Halfway around the sun, and it’s hot

The first day of summer is upon us. What does that mean?

We are half-way around the sun in our star/planet duo waltz. The hours of daylight are a few minutes longer each day until the summer solstice, when the solar motion along the horizon halts for a few days, then begins retrograde motion (back the other way) along the horizon until winter, when the trend reverses.

The sun will rise to its highest point, zenith, above the southern horizon, which means we have longer hours of daylight, which also means the heat has longer to accumulate. And that is worse because we have so many paved areas with acres of parking spots and vegetation ripped out that would help keep air cooler. What have you noticed about the location of the sun or moon along the horizon at sunrise and sunset or moonrise and moonset? Check it out; you may be amazed at what occurs over time.

Pay attention to those dangerous UV rays sent courtesy of our star and use plenty of SPF 15 or higher sunscreen, drink water, and look for shade. Our star is one we cannot live without but is capable of causing skin cancers and eye problems. Limit your time outdoors between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., slather on that sunscreen again if you are swimming or sweating and cover up like a Bedouin.

If that doesn’t sound like fun, then enjoy those other suns we can see in the nighttime after earth turns its face away from its closest star. When you are outside after sunset, if you are facing south, look straight up for Arcturus in the constellation Boötes, the Herdsman. Boötes’ task is to keep herd on the two bears, Canis Major and Minor, keeping them rotating around the North Star, Polaris. If you have been outside as darkness settles in and looked straight overhead you cannot have missed the ivory star, the so-called Guardian of the Bear. It is the brightest star in the northern hemisphere of the sky. Because it is so outstandingly bright various civilizations have worshipped and feared it since the earliest times. Although it appears ivory, it is an orange giant, over 20 times brighter than our sun. Light from Arcturus was used to turn on the lights of the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago. Light was focused through a telescope onto a photocell which triggered the switches that turned on the lights at the fairgrounds.

The stars that comprise the Greek-named constellation Boötes loosely form a kite shape and Arcturus is at the base of the kite. Other civilizations also saw this group as a herder. Five thousand years ago the Sahara Desert in Africa was green and fertile. Stone age herder/artists painted scenes of their work on stone walls and imagined the stars being herded as cattle by their celestial herder we know as Boötes. This constellation is mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey, however the Greeks had Boötes herding bears, not cattle.

Following the arc of the Great Bear’s tail, the handle of the Big Dipper, in the north will lead your eyes to Arcturus. Let your gaze drift farther along that same arc to brilliantly blue-white Spica in Virgo, and keep on to Corvus the Crow, a trapezoid along that same arcing path. A mnemonic tool to help you remember how to find the groups is as follows: “Follow the arc to Arcturus, spike to Spica, and keep on to Corvus.”

There is so much to enjoy while star-gazing and it is probably the easiest ‘hobby’ to afford-unless you go into buying telescopes and all their associated gear. I never recommend a telescope right off the bat when someone decides to stargaze. It is better to enjoy others’ telescopes and learn your way around the sky before indulging in costly telescopes. Join a STARS meeting and learn more about telescopes before spending those hard-earned dollars.

Until next week, do let some stars get in your eyes.