Mon May 22, 2023 NAME THAT CONSTELLATION - MAY
Can you identify the thirtieth largest constellation? It is bordered on the north by Lynx and Auriga; on the east by Cancer; on the south by Canis Minor and Monoceros; and on the west by Orion and Taurus. In ancient Italy, it represented Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. The Navajo call its two brightest stars “the Place of Decision,” where the hero Long Sash and his people chose to follow the Milky Way up into the sky country. But we know these stars as Castor and Pollux, and tonight the waxing crescent moon and the planet Venus appear together just to the west of them. Can you name this star pattern, the third constellation of the zodiac? It is of course, the Gemini, visible in the southwestern sky after sunset.
Tue May 23, 2023 ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
Arthur Conan Doyle, born on May 22nd, 1859, invented the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, one of my favorites. But Holmes confessed to Doctor Watson that he didn’t know that the earth orbited the sun: “What… is it to me? You say we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or my work.” But I think that astronomy would appeal to his powers of observation. And through inductive reasoning, Holmes could infer that if we live on a planet, one of many, that goes round the sun, then it would be logical to assume that there were other planets out there, going ‘round other suns. And he did say, “When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” Sounds a lot like black holes to me!
Wed May 24, 2023 PLANETARIUM SHOW: FORWARD TO THE MOON
This is our final weekend of planetarium shows about going back to the moon. It has been over fifty years since anyone’s walked on the surface of our nearest neighbor in space, so much time that many doubt we’d ever been there. Nearly 900 pounds of moon rocks say otherwise, but perhaps the best way to show people that it can be done, is to go again. Our show, “Forward to the Moon,” will talk about the Artemis project and how we’re going to do just that. Shows will be at Indian River State College’s Hallstrom Planetarium this Friday at 7 and 8:30 pm, and on Saturday at 1 and 2:30 pm. You can get tickets at the IRSC box office - call 772) 462-4750.
Thu May 25, 2023 THE VENERABLE BEDE FEAST DAY
On May 25th in the year AD 735 – that’s over 1200 years ago - the Venerable Bede, died. He was an English monk who was the first person we know of to have written scholarly works in the English language. He also wrote De Natura Rerum, which was a collection of works on geography and astronomy, much of it preserved knowledge from Greek civilization, but also knowledge gained by observation and deduction. He was aware that the earth was round, and that the solar year is not exactly 365 and a quarter days long, but roughly 365 days, 5 hours and 49 minutes, so that the Julian calendar (one leap year every four years) would need to be adjusted in order to keep the months in step with the seasons. And he was the first to use the B.C. – A.D. designations in our modern calendar.
Fri May 26, 2023 PLANETARIUM SHOW: FORWARD TO THE MOON
This is our final weekend of planetarium shows about going back to the moon. It has been over fifty years since anyone’s walked on the surface of our nearest neighbor in space, so much time that many doubt we’d ever been there. Nearly 900 pounds of moon rocks say otherwise, but perhaps the best way to show people that it can be done, is to go again. Our show, “Forward to the Moon,” will talk about the Artemis project and how we’re going to do just that. Shows will be at Indian River State College’s Hallstrom Planetarium this Friday – that’s tonight - at 7 and 8:30 pm, and on Saturday at 1 and 2:30 pm. You can get tickets at the IRSC box office - call 772) 462-4750. And if skies are clear tonight, we’ll have telescopes set up for viewing the planets Venus and Mars.
