This is the Classical Astronomy Update, an email newsletter especially
for Christian homeschool families (though everyone is welcome!) Please feel free to share this with any interested friends.
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let men say
among the nations, The Lord reigneth. - 1 Chronicles 16:31
IN THIS
UPDATE "Consider Thy Heavens" Campout - 2016 Total Solar Eclipse USA - NEXT YEAR! 2016: A Year of Lunar and Planetary
Conjunctions
Hello Friends,
We hope you all had a blessed Christmas
season. Our last newsletter was back in early October, following the "Blood Moon" total eclipse of the Moon of late September. As mentioned then, I will not be spending as much time with the newsletter, as I've been scrambling to complete an eclipse ebook, in preparation of the BIG total eclipse of the Sun that will pass over the USA in 2017. This will be a HUGE deal, friends! At least everyone in astronomy circles is expecting it will be. However, inexplicably,
this rare and unprecedented event has not yet penetrated the media! I'm hoping the media don't drop the ball! But we will have a LOT to say about it over the next year and a half, starting with the segment below.
As a post-script, I'd like to offer a friendly observation that, as expected, the whole "Blood Moon" craze did not pan out as a prophetic sign, for reasons explained in
detail beforehand in this newsletter, and as archived at our website. It's been now three months and counting, and I'm not aware of any apocalyptic events that have transpired concerning the nation of Israel, and certainly not the Second Coming of Christ, in accordance with the more outlandish
predictions. Notice that the "Blood Moon" devotees are keeping a low profile lately, including those who called me a "scoffer."
Friends, as we always explain in this newsletter, eclipses of the Moon and Sun are perfectly natural phenomena, just like the daily sunrise, and are understood to be the result of very ordinary lunar cycles that occur with regular frequency. Such events are
understandable through science and are predicted centuries in advance. The regular motions of the Moon offer a type of "Scientific Calvinism" whereby all future eclipses that will ever occur are knowable in advance with pinpoint precision. There is nothing supernatural about eclipses, and no reason to construe them as comporting with the prophetic signs given in Scripture.
I
would ask everyone to consider that it brings scorn down on the name of Jesus when His followers get caught up in the latest failed end times scheme, "with every wind of doctrine" that blows through the Christian pop media. I'm concerned that some people might get all wound up again with similar pop eschatology as the 2017 eclipse approaches. Instead, maybe we could use such opportunities to learn more about the creation, and to understand the natural causes that produce eclipses,
and to teach such things to our children, lest anyone be deceived again.
For more information about topics from Classical Astronomy discussed in this newsletter,please check out a homeschool astronomy curriculum (but popular with adult readers too!)
Visit our archive of previous editions of the Classical Astronomy Update newsletters, going back to 2007.
Visit this page to subscribe to the Classical
Astronomy Update and the Northeast Ohio Astronomy (NEOastro) newsletters.
*****
"Consider Thy Heavens" Campout - 2016
In 2014 and 2015, a merry little band of homeschool families and other friends gathered on the shores of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to observe God's glories in the heavens. This location, Muskallonge Lake State Park, has some of the darkest remaining night skies in the USA, especially east of the Mississippi. It's also a wonderful destination
during the daytime, with many fun things to do in the area.
In 2015, we had perhaps two dozen families participate. In addition to those of us who live near the Great Lakes, in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, folks came from as far
away as Maryland, Iowa and even California. Everyone left saying that they had a great time, and that would like to come back again in 2016.
So we're going to do it again! Planning is now only in the very early talking stages for
the third annual astronomy campout at the UP. This year's event will run from Wednesday, August 31 through Sunday, September 4, 2016. Registration for the park will open sometime in February, but that time will come quickly! So if you're interested, please drop me an email and you'll be notified directly as plans unfold.
* * * * *
Total Solar Eclipse
USA - NEXT YEAR!
On Monday, August 21, 2017, there will be a TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN passing over the United States, from coast to coast. A lot of people don’t appreciate the magnitude and significance of such an event. Basically, the Moon will BLOCK OUT the Sun for a couple minutes, and the brightness of noon will become the darkness of midnight, as the Sun
appears as a black hole in the sky, and the stars come out at mid-day.
A total solar eclipse is considered the GREATEST, most SPECTACULAR natural wonder in the world. It’s widely known to be a jaw-dropping, gut-level, visceral experience to see the Sun extinguished by the Moon in the middle of the day. People have been known to weep and scream at the sight. And it’s coming to the
USA, for the first time in a generation.
(The above image is of the 1999 total solar eclipse over
Europe)
Most Americans today have never seen a total solar eclipse. There has not been a major total eclipse of the Sun over the USA since 1970 (with only a minor one in 1979). The only Americans under 50 who have seen such a marvelous sight are well-heeled “eclipse chasers” with the
resources and opportunity to travel to exotic locales around the globe to witness this most special event in the sky. But the 2017 eclipse is the first “blue collar” eclipse within reach of average Americans, who lack a fancy travel budget. But most significantly, there has not been a coast-to-coast USA total solar eclipse since 1918! Being the first coast-to-coast eclipse since the rise of the automobile and the interstate system, this 2017 eclipse is an UTTERLY UNPRECEDENTED opportunity for all Americans, coming up only next year.
An actual
total eclipse will not be seen from everywhere in the USA on August 21, 2017, but only along the narrow path of totality. This path is only 70 miles wide, but extends 3000 miles coast-to-coast, from Oregon to South Carolina, passing over twelve states. Outside of the path of totality, only a “partial eclipse” can be seen everywhere else. So if you are not along the path when the Moon's full shadow passes over, you will be standing in the sunshine! You
will NOT see a total eclipse, and you will NOT see the Sun blacked out and you will NOT see the stars come out in the middle of the day! So if you don't live along the path, you can plan your Vacation '17 around seeing the eclipse!
The 20th century was a “dark age” of solar eclipses over the USA. There were eleven total solar eclipses, but only the ones in 1918 and 1970 were significant. But this changes in 2017. In the 21st
century, there will be ten total solar eclipse, but six will be significant. And they will occur more closely together! Elementary school-aged children in 2017 will be in college for the next eclipse in 2024, and young adults visiting Alaska in 2033. But those same children will be a 30- or 40-some parents with their own kids in 2044 and then in 2045 for the REALLY TREMENDOUS total eclipse of the 21st century. There will be other eclipses beyond
in 2052, 2071, 2079 and thereafter. Those eclipses beyond won’t do today's parents much good, but today’s little kids can hope to enjoy total solar eclipses with their own grandchildren, up through the year 2099 and beyond.
Friends, it's as simple as this: our generation owes it to today’s kids, to make sure they see the upcoming 2017 eclipse so that they can be prepared for a lifetime of domestic eclipse chasing. How our generation handles this one will set a precedent for the future. Over
100 million Americans will be within an 8 hour drive of this event. Everyone in astronomy circles is expecting this to be widely hyped in the media as the time approaches. But as of now, this 2017 eclipse is inexplicably receiving ZERO advance publicity in the mainstream media. This is unfortunate because people need to start making their own plans THIS YEAR.
We are
currently in the process of creating our own eclipse web site, and will hopefully launch that soon. Also, an eclipse ebook is currently being produced which will be jam-packed with useful information. It is my vision and goal to have 100% awareness of the eclipse among Christian homeschoolers, so that we all have the opportunity to make plans for our children to observe this most wondrous glory in God's creation.
Also, please let me help you homeschoolers who live along the path to organize local events in their areas. The eclipse will pass over or near several large American cities, including Kansas City, St. Louis, Nashville, and the largest cities in South Carolina. Please consult this NASA interactive map to find your location and discover the duration of the eclipse in your area. If you live along the path of totality, please send me an email and let me help equip you with information and with any local plan-making you might wish to undertake.
Additionally, I would hope that homeschoolers who live along the path would extend eclipse
hospitality to friends and family living outside the path. If every family could host even one other family, this would double the number of Americans who could experience the eclipse.
Also, if you have a farm or other tract of open land along the path, you have an excellent opportunity to make some money from hosting some eclipse-chasing
families. We'll share some more info in future newsletters. But again, please drop an email if you would like some advance ideas. The 2017 eclipse
is already NEXT YEAR and 2016 is now THE TIME for everyone to be making their eclipse plans!
Friends, I'm totally confident that this eclipse will be HUGE NEWS in the media during the summer of 2017. But we can't afford to wait until the media wakes up to this
story. This can be a tremendous opportunity to observe first hand how "the heavens declare the glory of God." This is also a chance to bless others and to be blessed, especially our young kids, and also for prospective entrepreneurs to turn a profit. Please friends, let's all plan to make the most of this opportunity! And please share this info with all your friends!
Let's start getting excited about the 2017 eclipse!
* * * * *
2016: A Year of Lunar and Planetary Conjunctions
Friends, 2015 was a very interesting year for
conjunctions of the Moon and planets. Long-time readers of this newsletter and other experienced sky observers understand that the classical planets are among the brightest objects in the sky, and are brighter that the actual fixed stars.
The planet Venus is blazingly bright, the third brightest object in the sky, exceeded in brightness only by the Sun and Moon, shining
alternately as The Morning Star before dawn and The Evening Star after sunset.
The next brightest object in the sky is Jupiter, which is a bright blowtorch in the night sky. Jupiter is a superior planet, which can appear anywhere in the sky, unlike Venus, which is an inferior planet, and is only seen somewhere close to the Sun, usually in
twilight.
Mars is usually modestly bright, not very conspicuous, dimmer than the brightest actual stars. Usually, Mars is only distinguished by its distinct rusty-red color. But every two years, as it draws close to the Earth at opposition, Mars blazes to a brightness that rivals Jupiter, and has the distinct copper color of a shiny, new
penny.
Saturn is always fairly bright, comparable to the brightest actual stars. Unlike the other planets, Saturn does not move quickly against the background constellations, very slowly changing its position against the stars over a period of years.
Mercury is an inferior planet like
Venus, always close to the Sun, seen alternately before dawn and after sunset. But Mercury never gets too high above the horizon in bright twilight, and is usually hard to see. Also, Mercury moves very quickly, and is not in the same place in the sky for more than a couple days. So Mercury is a rare and elusive sight.
The Moon circles around the entire sky
every month, moving through the same constellations as the classical planets. So each and every month, the Moon passes by each of the planets, making its closest approach on certain nights of the month. These are lunar conjunctions, where the Moon and planets align in the sky.
There are also planetary conjunctions from time to time, when two or more planets lie along the same line of sight, as
seen from the Earth, and appear close together in the sky. (Conjunctions of the Moon and planets are explained in detail in our Signs & Seasons
curriculum.)
For whatever reason, our modern culture is unaware that the planets are the brightest objects in the sky after the Sun and Moon, and frequently align with the Moon and with each other. The planets were very famous sights in the sky since ancient times and throughout all history, and are mentioned in all literature prior to the 20th century. However, for reasons unknown, the planets are now forgotten in our generation today, and are unfamiliar to most
average people in our modern world.
It would be great if this sad state of affairs could be rectified now, since 2016 will be a very rich year for conjunctions of the Moon and planets. The fun begins in 2016 with the morning conjunction of the waning crescent Moon with the bright planet Venus this week, on the morning of Thursday, January 7, before sunrise. But as a special added bonus, Venus is currently lining up with the planet Saturn, which recently emerged from the sunrise, after being
invisibly hidden on the opposite side of the Sun. This week, Venus and Saturn are very close together.
Saturn is very faint compared to Venus, and would not be very conspicuous in the morning twilight. But since Saturn will be close to brilliant Venus, it should be an easier sight to spot. Also look for the bright, first magnitude star
Antares in the constellation Scorpius, which is also currently near Venus and Saturn. So this star will join the Moon and these two planets in the morning sky this week, and they will all be clustered together on Thursday morning.
Keep an eye on Saturn in the morning sky, and use it to help you learn the constellation Scorpius. Saturn will be passing
through Scorpius in 2016, and will be seen there in the nights of spring and the evenings of summer, when some very interesting sights will be seen with this planet. So if you get acquainted with Saturn in Scorpius now, and start following it in the current season, you'll be well-prepared for the planetary show to come!
The first big event in Saturn's fun year will be a VERY CLOSE conjunction with Venus on the morning of Saturday, January 9. If you are able to spot these two planets when the Moon was nearby during the week, you should be able to spot them again on Saturday morning when they draw closest. Saturn is the
little "speck" underneath bright Venus.
These two will be REALLY close, separated by only 0.09 degrees, less than one-third of a lunar diameter. If you saw the recent morning dance with Venus, Jupiter and Mars, then you'll be interested to know that Venus and Saturn will be even closer on Saturday. This happens because these planets fall along the same line-of-sight as seen from Earth. Actually,
Saturn is hundreds of millions of miles beyond Venus, on the far side of the Sun, while Venus is relatively close to the Sun. This close conjunction will especially favor western Europe, but it will still be close in the USA, and the east coast will be favored on this continent.
One interesting feature of this year is that Mars will line up closely with Saturn in the spring, and then these two planets
will stay together throughout the summer, remaining within 10 degrees of each other. So when the Moon swings by each month, it align with both Mars and Saturn.
More interestingly, Mars will reach opposition on May 22 and Saturn will also reach opposition soon thereafter, on June 3. Mars will be as bright as Jupiter as both of these planets undergo their retrogradations together, at the same time,
in the same part of the sky. With bright Antares nearby, this will present a conspicuous benchmark in the sky for observing the retrograde motions of these planets. We'll explain more about all that in another newsletter in the spring.
Beyond that, the summer will be interesting as the entire solar system will be visible together in the evening sky! Saturn is currently within 90
degrees of Jupiter, so these slowest planets are now in the same quarter of the sky. All of the faster-moving inner planets will be passing between Saturn and Jupiter throughout 2016, offering numerous opportunities for observing lunar and planetary conjunctions.
The main event will be in August, 2016, which will be The Month of Evening Conjunctions! The Moon will pass by each of the visible planets over a
succession of evenings, after sunset. This should be a very interesting month, in a season of reliably clear skies for most of us. But the whole month will climax during the last week of August, which will be The Week of Planetary Conjunctions! Mars will finally meet up with Saturn on August 25. These two will still be close together on August 27 when Mercury, Venus and Jupiter cluster up, with Venus and Jupiter being closely aligned, only 0.07 degrees apart,
less than one-quarter of a Full Moon diameter!
The only problem is that these planets will be very close to the Sun at that time, and will be very low to the horizon after sunset. If you have access to a coastline, or very flat land in the Great Plains, you might be able to pick out these planets in bright twilight before they set.
We'll plan on covering these events in newsletters in the spring and summer. In the meantime, to keep up with the regular monthly conjunctions, please visit our website and keep an eye on
our Facebook page.
As if all those conjunctions aren't enough sky excitement for you all, there will be a series of monthly lunar occultations throughout 2016 between the Moon and the bright star Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus. Most of these events will not be visible from the USA or will only
be visible in the daytime. But we will have a prime opportunity to see one in the early evening in the USA on the night of Tuesday, January 19, 2016.
Occultations are amazing events to observe. During an occultation, the Moon covers over Aldebaran and hides the star for a time. It's
fun to see before and after, when the star is extremely close to the Moon. The word "occultation" comes from the Latin word "to hide." (And no, it has nothing to do with "the occult"!) An explanation is presented in Chapter 7 of our Signs & Seasons curriculum.
The times for viewing are tricky since occultations begin and end at different times in different locations, because of certain celestial factors. Here is a brief table of approximate times for several different USA locations, by no means claiming to be precise. It is strongly recommended that you go outside 10-15 minutes beforehand and enjoy the sight of Aldebaran as a little flea on the
edge of the Moon. Aldebaran will disappear at the precise moment the occultation begins, and will not reappear for some portion of an hour:
Baltimore MD 9:28 PM EST Boston MA
9:35 PM EST
Washington DC 9:28 PM EST Atlanta GA 9:22 PM EST Cleveland
OH 9:14 PM EST Chicago IL 8:02 PM CST Duluth
MN 7:55 PM CSTNashville TN 8:09 PM CST Jackson MS
8:09 PM CSTBaton Rouge LA 8:16 PM CST Fort Worth TX 7:46 PM CST Seattle
WA 6:22 PM PST
Los Angeles CA 6:03 PM PST
For precise local times for numerous locations in the USA, Canada and Europe, visit the IOTA website. This page includes a map showing visibility in the USA and Canada, and also includes a list of disappearance and reappearance times for many locations within the zone of visibility. However,
it's not very "user friendly" for astro-rookies, and you'll have to hunt to find your location and info. Also, the times are given in UT (Universal Time). You will need to convert UT to your local time zone to find the times for your area, by subtracting the given time for the hour difference corresponding to your time zone, as follows:
EST = UT - 5 hrs
CST = UT - 6
hrs
MST = UT - 7 hrs
PST = UT - 8 hrs
For example, the disappearance time for Cleveland, Ohio is given precisely as 2 14 36, which is 2:14 UT - 5 hrs = 9:14 PM EST.
Anyway, it's pretty cool to watch these occultations, as the star
completely winks out and vanishes at the precise moment of disappearance. Such a sight would be very cool as seen through a telescope, but please don't run out and buy one just for that!
Also in 2016 is a transit of Mercury on the morning of May 9,when the black dot of the planet passes over the disc of the Sun. Mercury transits are not as large and conspicuous as transits of
Venus, but they happen every few years, unlike Venus transits, which occur in pairs every 130 years. This event is definitely for a filtered telescope, and you might be able to find a planetarium or observatory in your area setting up a scope for viewing.
I'll still be investing most of my meager Classical Astronomy time in the eclipse ebook, but I'll plan to do another newsletter in the spring and another in the summer,
to cover the above topics. Til next time, God bless and clear skies,
- jay
The Ryan Family Cleveland, Ohio, USA
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of
him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? - Psalm 8:3-4, a Psalm of David
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