Introduction and Monthly Reminders
As predicted by meteorologists, March has started with stormy weather. The current weather forecast looks much the same for the remainder of the month. Even though Utah had less than ideal conditions for stargazing, I still was able to catch a glimpse of the major constellations through the clouds. The nearly Full Moon caught my attention along with a few of my readers during the second week of the month.
Don't forget to view the zodiacal light this month. The best time will be near the end of the month when the glare from the Moon will not be present. Remember to get away from all sources of light pollution and to look west after sunset. The zodiacal light will be visible for about an hour after the Sun sinks below the horizon. Still to come this month, observers can see Venus reach its greatest western elongation on the morning of the 20th. Mercury and Jupiter will also be close by on this same morning. On the 29th, Venus and Saturn will be found within 2° of one another.
Think About This....💡
Looking up at the night sky can be breathtaking and even inspiring at times. There are countless numbers of songs and poems written about the stars or comparing one's beauty to the celestial wonders above. Stories have been told about different constellations and how they were placed in the sky. Our ancestors told stories of great gods fighting all sorts of beasts. Sometimes the gods win and other times they fail. The point is, stars have been around for billions of years; before our ancestors began telling stories, before the Earth was created, and even before the Sun began its nuclear fusion of hydrogen and helium.
Similar to how the Earth revolves around the Sun, the stars of the Milky Way revolve around the black hole at the center of the galaxy. We can see the planets change position nightly, with more obvious position changes occurring monthly. The stars also change positions but on a much larger timescale. These positional changes take lifetimes to detect since they take thousands of years. Alkaid is one such star that has moved to change the shape of the constellation it is a part of. This star belongs to the Big Dipper, a constellation that makes up part of Ursa Major. Alkaid is the star that makes up the tip of the handle in the Big Dipper and has slowly started to "drop" towards the dipper part of the constellation.
Just as it takes time to travel to work, school, the grocery store, or wherever you may travel, it takes time for light from the stars to reach us. Light from the closest star to Earth, the Sun, takes about nine minutes to reach Earth. Light from the next closest star in our galaxy, Proxima Centauri, takes a little over four years to reach us. The light from most stars takes hundreds to thousands of years to reach us here on Earth. Perhaps some of these stars don't exist anymore but we are unaware of it because their light is still traveling through space. As an example, the dimming of the red giant, Betelguese, was noticed on Earth in 2020. This star, which makes up the shoulder of Orion, is 642 light-years from Earth. This means that the dimming of Betelguese in 2020 happened 642 years ago. This would be one of my favorite time periods; the time of the middle ages when the Roman Empire fell and people were building castles and cathedrals and knights were going on crusades.
The next time you are stargazing, remember your ancestors and thank them for creating a world that you can live in today. Perhaps we should all strive to make this planet survive long enough for our descendants to be a part of it.
Remember to follow me on Instagram @CosmicLure01 to receive notifications for new posts. You may also follow me on Twitter @CosmicLure.
 |
| Now get outside and look up! |
No comments:
Post a Comment