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.
They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout
all generations. He shall come down like rain upon the mown
grass: as showers that water the earth. In his days shall
the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so
long as the moon endureth. - Psalm 72:5-7
IN THIS UPDATE
New Space Artist Film
50 Years of Orion
Total Lunar Eclipse - Sunday, January 20
Hello Friends,
It's my pleasure to announce an exciting new film, Chesley Bonestell: A Brush With The Future. Chesley Bonestell is the most influential visionary in the history of space flight that most people have never heard of! If you are fascinated with NASA and space exploration, you have probably been influenced by
the work of Chesley Bonestell, whether or not you are familiar with his name.
Trained as an architect and having worked on iconic structures such as the Chrysler Building and the Golden Gate Bridge, Bonestell later became a matte painter in Hollywood for classic films such as Citizen Kane and Destination: Moon.
As the Father of Space Art, Bonestell was the first American artist to create "artist's conceptions" of planetary landscapes and cosmic vistas, way back in the 1940s. His work inspired the first generation of NASA astronauts, scientists, and engineers.
Using the power of his paintbrush, Bonestell envisioned modern space craft undertaking voyages to the Moon and Mars, decades before such feats were technologically feasible. Bonestell's space artist successors are hard at work today creating commissioned artwork for NASA and the aerospace industry.
This film will be of great interest to anyone interested in NASA, space exploration, astronomy, art, film, and architecture. Please visit the film's website for more info about Bonestell and his work, and to find other screenings around the USA. If you have a local museum or other institution in your area, or a local indie film theater, perhaps you can
request that they add a local screening. Thanks for your interest in this fine film about this forgotten talent.
For more information about topics from Classical Astronomy discussed in this newsletter, please check out a homeschool astronomy curriculum (but popular with adult readers too!)
Visit our archive of previous editions of the Classical Astronomy Update newsletters, going back to 2007.
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50 Years of Orion
The constellation Orion the Hunter is perhaps the most famous constellation in the night sky. It is made up of some of the brightest stars and is formed in a distinctly human shape. Orion's Belt is a marvel in itself, three bright stars of even brightness and color that are nearly perfectly spaced and aligned in a straight
line.
Since Orion's Belt lies nearly on the celestial equator, Orion would be seen directly overhead at the zenith on the terrestrial Equator. For this reason also, Orion is the only conspicuous constellation in the heavens in which at least a portion is visible from everywhere on Earth, including the North and South Poles.
Being so conspicuous and ubiquitous, Orion features prominently in the star lore of many cultures. It is one of the few celestial objects called by name in the Bible, such as this verse:
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 for the waters of the sea, and
poureth them out upon the face of the earth:
The Lord is his name. - Amos 5:8
On any clear winter night, Orion can be seen in the sky, facing off in his timeless confrontation with Taurus the Bull, sharing the scene with the Pleiades star cluster, and accompanied by his Big and Little Dogs, glittering in the winter Milky Way, the most star-spangled slice of the night sky.
Nearly everyone says that Orion is their favorite constellation. My friend Dr. Parsons once wrote that he gets excited every time he spots Orion on a clear night. I agree wholeheartedly with this
sentiment. Orion never ceases to be a breathtaking sight, and I am always moved by seeing our starry friend.
This winter marks 50 years since I first saw Orion in the night sky. I first discovered Orion when I was in the second grade at Roosevelt Elementary School in Garfield Heights, Ohio. It was the winter of 1969 when our teacher, Mrs. Tintera, showed us a picture of Orion and Taurus and told us to look for them after dark. I went out at night and looked, and there they were! Orion looked amazing from my
front porch, as did Taurus and the Pleiades!
This was an exciting moment in my seven year old life! It was the Space Age and I was thrilled when Apollo 8 visited the Moon the previous Christmas Eve! More thrills awaited later in the year 1969 with Apollos 9 and 10, and as winter turned to summer, Apollo 11 and the first moonwalk. But though my Mom had previously shown me the Big Dipper, that first sight of Orion is what really kicked off
a lifetime fascination with the night sky.
50 winters have passed since I first met Orion and friends. We all go through a lot of changes in life between the ages of 7 and 57. But though many human friends have come and gone, Orion has always been a starry friend who is always there. And since this constellation is recorded in ancient writings, we can be confident that Orion will shine down on the Earth for many winters to come after we are all
gone.
I never fail to be amazed that Orion has not changed in any noticeable way since I first saw him in that last year of the 1960s. Perhaps this is why the ancients believed the heavens to be unchanging and eternal. Though modern science has shown that the stars change very slowly over time, such changes cannot be readily observed over a single human lifespan. But they still do "proclaim the glory of God" (Ps.
19:1). As we pass through the changes of life, the stars can be one unchanging part of creation that can remind us of God's eternal nature.
I'd encourage every young person to make friends with Orion and the other stars while you are still young, so that you can make a constant friend to keep you company as you pass through the years of life.
Total Lunar Eclipse - Sunday, January 20
A total eclipse of the Moon will occur on the evening of Sunday, January 20. This eclipse will favor North America and the USA, so please be sure to take a look if your local skies are clear next Sunday night.
A lot of the information published about this eclipse gives a date of Monday, January 21. But keep in mind that astronomical events are often expressed in terms of Universal Time (UT) which is essentially the same as Greenwich Mean Time, referenced to the Prime Meridian at the Greenwich Observatory in the UK, which is five hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time (EST).
As you can see from the above image from the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO), the penumbral phase of the eclipse will begin at P1, first contact of the limb of the Moon with the Earth's penumbra (or partial shadow), which happens at 2:35 UT, or 9:35 PM EST. There's not much to see during the penumbral phase, just a subtle shading along the limb of the
eclipsing Moon.
The partial phase of eclipse begins at U1, first contact of the limb of the Moon with the Earth's umbra (or full shadow). This occurs at 3:34 UT, or 10:34 EST. During the partial phase, an ever-increasing dark portion appears on the Moon, as the Moon moves progressively deeper into Earth's umbra.
The partial phase continues until U2 at 4:40 UT (11:40 PM EST) when the Moon becomes fully immersed in the Earth's shadow. This is the onset of totality or total eclipse. Since this might be considered a late hour for a work and school night for observers in the eastern USA, this eclipse favors California and the Pacific time zone where totality begins at only 8:40 PM.
Mid-eclipse is at 5:13 UT, or 12:13 AM EST (or 9:13 PM PST). This is the time of greatest eclipse, when the Moon reaches its deepest point in the Earth's umbra. At mid-eclipse, the Moon will reach its highest point in the sky at the meridian as seen from the longitude of New York City
It will be an awe-inspiring sight to see the eclipsed Moon high in the sky and sharing the heavens sky with Orion and the other stars in the neighboring constellations.
The sublunar point on the Earth at the time of greatest eclipse will be in Cuba. The sublunar point is the location on the hemisphere of the Earth that is facing the eclipsed Moon. As seen from the ground at the sublunar point, the eclipsed Moon is directly overhead at the zenith.
Totality lasts for an hour and four minutes, ending at U3, 5:44 UT or 12:44 AM on Monday morning for those in the eastern time zone (9:44 PM for those on the west coast.
After totality ends, there will be another phase of partial eclipse, "egress" when the Moon exits the Earth's umbra, between U3 and U4. After that there will be egress from the penumbra, but this will happen in the middle of the night for folks back east. The entire eclipse event ends at P4, when the last bit of the lunar limb is in contact with the penumbra. But there will not be much to see at that
point.
The times of U4 and P4 are given on the USNO graphic above, and you can convert them to your own local time zone using the same process of arithmetic.
If anyone would be kind enough to share any eclipse photos, we'll include them in another newsletter next week. Please be sure to identify your location.
So if you see the waxing gibbous Moon throughout the upcoming week, try notice that it rounds out more and more of a circle each evening until finally becoming a Full Moon on the night of the eclipse.
If you need more of an explanation for lunar eclipses, please see our Lunar Eclipse Archive at our website for previous articles with detailed graphics. For even better detailed explanations please check out ECLIPSES ILLUSTRATED: Book 1 for basic info
about solar and lunar eclipses, and ECLIPSES ILLUSTRATED: Book 2 for an in-depth discussion, including detailed explanations of how to interpret standard eclipse graphs like the USNO image above.
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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