story, along with John, the director of Faith Ranch.
As amazing as Angela's pics are, here are a couple more, also taken at Faith Ranch by Angela's photographer friend, Stephen Mihopulos. Stephen has very graciously granted me permission to include his pics in this newsletter, though he has not distributed them generally to the media. Stephen had been taking a series of time exposures, and had captured many frames. Here is a frame that shows the dark, quiet, serene location just before the meteor:
Here is the next frame that includes the meteor:
WOW! That really gets across the drama and intensity of this incredible fireball! God's fireworks are so much more amazing than man's! It was an awesome finale to a wonderful evening! (Notice my telescope in the scene, at the lower left.)
Angela explained afterwards that she had been praying that God would actually send a meteor to us that night, that He would show His glory. God surely answered that prayer, in a very dramatic way! As John said in his interview, it was like God put His signature on the whole evening. Pretty astounding, how true it can be that "The Heavens Declare the Glory of God" (Psalm 19:1).
This Ohio meteor was one of many green fireballs that were spotted around the world that week. Scientists are puzzled by this outbreak, wondering what might be the cause. If nothing else, I hope it testifies that God is surely in control! So sorry for everyone who left early that night, but that blaze was a blessing to those of us who stayed. Thank you, Angela, for organizing this event!
So who else would like to schedule a Classical Astronomy Outdoor Program in their area? Who knows what God might throw at us on one of those nights? So many people have said to me, "Wow, wish I could see a meteor sometime!" You may not get to see a newsworthy fireball, but meteors are up there every night of the year. We must have seen seven others that same night. But there is only way that you are going to see a meteor.... you have to tear yourself away from the TV, get out of your comfy chair, go outside and look up! You have to spend quality time under a dark sky in order to see all the glorious things that God has placed above our heads, for us to understand and experience.
Til next time, God bless and clear skies,
