Mon Jan 24, 2022 THE PLEIADES
Near the top of the sky this early evening, you’ll find a small, distinctive group of stars known as the Seven Sisters. Even with street lights shining, you can find them, although the serious light pollution problems we experience here reduces the Seven Sisters down to just two or three, or possibly they may look like a little smudge overhead. But away from the bright lights, you’ll see between six to eight stars here, arranged in a very tiny dipper shape. In Greek mythology, the Seven Sisters were the Pleiades, the daughters of Atlas, on whose shoulders the world rested. To the Seneca Indians, they were seven dancing sisters, who would not gather in food during the harvest, and so were carried in the arms of the West Wind, who placed them in the heavens where they became stars. Binoculars aimed at the Pleiades will reveal over a dozen stars, and astronomers have counted hundreds of stars in this open cluster.
Tue Jan 25, 2022 ASTRONOMY CLUB MEETING
The third quarter moon rises around midnight tonight and will not be visible in the evening hours at all. But there will be a meeting of the Treasure Coast Astronomical Society this evening, at 7:30 p.m. It will be in room N117 at the Science Center on the main Fort Pierce campus of Indian River State College. Many of the Treasure Coast Astronomical Society members own at least one telescope, but if all you have is a pair of binoculars, or even just an interest in the sky and astronomy, then this is the club for you. Each meeting features astronomy lessons and highlights different constellations. The Society also helps out at planetarium shows by letting visitors look through their telescopes to see such cosmic wonders as the moon, the planets and the stars. So once again, the meeting is at 7:30 this evening at the IRSC Science Center in Fort Pierce.
Wed Jan 26, 2022 CALENDAR ORIGINS
Our calendar is based on repeating patterns in the heavens – the earth’s rotation, the phases of the moon, the orbit of the earth about the sun. Our calendar has its origins thousands of years ago, from Egypt. By keeping close watch on the sun’s progress through the sky, ancient Egyptians were able to accurately measure the length of the year, and knew it was about 365 and a quarter days long. Their calendar had 12 months of 30 days each, which worked out to 360 days total. Then they had five extra days or “empty” days, known as heiru renpet, which they used as a holiday at the end of the year. The new year began with the predawn rising of a star they named Sothis, which appeared in the east just before sunrise. Sothis is still shining up there; we call it Sirius, the brightest star in the night, which appears below and to the left of the constellation Orion.
Thu Jan 27, 2022 SMOKING STAR
In the southeastern sky after sunset there are three stars close together in a row that form the belt of Orion the Hunter. These stars are named Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka, Arabic words for belt, girdle or string of pearls. If skies are dark enough, you can see that there is a star just below the belt that looks a little fuzzy, or out-of-focus. To the Blackfoot Indians of Montana, this was "smoking star," and it represented a hero who saved people from injustice and rid the world of monsters. If you look at “smoking star” with binoculars, you will see it as a fuzzy object. Use a telescope with a little more magnification, and you can see the outlines of a large cloud, trillions of miles across. It is the Great Orion Nebula, which is lit up by bright stars within the cloud, making it glow brightly in the darkness of outer space.
Fri Ja
n 28, 2022 HEVELIUS
The Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius was born 420 years ago, on January 28, 1611. His family owned a brewery in Danzig, and he used his fortune to build an observatory and study the heavens. Hevelius made the first moon atlas, and named many lunar features, such as the Ocean of Storms, the Sea of Rain, the Sea of Tranquility – all in Latin, of course – Mare Imbrium, Mare Tranquilitatis, and so on. He also took the names of various mountain ranges on earth, such as the Alps, the Appenines, and the Caucasus, and applied them to the mountain-like walls of lunar craters. And Hevelius made up many new constellation patterns that we recognize today, such as Lynx the Bobcat, Vulpecula the Fox, Scutum the Shield, Lacerta the Lizard, Leo Minor the Little Lion and the hunting dogs called Canes Venatici.
