Mon Mar 20, 2023 SPRING BEGINS
Today marks the vernal equinox – that’s the fancy term for the beginning of spring. On Monday, March 20th, at 5:24 p.m. Eastern Daylight Saving Time, the sun will appear at the top of the sky as seen from the earth’s equator. Astronomers plot the sun's position in the sky as it drifts past the background of distant stars due to earth’s revolution. When it reaches the spot where the sun's direct rays touch upon the earth's equator, spring begins. Now the sun is in the constellation Pisces, and it rises due east and sets due west; this is also one of the two times in the year when people pretty much all around the world have roughly equal amounts of daylight and darkness – about twelve hours each. The term equinox, from the Latin meaning "equal night", reflects this phenomenon.
Tue Mar 21, 2023 SEASONS MYTH
The 23 and half degree tilt of the earth as it rotates and revolves about the sun causes the sun’s daily path to slowly change through the year. In Greek myth, Persephone, the daughter of the earth goddess Demeter, was stolen by the underworld god Hades. In her sorrow, Demeter neglected the earth - 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 Persephone had eaten six pomegranate seeds while she was with Hades, so 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 22, 2023 INDIAN STARS OF THE EARLY SPRING
Native American Indians had different names for the constellations in the sky. 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 Praesepe star cluster in the constellation Cancer the Crab, was the headdress of Long Sash. 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.
Thu Mar 23, 2023 SUN, SOLAR YEAR AND ECLIPTIC
Watch the sun and you’ll discover it gets around. But of course you can’t watch the sun - it’s too bright to look at without hurting your eyes. Assuming you could see the sun and stars at the same time, you’d notice the sun drifts against the background of the stars. If we think of the stars as being laid out on an invisible sphere, and there are 360 degrees of angle on a line inscribed on that sphere, then the sun moves along that line almost 1 degree a day. After 365 days, the sun would be back where it started. A solar year, then is the amount of time it takes the sun to go once around the heavens, and that invisible line that traces out its path is called the ecliptic. The constellations through which the sun passes each year make up the zodiac, and the ecliptic is its central line.
Fri Mar 24, 2023 NAME THAT CONSTELLATION – MARCH
Can you identify the thirty-ninth largest constellation? It is bordered on the north by Triangulum and Perseus, on the south by Pisces, Cetus the Whale and Taurus, on the west by Pisces again, and on the east by Taurus again. Three middling-bright stars – Hamal, Sheratan and Mesarthim, form its head, however the rest of this constellation is in one of the darkest regions of the night sky, and there are no famous nebulas or star clusters within its borders. But a handful of its stars are known to have planets orbiting them. In mythology this animal represents the golden fleece, sought by Jason and his Argonauts. Tonight the crescent moon and the planet Venus can be found below its head. Can you name this, the first constellation of the Zodiac? The answer is Aries the Ram, in the southwestern sky after sunset.
