I hope you took advantage of the clear dark skies this past week to enjoy the spectacle of Jupiter in the south and Mars in the east at some point. Those two planets have been putting on quite a show for those of us who look up.
Each planet seems trying to out-gleam the other. And when the South Texas Astronomical Society and the Christina Torres Memorial Observatory joined with the Resaca de la Palma this past week, folks were thrilled to see the four moons of Jupiter and the other delights that are in our late autumn/early winter sky. The constellations repeatedly come into view at the same time each season and evening, and the column may seem repetitive as it mentions the same star groups at the same time each year. But…they do repeat.
The planets are a different story. Since they are in perpetual orbit and the orbits are completed at different lengths of time, their presence in the sky among the constellations will vary and add interest to your observations. Ancient astronomers identified the planets as “guest stars” or “wandering stars.” (Those of us of a certain age might remember the show “Paint Your Wagon” that has a great song line, “I was booorn under a wand’ring star.”) I never thought about that in connection with astronomy until I was in my 50s. Amazing what connections life has to astronomical things.
Keep an eye out for Venus to soon be visible in the western sky after sunset. The planet is such a vibrant brilliant point of light, it cannot be missed once it has emerged from behind the sun. Orbits of planets can be a subject of interest just on their own. Mars has been drawing intense scrutiny as it is now at “full Mars” illumination from the sun. Telescopes and imaging apparatus manned by multiple folks that are having a field day gathering images of our neighbor are adding to the rovers’ information, scientists are constantly being rewarded with new insights about Mars. Perhaps one of you will be directly involved in some future mission to Mars.
If you take those early morning walks the constellations of summer fill the sky before dawn. If you are an after dinner walker, then you get the winter constellations. As Earth rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun, sky watchers can take advantage of seeing their favorite constellations in opposing seasons at opposing hours of the day. Isn’t math wonderful?
This week we will officially welcome winter. The winter solstice will occur Dec. 21 at 3:48 p.m. CST. This means that the sun will rise in the same place for several days and then begin its northward motion along the horizon, appearing above the horizon a few minutes earlier each morning, and sinking into the western horizon a few minutes later, and a bit farther north of west than it did the day before. What a marvelous way to live. The patterns of our home planet are intriguing – and imagine the brain power and observations that went in to discovering this thousands of years ago without computers or even calculators.
Ancient people marked the short winter days with celebrations to call back the Sun and as Christianity moved across the world, the early Christians used that time of darkness and the coming light to connect it with the birth of Christ. Every people group seemed to have a celebration designed to bring back the sunlight, warmth, and new life. We are a people who love to celebrate.
Wishing you and yours the wonder of the season and the joy that comes from being alive on the Good Earth, as the astronauts said while they circled the moon on that long ago Dec. 24, 1968. https://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc/index.html?dod-date=1225
KLU
