Mon Apr 28, 2025 EMPTY SPRING SKY
Most of the really bright stars we see can be found in the winter evening sky. The night skies of summer have some bright stars, too, but the autumn and the spring skies are relatively empty of bright stars. This evening there are some exceptions: the star Regulus, in the constellation Leo the Lion at the top of the sky, and the stars Arcturus and Spica in the east. But most of this evening’s bright stars are actually holdovers from winter - brilliant Sirius and bright Procyon in the Greater and Lesser Dogs, Capella in Auriga the Charioteer, Castor and Pollux as well as the planet Mars in Gemini, the Twins, plus Betelgeuse and Rigel and the belt stars of Orion the Hunter. And of course, bright Jupiter shines above the head of Orion.
Tue Apr 29, 2025 SHAPLEY-CURTIS DEBATE, ASTRONOMY CLUB MEET
On April 26, 1920, a debate took place between two astronomers - Heber Curtis and Harlow Shapley – about galaxies. Shapley was right when he said that our Milky Way galaxy was bigger than people thought, and that we were not at its center, but a little over halfway out. Curtis was right when he said that there were many other galaxies in our Universe – hundreds of billions, it turns out. Science is at its best when healthy debate is practiced, and if you’re interested in this kind of healthy dialogue about telescopes and astronomy, you should come to Tuesday’s meeting – that’s tonight - of the Treasure Coast Astronomical Society, which will be held at 7:30 pm at the Planetarium in the Science Center on Indian River State College’s Massey Fort Pierce campus.
Wed Apr 30, 2025 SUN IN ARIES
As the earth revolves, the sun slowly drifts against the background of stars. The sun has now entered the constellation Aries, the Ram, which places it directly between us and the stars which make up Aries. So you can’t see Aries now, because the bright sun blocks our view of this part of space. If today’s your birthday, you may have been told that you’re a Taurus, meaning the sun was in Taurus when you were born. But the sun isn’t in Taurus, it’s in Aries, and will be for the next several weeks. When astrology was in its heyday thousands of years ago, the sun would have been in Aries, but because of a slow wobble in the earth’s rotational axis, all the zodiacal signs have been offset by one constellation, turning bulls into sheep, sheep into fish, and so on.
Thur May 1, 2025 SPRING CROSS QUARTER DAY AND VIRGO
Divide the year up into four parts or quarters. Each quarter is marked by the beginning of a new season. Now divide those seasons in half and you get cross-quarter days, the midpoints of each season. We’re now at the cross-quarter day for Spring, called Beltane in the old Celtic calendar, when wooden poles were decorated with flowers and ribbons. Then folks would take those ribbons and dance clockwise, wrapping them around the maypole, mimicking the sun’s motion across the sky through the day. Tonight the stars of the constellation Virgo, the springtime maiden, appear in the southeast after sunset, reminding everyone that the green growing season of crops is waxing toward the summer harvest.
Fri May 2, 2025 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 appears below 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.
