Mon Jan 30, 2023 ROBERT FROST AND CANIS MAJOR
The American poet Robert Frost was a keen observer of the world and nature, capturing the simple majesty of the Universe. In his poem, The Star Splitter, he begins, “You know Orion always comes up sideways,” as indeed he does, first the forward shoulder and leg, then the hunter’s belt, and lastly the trailing shoulder and knee. Orion can be found in the southeast sky after sunset. If you trace the stars of his belt downward, you will find the star Sirius in the constellation of the Big Dog, Canis Major, and Frost wrote a poem about this too, placing Sirius in the dog’s eye: “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.
Tue Jan 31, 2023 ASTRONOMY CLUB MEETING
Tonight, there will be a meeting of the Treasure Coast Astronomical Society 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 Feb 1, 2023 KEPLER THE HITCHIKER
On February 4th, 1600, a poor math teacher from the town of Gratz was dropped off in front of the home of a wealthy nobleman. Johannes Kepler had hitched a ride with Baron Hoffman, Councilor to Rudolph the Second, Emperor of Bohemia. Kepler had been invited by the astronomer Tycho Brahe to work with him at his observatory in the Castle of Benatek outside Prague. Brahe was also a nobleman who had been kicked out of his island observatory in Denmark. Before that happened, though, he had amassed a lot of really good observations of star and planet positions. Kepler stayed with Brahe for about a year and a half. Then in October of 1601 Brahe died and Kepler acquired his observations. The data collected on the planet Mars enabled him to discover the elliptical nature of its orbit. And all this from a shared carriage ride that ended 423 years ago.
Thu Feb 2, 2023 CANDLEMASS DAY
Today is Candlemass Day, celebrating the presentation of Jesus in the temple and Mary's purification, as observed in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. This is also the midpoint of the winter, called a cross-quarter day, and, there’s an old saying, “If Candlemass be fair and bright, Come Winter, have another flight; if Candlemass brings clouds and rain, Go, Winter and come not again.” So oddly, sunny weather is bad, but cloudy weather is a good harbinger. From this comes our observance of Groundhog's Day. Folklore says, if a groundhog casts a shadow today, we get six more weeks of winter. Which of course is untrue, because winter does not officially end until 5:24 PM, Eastern Daylight Savings Time on March 20th, when the sun's rays fall most directly on the earth's equator. Anything else you hear is just a lot of groundhogwash.
Fri Feb 3, 2023 FEBRUARY FULL MOON
The moon will be full this weekend. If you look for it this evening, you’ll find it, weather permitting, low in the east at sunset. It will appear pretty full to the unaided eye, but look closely and you’ll notice that it’s slightly out of round. View it through a pair of binoculars and you’ll see some shading along the moon’s eastern limb. The Celts called the full moon of February the “Moon of Ice,” well-named I’d say. To the Algonquin Indians of North America, this is the Hunger Moon; it appeared at a time of year when, deep in the cold of winter, food was scarce. The Kutenai Indians named it the Black Bear Moon, the Sioux Indians say it is the Raccoon Moon. To the Winnebago tribes it’s the Fish-Running Moon. The Tewa Pueblos knew this as the Moon of Cedar Dust Wind, but the San Juan Indians call this, Moon When the Coyotes are Frightened.
