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Then Job answered and said, I know it is so of a truth: but how should man
be just with God? If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one
of a thousand. He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath
hardened himself against him, and hath prospered? Which removeth
the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in
his anger. Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the
pillars thereof tremble. Which commandeth the sun, and it
riseth not; and sealeth up the stars. Which alone spreadeth
out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.
Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades,
and the chambers of the south. - Job 9:1-9
IN THIS UPDATE:
Announcements
Guest Blog - "Astronomy on Vacation"
Astronomy Campouts - 2014
Day 4 - A New Christian Amateur Astronomy Group
New "COSMOS" Series
Seasonal Constellations
Orion - Winter's Starry Hunter
Dance of the Planets
See Jupiter in Gemini, Near Orion
Dear Friends,
Hope everyone's new year is off to a good start. Like a lot of the USA, we've been slammed by winter weather here in Ohio. But our family does not mind, we love the changing seasons, and the snow is beautiful and cheerful. We've not had many clear nights this season, but if your skies are clear, be sure to take advantage of the beautiful winter sky.
Visit this page to subscribe to the Classical Astronomy Update and the Northeast Ohio Astronomy (NEOastro) newsletters.
Guest Blog - "Astronomy on Vacation"
I recently contributed a guest column to the Word Travelling blog. The article is entitled Astronomy on Vacation, and includes tips for noticing geographical changes in the sky that can be observed when travelling from one location to another. Try to notice these things if your family takes a vacation in 2014!
Also, this blog is currently running a giveaway for our Moonfinder storybook. Act quickly if you would like to be entered for this drawing! (If you don't win the drawing, please consider getting one anyway for your small kids. It's a great story for helping kids (and their parents) learn to understand and follow the phases of the Moon!)
We also recently received a very kind review about Moonfinder from the Legacy of Home blog. Please read this post also for an unvarnished opinion of this story.
Classical Astronomy Campouts - 2014
If your family is planning a vacation this year, why not participate in one of our Classical Astronomy Campouts? We've had some emails expressing interest, but not many folks seem willing to help plan a local event in their areas. Nonetheless, our family is still intending to work in at least a couple over the span of the summer:
Ohio/Kentucky -- I recently had a phone call with Dr. Danny Faulkner, astronomy director at the Creation Museum. We discussed the prospects of collaborating on an outdoor astronomy event after hours at the Museum sometime in the Summer, 2014. Would your family be interested in a vacation visit to the Museum this summer, and then hanging around that evening for some skywatching? If so, please send me an email and let me know, including possible dates that would work for your family. I'd like to plan a time window for sometime in late June or early July, preferably a weeknight, in order to beat the weekend rush at the Museum. It would be great if we get 30 people involved. So let me know if you're interested.
Virginia -- We are still planning a Mid-Atlantic Region astronomy campout for late spring or summer at Big Meadows on Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park. This is easily accessible for families in the Washington, D.C. area, or others on the east coast willing to travel. (It'll be a seven-hour drive for us.) The current thought is for the weekend of Friday, July 18 through Sunday, July 20, 2014. Does that sound good to anyone? Some folks from Virginia have expressed interest, including the nice people at Nature Friend magazine. So please send an email with your thoughts if you might be interested.
Michigan -- Our plans are shaping up nicely for a Great Lakes Regional astronomy campout at Muskallonge Lake State Park in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This area is one of the darkest remaining locations in the eastern United States. There are lots of daytime activities for families to enjoy. Here's a MapQuest link showing the location. This location is about a nine-hour drive for us in Cleveland, and about the same distance from Chicago and Minneapolis. But hey, why not? Families drive for hours and hours to go to Disneyworld, but this campout offers an opportunity to see one of God's rare glories, a pristine, natural, dark sky, as it was created to be seen, a very uncommon sight in today's world. We are planning this campout for Wednesday, August 21 through Sunday, August 24, 2014. Please drop a line if you might be interested.
Day 4 - A New Christian Amateur Astronomy Group
There are SO MANY Christian homeschoolers in Texas! In fact, there's a whole lot of everything in the Lone Star State! I've never been there myself, but I gather that "the stars at night are big and bright"! I was recently speaking to James from Day 4, a Christian creationist amateur astronomy group in the Dallas, TX area. These guys are doing great stuff in reaching out to share astronomy with folks in their area, from a Biblical perspective. They sure have a slick web site! If you live in Texas, be sure to check them out. Also, Day 4 is hoping to organize Christian amateur astronomers around the USA, so if you are a Christian who owns a telescope and is involved in amateur astronomy, check them out too.
New "COSMOS" Series
The media is all abuzz about the upcoming new COSMOS series, hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Resprising the 1980 series by the late Carl Sagan, this series promises to expose a new generation to mainstream astronomy. Like the original series, we can expect an onslaught of atheistic stereotypes of Christianity, for which the late Dr. Sagan was notorious. I hope to cover this series in this newsletter, and provide some rebuttals, to help equip Christian families to better under the issues in a proper historical, Biblical context. The new COSMOS is scheduled to begin broadcasting in March on FOX.
Seasonal Constellations
Orion - Winter's Starry Hunter
NOTE: The following article is a revised version of an article originally written in 2007. Our "Signs & Seasons" method of teaching the constellations starts with learning the bright "first magnitude" stars. These are the brightest stars in the sky, and can be seen from everywhere, including light-drenched urban neighborhoods like ours. There are only 15 first magnitude stars in the sky, visible at various times of day throughout the four seasons of the year. Can you learn 15 stars over the span of a year? If so, you can learn the constellations from your own backyard, starting with that famous constellation, Orion.
The winter sky is very exciting since many of the brighest stars are visible in the wintertime. For this reason, winter is the best time of year to begin learning the constellations. The best place to start is the bright constellation Orion the Hunter.
Of all the constellations in the sky, Orion is the easiest star pattern to learn. Orion is formed of some of the brighest stars in the sky, and is therefore easy to see, even from under the city lights. Also, the star pattern of Orion is easy to learn and remember. Many people say they cannot see shapes in the patterns of the constellations. But few people have trouble seeing Orion in the shape of a man.
It's very easy to find The Belt of Orion. Orion's Belt is formed of three bright stars, all close together and in a straight line. There are two bright stars above Orion's Belt that represent the body of the Hunter. And there are two bright stars under the Belt that represent Orion's legs. These stars give Orion very human proportions.
During wintertime, Orion can be found high in the southern sky in the early evening. Orion's Belt is centered on the celestial equator, the very middle of the starry sky, in between the celestial poles. For this reason, Orion is the only constellation that can be seen from every location on the Earth, from the North Pole to the South Pole.
Once you have identified the basic outline, look for the Sword of Orion. This is a faint trail of stars under the left side of Orion's Belt. This gives the impression of a sword tucked under the Belt. Once you find Orion's Sword, grab your binoculars or telescope! Within the Sword is M42, the famous Orion Nebula, a little fuzzy patch with a knot of tiny stars. The Orion Nebula can be seen with the unaided eye but is one of the most impressive telescopic sights in the starry sky. If you have binoculars, take a look at this nebula with them.
Orion is seen in the sky facing the constellation Taurus the Bull. This is another star pattern that is easy to pick out. If you look above Orion and to the right, you can can see a bright reddish star. If you have a dark and clear sky, you might be able to tell that the bright star is at the upper left of a little triangle of stars. The bright star is the eye of the bull and the remaining stars form the bull's head.
The sight of Orion the Hunter facing off against Taurus the Bull is indeed a wondrous sight. These bright stars have been celebrated in literature for centuries:
Aslant beneath the fore-body of the Bull is set the great Orion. Let none who pass him spread out on high on a cloudless night imagine that, gazing on the heavens, one shall see other stars more fair. - from the "Phaenomena" of Aratus, circa 275 B.C.
Above and to the right of the head of the bull is the famous star cluster, The Pleiades. This is a compact group of seven stars, about as big across as two full moons. The Pleiades should be easy to find even if you live in an urban location with a lot of streetlights. But from a rural location with unspoiled dark skies, the Pleiades are a thrilling sight.
Orion and the seven stars of the Pleiades are also mentioned in the Bible. We read that the LORD asked Job:
Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? - Job 38:31.
And we are instructed by the prophet Amos to:
Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name. - Amos 5:8
To the lower left of Orion is the bright star Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. Sirius is the brightest star in the constellation of Canis Major, "The Big Dog." For this reason, Sirius is also known as "The Dog Star." Above Sirius and to the left of Orion is the constellation Canis Minor, "The Little Dog" with its bright star Procyon. And above the Little Dog and Orion is the constellation Gemini the Twins.
In the current month, try to learn Orion, Taurus and the Pleiades. If you learn these stars now in the winter, it will be easier to learn the stars that come along in the spring. And if you keep adding the ones that come after that, by the time a whole year passes, you will easily be able to learn all of the prominent constellations. And since the constellations are your "road map to the sky," they will help you in learning the ancient techniques of celestial timekeeping and navigation.
Dance of the Planets
See Jupiter in Gemini, Near Orion
The above article about Orion does not mention a wandering visitor that is passing through the sky this season -- the dazzling planet Jupiter. This brilliant object is the brightest "star" currently visible in the evening sky, and is above Orion in the constellation Gemini. People are always amazed to discover Jupiter for the first time. It's just SO BRIGHT that people can't believe that they are really looking at the planet Jupiter! But Jupiter is there all the time, just as it has been down through all history.
For some mysterious reason, an awareness of this dazzling planet is uncommon. For all the Earth Science classes that are taught in schools, and all the PBS programs about astronomy that are broadcast on TV, nobody ever seems to get around to explaining that Jupiter is the fourth brightest object in the sky after the Sun, the Moon and Venus, and is twice as bright as Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. For more information about this planet, check out this article, Jupiter in Folklore and History.
In case you have trouble spotting Jupiter, the Moon will pass this bright object on the evenings of February 10, March 10, and April 6. You won't be able to miss it at those times. So write that down on your calendar, and join our Classical Astonomy Facebook page for timely reminders.
If you still don't believe that that brilliant "star" is really Jupiter, confirm it for yourself! A small telescope or even a pair of binoculars are sufficient to reveal the famous Galilean moons of Jupiter! These moons were first discovered by Galileo in 1609, and his telescope was very crude by today's professional optical instruments. So grab your binocs and see for yourself!
If you have really keen eyesight, you might be able to see Jupiter's moons with the unaided eye! Here's a copy of an exchange on our Facebook page with Kim from Texas, who is able to spot Jupiter's moons with just her eyes alone:
Kim: I see three of Jupiter's moons coming down in a straight line, a bit off to the left. :-). Clear skies in N. Texas tonight. (had to take a photo to be sure ;-)
Jay: Kim, you can see Jupiter's moons with your unaided eyes? Wow, that's amazing. I checked the 2014 USNO Astronomical Almanac and three of Jupiter's moons should have been visible east of the planet at around 0100 UT for the date of Jan 15, just as you described. You should make a sketchbook of what you can see from night to night.
Kim: It's easier to see them unaided when the moon is not so bright, to be sure. Far easier through my 200-400 mm camera lens. Once viewed in this way, it is easier to know what you are seeing unaided. Pretty cool, truly!
Here's a scan of the page from the Astronomical Almanac, which shows the cycles of Jupiter's moons, highlighted in blue to indicate the time in question, with Jupiter and its moons indicated in red. The page shows that, at the time Kim was looking, three of Jupiter's moons were to the east of the planet, and the moon Ganymede was hidden invisibly behind the planet. I was amazed that Kim could see this all with just her own eyes.
After that, Kim shared the picture from her camera lens (which also has better optics than Galileo's crude telescope).
Kim: Here you are, shot tonight from our yard ~ (close cropped)
Jay: Thanks, that is very cool. It's amazing that you can see that with only your eyes, it might even be theoretically impossible. It is supposedly theoretically impossible for the optical system of the human eye to resolve the crescents of Venus, yet many people are able to see the "horns" of Venus with just their eyes. More proof that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made." If you are an earlybird and up before sunrise, be sure to look at Venus as it is a "morning star" in January, and let me know if you can see the horns. Thanks!
Jay: Kim, BTW, try looking again later in the evening, since the last moon will have emerged from behind Jupiter. Let me know if you can see that.
I understood from that Astronomical Almanac page that Ganymede would emerge from behind Jupiter before too long, and become visible. Kim replied with a couple more photos:
Kim: Jupiter with Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto...and I know it will be better in an hour, when they are making their way a little more toward the western sky from high ovehead at the moment.
Midnight
Jay: Kim, that's awesome, thanks for sharing those. So you can really see all that, even vaguely, with your own eyes? Can I include your pics and mention you in my newsletter? (I'm overdue for writing one.) Thanks.
Kim: Yes, you may! Thanks for asking. Several years back, I was watching Jupiter while riding home in the car. I kept thinking I was seeing moons beside it on that crystal-clear night, and just didn't think it was possible. That's when I decided to set up the camera as soon as we got home. I had never thought about shooting anything up there but the moon and constellations before. To my surprise, the camera confirmed what I thought I saw. Looking back on some of those photos and notes also confirms that they stood out more (like dot-echoes off of Jupiter, really) in a New Moon or early phase of the moon, when it is not blanketing the sky with its own brightness. Last March, I guessed that three moons were visible, but when I pulled out the camera to check, I was wrong...all four were visible. I do wear glasses, but they are nothing out of the ordinary.
Kim: Hat Tip to Galileo, btw. It was studying him with our kids and getting to see his own telescopes that got me interested in Jupiter and the moons in the first place.
Kim is still another homeschool mom on a wonderful voyage of discovery with her family. Hope you all will take a crack at Jupiter and its moons with your own families this season! Here's an article about unaided sightings of Jupiter's moons. Apparently, it is not uncommon after all, though over the centuries, the "experts" of astromomy have doubted that it was possible. If any of you are also able to see Jupiter's moons, please send me an email and let me know!
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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