Saturday: I
know you’re staying up late to train yourself to wait up for Santa. So look out
a south-facing window at 1 a.m. and see Sirius, the brightest star in the
nighttime sky, as high as it ever gets in the sky. It is two and a half fists
held upright and at arm’s length above due south.
Sunday: At
3:03 p.m., the Sun reaches its lowest point in the sky with respect to the
background stars. This point is called the Winter Solstice. During the day that
the Sun reaches this point, your noontime shadow is longer than any other day
of the year. Also, the Sun spends less time in the sky on the day of the Winter
Solstice than any other day making this the shortest day of the year. Even though
it is the shortest day of the year, it is not the day with the latest sunrise
or the earliest sunset. The latest sunrise is during the first week in January
and the earliest sunset is during the second week in December. The Sun is at
its southernmost point with respect to the background stars on the day of the
winter solstice. This means the Sun spends the least amount of time above the
horizon on that day. But, the Sun rise and set time depends on more than its
apparent vertical motion. It also depends on where the Sun is on the analemma,
that skinny figure-8 you see on globes and world maps. During the second week
in December, the Sun is not quite to the bottom of the analemma. But, it is on the first part of the
analemma to go below the horizon. During the first week in January, it is on
the last part of the analemma to rise above the horizon. For more information
on this, go to http://goo.gl/KpbkTf.
Monday: You’ve
heard the term “a pinch to grow an inch.” While there is no pinching involved,
the distance between the Earth and moon increases by about an inch a year.
Tuesday: This
is a great time of the year to go around and observe the holiday lights… from
SPACE. A NASA satellite has been tracking the spread of Christmas lighting for
the past three years. In that time, lights around major US cities shine 20 to
50 percent brighter from Thankgiving to New Years Day than they do the rest of
the year. That makes power companies very happy. Some of the NASA images are
available at http://goo.gl/NpTks3.
Wednesday:
What would that special someone want to see on the back of Santa’s sleigh when
she gets up early Christmas morning to eat one of Santa’s cookies? A fruit
cake? No. A barbell? Maybe to work off the fruitcake. A subscription to The
Daily Record? Of course. But what she really wants is a ring. And if she looks
out a south-facing window, she’ll see her ring. Saturn the ringed planet, that
is. Saturn is one and a half fists above the southeast horizon at 7 a.m.
Thursday: Where
is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw Jupiter being eclipsed by
the Moon in the east and have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:2, Bruce
Palmquist version, informed by Michael Molnar). There are many theories as to
the physical explanation of the Star of Bethlehem, the celestial object that
guided the wise men to the location of Jesus. Some people think it was a
recurring nova, a star that explodes. Some think it was a close alignment of
bright planets. Some think it was a miracle that requires no physical
explanation. In 1991, astronomer Michael Molnar bought an ancient Roman Empire
coin that depicted a ram looking back at a star. Aries the ram was a symbol for
Judea, the birthplace of Jesus. The Magi, or “wise men”, who visited the baby
Jesus practiced astrology and would have been looking in that region of the sky
for the king prophesied in the Old Testament. Molnar, a modern day wise person,
used sky simulation software to model the positions of planets and the Moon in
the region of Aries. According to his model, Jupiter was eclipsed, or blocked,
by the Moon on the morning of April 17, 6 BC. A book written by the astrologer
of Constantine the Great in 334 AD supports Molnar’s theory. The book describes
an eclipse of Jupiter in Aries and notes a man of divine nature born during this
time. See http://www.eclipse.net/~molnar/ for more information.
The moon,
Aries, and Jupiter make an appearance in the Christmas sky tonight. The moon
sets at about 9 pm. At 10 p.m., the dim constellation Aries is about six fists
above the southwest horizon and Jupiter is about one and a half fists above the
east horizon.
Friday:
Columbia the dove, representing the bird Noah sent out to look for dry land as
the flood waters receded, is perched just above the ridge south of Ellensburg.
Its brightest star Phact is about one fist above the south horizon at 11 p.m.
The
positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically
accurate for the entire week. For up to date information about the night sky,
go to http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm.
No comments:
Post a Comment