Skywatch for the week of March 22,2021

Mon Mar 22, 2021 INDIAN STARS OF THE EARLY SPRING

Tonight’s sky features constellations such as Orion, Taurus, Auriga, Gemini, and the Greater and Lesser Dogs, as well as Leo, Ursa Major, Boötes and Virgo. Native American Indians had different names for these star patterns. Orion the Hunter was called Long Sash by the Tewa Pueblo Indians of the American southwest. The bright stars of Gemini - Castor and Pollux, were his place of decision, which led to the long journey up into the sky country. The Pleiades star cluster in Taurus, was the headdress of Long Sash. However the Aztecs called them “Tianquiztli,” the “little eyes in the sky.” The bright star Arcturus in Boötes was a constellation all by itself, the hero Waupee of the Shawnee tribe. But the Great Bear, Ursa Major, the most distinctive part of which we recognize as the Big Dipper today, was also seen by the Senecas and other members of the Iroquois nation as a great bear, Nyah-gwaheh, although with a short tail, unlike that of Greek mythology.

Tue Mar 23, 2021 SEASONS MYTH

The earth’s seasons are caused by the motions of our planet as it rotates and revolves, and by its inclination or tilt from the straight up and down as it orbits, causing the sun’s daily path to change through the year. In Greek myth, Persephone, the daughter of the earth goddess Demeter, was kidnapped by Hades, god of the underworld. Mourning her loss, Demeter neglected the earth and the crops died, the air grew cold, and winter came to the land. When Persephone was rescued, Demeter caused the earth to bloom, and spring returned. But because Persephone had eaten six pomegranate seeds while she was with Hades, she had to return to the underworld for six months of the year; then autumn and winter start again. The constellation Virgo the maiden represents Demeter, and the bright star Spica that shines in the southeast after sunset, is a spike of wheat she holds in her hand.

Wed Mar 24, 2021 DIRT ON THE MOON

When you look at that nearly full moon tonight, just consider that it’s covered in dirt. Where’d all this dirt - the scientific term is regolith - come from? Now, dirt on the earth makes sense: we have a lot of weathering and surface erosion, due to the action of wind, water, ice, and so on. But there’s no air or liquid water on the moon, so how come there’s dirt? Here’s a clue: when you’re on the moon, you’ll never see a meteor streak across the sky. That’s because there’s no atmosphere. There’s lots of dust in outer space, traveling along at a hundred thousand miles an hour or faster. When this dust plunges through earth’s atmosphere, compressional heating vaporizes it and it lights up the night sky as a meteor. But when dust hits the airless moon, the lunar surface gets pulverized. It’s like a cosmic form of sandblasting – countless micrometeorite bombardments that churn the moon’s crust into regolith.

Thu Mar 25, 2021 ROBERT FROST

Robert Frost was born on March 26th, 1874. In his poem, "The Star Splitter." Frost relates the tale of a man who bought a telescope, saying "The best thing that we're put here for's to see; The strongest thing that's given us to see with's A telescope. Often he bid me - come and have a look - Up the brass barrel, velvet black inside, At a star quaking in the other end. That telescope was christened the Star-Splitter, Because it didn't do a thing but split A star in two or three...” Frost was referring to the telescope’s ability to resolve detail, and reveal fainter stars not visible to the human eye alone. In another poem, Frost describes the constellation Canis Major, the “great Overdog That heavenly beast With a star in one eye Gives a leap in the east. He dances upright All the way to the west And never once drops On his forefeet to rest.” Because of the earth’s rotation, Canis Major does move across the sky just the way Frost describes it.

Fri Mar 26, 2021 MARCH FULL MOON

This weekend the moon is full. To colonial Americans, March’s full moon was called the sap moon, a time when the sap of the maple tree was tapped and sugared down for its syrup. They also called it the crow moon, the Chaste moon or the Lenten moon - named for the Christian season of Lent. The Celts call this the Big Winds moon, same as the Choctaw Indians. To the Algonquin Indians it is either the catching fish moon or the crust moon, because frequent thawing and refreezing of snow on the ground formed an icy crust. It’s called the worm moon by the Panamint Indians of California, in honor of the inchworm who according to legend, used the light of the full moon to climb to the mountaintop and rescue the sons of Chief Father of Two Boys Born in One Day. To the San Juan peoples it is the lizard moon; to the Omaha, it’s the Little Frog Moon. But the Sioux and the Arapaho call this the moon when the buffalo cows drop their calves.