Download Mon Oct 28, 2013 MOON AND MARS IN PREDAWN SKY Tonight

Mon Oct 28, 2013
MOON AND MARS IN PREDAWN SKY
Tonight the moon rises shortly before three in the morning, while Mars comes up a little after 3. By 4 am you can find
the red planet off to the left of the moon and slightly below it. Although they appear right next to each other, these two
celestial objects are in different constellations: Mars is in Leo, below the lion’s chest, while the moon is in a faint star
pattern known as Sextans, a fairly recent addition to the heavens. Sextans was placed on star charts in 1687 by the
Polish astronomer Hevelius, to commemorate the sextant he used to measure star positions at his observatory in the
city of Danzig, which goes by the name of Gdansk today. Above the moon and Mars is the star Regulus, which marks the
heart of Leo. Regulus and Mars are of about the same brightness, but you should notice two things that make them
different: Mars has a slightly yellow to orange tint, and distant Regulus twinkles, while nearby Mars shines with a steady
light.
Tue Oct 29, 2013
PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA/ASTRONOMY CLUB MEET
One of mythology’s oldest monster stories is in our evening sky. Well-placed in the east are four stars which form a large
square – this is the constellation Pegasus the Flying Horse. To the north of the square there’s Cassiopeia, which
resembles a letter W. Queen Cassiopeia was a boastful woman who compared her beauty to the mermaids. In
punishment, the sea god Poseidon sent Cetus, the sea monster, a scattering of stars below Pegasus, to devour
Cassiopeia’s daughter, the princess Andromeda, marked by several stars between Cassiopeia and Pegasus. But the hero
Perseus, some stars to the east of Cassiopeia, came to the rescue by showing Medusa’s head to the sea monster. Cetus
looked at the gorgon’s snake-infested head, turned to stone and sank. Then Perseus flew off with Andromeda on the
back of Pegasus, and a happy family reunion. Speaking of get-togethers, the Treasure Coast Astronomical Society meets
tonight at 7:30 pm at the IRSC Science Center in Fort Pierce, and the public is invited to attend.
Wed Oct 30, 2013
ALGOL, THE DEMON STAR
In the constellation Perseus the hero, there is a star named Algol; it’s over in the northeastern sky this evening. Algol is
not a particularly bright star – if you didn’t know just where to look for it, you’d probably not even notice it. But it is
quite an unusual star – three stars, actually. The name Algol derives from its arabic designation as “the head of the
demon,” and is also the basis of the word, “ghoul.” Algol is a trinary star system, and two of the stars are so aligned with
our planet that about every three days, we can observe one star pass directly in front of the other, an eclipsing binary.
When that happens, the light from this triple star dims. To the ancients, this was like the winking of a demon’s eye. Algol
was thus portrayed as the eye of the snaky-haired gorgon Medusa, whose glance could turn anyone who looked upon
her into stone.
Thu Oct 31, 2013
NO HALLOWEEN MOON/CREATURES OF THE NIGHT
No full moon for Halloween tonight, in fact you won’t see it all while trick or treating is going on. The moon is in its old
crescent phase, and won’t come up until shortly before sunrise. Meanwhile, the constellations above your heads tonight
recall monster stories from very long ago. The three stars in the summer triangle, overhead this evening, represent
man-eating birds that were chased from the Stymphalian swamps by Hercules. At sunset, the constellations of Scorpius
the scorpion, Serpens the snake and Lupus the wolf are sinking into the southwest. A scattering of stars in the southeast
this evening mark the location of Cetus the Whale – a sea monster in Greek mythology. Perseus the hero, over in the
northeast, holds out the head of the gorgon Medusa, while Draco the dragon guards the northern skies tonight. After
midnight, Canis Major rises in the southeast. He is associated with the three-headed dog Cerberus who guarded the
gates of the Underworld.
Fri Nov 1, 2013
NEW MOON SYNOD
When I was a college student, I tried out for one of the theater department’s plays – Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors. I
didn’t get the part I wanted, that of the Duke, which was kind of a shame since I had memorized his lines, part of which,
if memory serves me, went something like this: “For, since the mortal and intestine jars 'Twixt thy seditious countrymen
and us, It hath in solemn synods been decreed, To admit no traffic to our adverse towns.” So then you have to ask
yourself, what the heck is a solemn synod? For that matter what’s a synod, solemn or otherwise? It’s a meeting, usually
a religious council, but also a civil meeting, that’s held at a pre-arranged time, say during a new or a full moon. This
weekend there will be a new moon, and if we were using a lunar calendar, Sunday would mark the first day of the
month. The synodic month then, is a period of time marked by a complete cycle of moon phases, which is 29½ days in
length.