Night Sky II

I learned from a friend that Jupiter is at its closest approach to earth this year at this time, so when I heard the Great Horned Owls calling by the light of the full moon I just had to go out to see (and hear) the show. Two owls (or more) were calling to each other and high clouds slightly obscured the view. Only the moon and Jupiter could be seen. First I looked through my telescope, but when I saw Jupiter I just felt compelled to try to take a photo to better tell my tale. First, though, here's the moon as seen with my new camera.

To my delight and amazement, the four largest moons of Jupiter were all to be seen. One was on the left side, very close to the planet. To the right, another hovered about four Jovian diameters away ... and right against the right side of Jupiter the two remaining moons sparkled. One nearly touched the edge, and I'm sure if I look again soon it will have either passed in front of, or behind, the planet. Even with the faint haze, the two further moons show in this photo ... and the closer ones disappear in the bright haze illuminated by the Jovian glow. Through my scope the dark bands can be clearly seen. If you're a sky-watcher, this week is a great time to look up!

It would take more knowledge than I have to say for sure which moon should go by which name. After all, one may appear close, but really be at a greater distance from Jupiter. Wouldn't it be fun to watch hour after hour, night after night, until one knew which was the inner, and which the outer, moon?

And, if you're an early riser ... Mercury is making one of only two appearances this year about a half-hour before sunrise, seen right where the sun will soon rise, visible even after all the stars have been obscured by the brightening morning sky. I'm not much of a morning person, so you'll have to tell me about it!

Arrival at Steens Mountains

By the time we got up to 8,000 feet elevation it was after sunset and getting toward dusk. We quickly set up our tents. I had never been in the Steens Mountains before, and really didn't have much idea where I was, so will show a few photos that I took over the next couple of days to help with orientation.

There are three large gorges, carved by glaciers, dividing the Steens. Kiger Gorge runs north-south, and a pair of east-west gorges run side-by-side. The pair are the Donner and Blitzen, and Big Indian. This first photo is looking east, looking up Big Indian from the downstream side. During the summer months, the native inhabitants of this area would work their way up the canyon.


This second photo shows the view as seen from the top, where we were. There were still snowfields and the wildflowers were blooming profusely.

There was a bit of a breeze at the ridge line where we set up camp, which was nice, because it made it cooler and continually hazed the mosquitoes away. I pulled on my hooded sweatshirt and sprayed DEET on my hat to try to deter the biting insects, and for the most part it worked.

After setting up the tents we ate dinner and watched the stars come out. They really came out. Jupiter rose over the eastern horizon with three of the large moons visible as the last color faded from the western sky. I had my Cambridge Star Atlas and was determined to locate the Andromeda Galaxy. The Andromeda Galaxy is visible to the naked eye, once one is away from light pollution ... and we were very far away from light pollution.

I began to orient myself. "Arc to Arcturus" ... there was the bright star I had recently learned about, lying on a curving arc traced through the Big Dipper's handle. And Vega ... that's the first time I ever saw that star and knew about it. Then the Corona Borealis (Northern Crown) and next to it Hercules ... first time I ever located that constellation. Wow, having a star atlas and a dark sky really helps. Meteors and satellites crossed the sky. I set up my 20 to 60 power spotting scope, which is really intended for birds, and was soon enjoying locating open clusters of stars. The small sliver of the new moon dropped below the horizon and it was now dark enough to see faint, dim objects in the sky.

With the help of the star map I learned that the formation of stars I always thought of as "the crook" was a portion of the constellation of Scorpio. And I became reacquainted with Cygnus, the swan, a large constellation that lies smack against the Milky Way.

I find it a bit difficult to express what the Milky Way looks like. It is not something I see very often because city lights and pollution tend to obscure it most of the time. It is a broad band of glowing mist extending from one horizon to the other, composed of millions or maybe even billions of stars. It is what we see when we look through the dense flat region of our spiral galaxy on a clear, dark night.

And, the Andromeda Galaxy is another whole galaxy of stars. It is in the sky sort of near Casseopia (which I call "the big W" ... because that's what it looks like to me). I still couldn't see it with my eyes, or with my scope. I finally grabbed my binoculars and scanned the area where it should be ... and, there it was! Now that I knew where to look, I could put the scope on it. Just think, another galaxy, just like ours ... headed right for us ... bound to collide in a few billion years. No worries, though. Galaxies are mostly empty space. Rarely do any stars crash into each other due to galactic mergers. The upheaval does cause a lot of new stars to be formed, though.

I spent so much time staring into space that it got very late, and I was shivering in the cool night air, which was unexpected because it was almost 100 degrees back home during the day. I crawled into the sleeping bag to get warm, too tired to battle any mosquitoes, which allowed them a bit of a field day (or field night, as the case may be) during the following hours.

In the morning I saw Venus in the eastern sky, and could also see the half dozen mosquitoes that shared my tent for the night. After squashing them, I went back to sleep.

Night Sky

Tonight was one of those times that the night sky presents a unique and beautiful view. The crescent moon appeared very close to the planets Jupiter and Venus at sunset. The unlit side of the moon could be clearly seen against the backdrop of the deep blue heavens. A few wisps of clouds hinted at the colorful sunset that was still fading from view as the gloaming encroached.

The Earth goes 'round the sun

I just learned that one in five Americans believe the sun goes around the Earth. I know the odds are low that somebody reading this blog is among those 60 million people, but just in case, I'd like to be the one to share the breaking news.

The Earth goes around the sun.

In 1543, when Copernicus published his argument that the planets went around the sun, just as moons go around planets, he built on a hypotheses offered by Greek, Muslim and Indian thinkers. At the time, most people believed the Earth was fixed in the universe and everything went around it (and around us). This idea works well for the casual observer, but people looked at the location of planets in the night sky and wondered about the things they observed.

Galileo used a telescope to observe the heavens, and by today's standards it was little better than binoculars. There is a reason why we can speak of him by first name afer the passage of nearly four centuries. He shared with the world, at what turned out to be great personal peril to himself, the wondrous things he observed. Times were tough back then, one could be burned alive at the stake for simply speaking or writing about what one saw. It is much better today, at least here in the United States, because we mostly subscribe to something called "Freedom of Speech."

What did Galileo see? Well, he observed that Jupiter had four large moons, and by making careful observations and writing them down, he was able to get to know each one better and give them unique names. His observations clearly indicated that they went round and round the planet in a regular, predictable way. You can use a pair of binoculars and see that for yourself, and if you are really motivated, or curious, or bored ... you can write down what you see every night and see if you believe Galileo or not.

He saw the rings of Saturn. They are quite beautiful and unlike the appearance of Earth, so this made those who heard about it edgy. The Earth was supposed to be unique, and special, and if other planets had rings, and ours didn't, well, why were we left out? We were supposed to be very special. I think that if they had the photos we have today, of the Earth from space, this would not have been such an issue. Our beautiful blue and white marble with its thin, fragile atmosphere and snowy white polar caps, dusty deserts, and vast green forests truly rivals the beauty of anything in our universe.

Or I can just point to that humorous adage, "You are unique and special. Just like everyone else."

Galileo studied the moon. He watched carefully as the moon waxed and waned. A bit after the new moon, about a week to ten days after, he noticed that it seemed as if there were mountain ranges, lit on one side, and in shadow on the other. He saw shadows change, and the depths of craters went from shadow to light over time. It really looked as if something were illuminating a varied terrain of craters, plains and mountains. And, it seemed to Galileo that the illumination was coming from some hidden source. This was heresy. And I mean that in a "burn you at the stake" kind of way.



Popular wisdom held that the moon was a smooth globe that glowed softly in the night sky. I can put myself in that frame of mind. It certainly does seem to be a glowing orb.

Now Galileo got a letter from another observer with a telescope, and it shared a new observation. There were those who said Venus displayed phases, just like the moon. Light on one side, dark on another, slowly varying the appearance, sometimes more light, sometimes more dark. Again, as if it was lit from one direction by a single source of light.

To explain the single source of light, and calculate its position, observations could be made. One could write them down on paper and speculate about what would explain the observations. This was a daunting task, and many people worked on it. I'll leave it to your curiosity to find out more about math, geometry, and physics.

As for me, I have to see things for myself sometimes. I got a little telescope, mostly for looking at birds, but at night the heavens beckon. There's Saturn with rings, Jupiter with four large moons, Mercury close to the horizon, and sure enough, Venus with phases.

I'm convinced. The Earth goes around the sun.