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- I got started in astronomy a dozen years ago when I began trying to learn the star constellations in the night sky. March is the best month to observe the Constellations Leo the Lion and Gemini the Twins with bright stars Regulus and Procyon.
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- Then 10 years ago I began attending a once weekly course on Physics and Astronomy at Sonoma State University. I found the history of astronomy interesting and the other end in space exploration amazing. We live in interesting times with new discoveries almost weekly in physics and astronomy
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- This is the 100 year anniversary for the Theory of Relativity. Quantum Mechanics Theory becomes essential in physics to understand how the Cosmos works. But, the math for both theories are not compatible. They approach the problems from different directions and do not come together or overlap. ( See Reviews 1751 and 1753 for more on this subject.)
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- This review gets back to star gazing in the month of March. The evening starts with the birds singing and the spring flowers blooming. As night falls the Spring Constellations begin to appear. Leo, Cancer, Gemini are directly overhead. Orion is in the West. The dark Moon is the last 2 weeks of March.
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- The New Moon ( darkest moon) is March 20 and the first day of Spring is March 21. This day is marked by that point in the sky when the ecliptic orbit path of the planets around the Sun as viewed from Earth in our one year journey, AND, the path of the celestial equator cross due to the tilt of the Earth’s axis. The Sun begins rising higher in the sky each day as summer approaches and the days become longer. On March 21 the day and the night are both equal to 12 hours.
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- Spring is when the star Regulus in the Constellation Leo the Lion and the bright star Procyon in the Constellation Canis Minor are high in the sky. Halfway in between these two bright stars is the “head of the snake”, the Constellation Hydra the Snake. The snakes tail of stars stretches from the head all the way to the southern horizon.
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- Have you ever wondered how the Constellations came up with these names, there are 88 constellations in total. The path of the Sun across the sky is called the ecliptic. And, the ecliptic crosses 12 Constellations that are the Zodiac. Star gazing is an ancient past time. Most of the constellations have a story created by ancient historians. The bright star below the head of Hydra is “Alphard“, which means the “heart” of the snake. Near the snakes tail is the Star “ Spica” in the Constellation Virgo. On the back of the snake is “ Crater the Cup” and Corvus the Crow”.
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- These are both small 4- star constellations in the shape of a square. Crater and Corvus constellations appear even brighter in April and May.
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- Now to the ancient story. Apollo sent his pet crow down to Earth to fetch a cup of fresh water. The crow lingered at the spring to fetch the water waiting for the figs to ripen on the nearby tree. When the figs finally were ripe enough the crow had a nice feast. To cover for the fact the crow took so long to fetch the water he plucked a water snake out of the water and brought it home to Apollo along with the cup of water. The crow’s plan was to blame the snake for the long delay. Apollo was not fooled and he flung the crow, the cup, and the snake back into the sky. Where they remain to this day.
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- Many Constellation names have one of these wonderful stories. It is too bad these stories are not taught in schools so kids could begin learning the sky overhead and the Universe that lies beyond their imagination. Stay tuned, and let me know if you would like to learn more of the ancient stories. I have a collection.
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----- 707-536-3272 ---------------------- Wednesday, March 25, 2015 -----
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