Dispatch from Flyover Country
To Capt. Kosher Salami
Of the Starship BindleSnitch:
Star Date 2 Oct 2020.
Captain, I was inspired by your “Perspective” post on the planets and constellations that you discovered while walking your dog. I was comparing my previous experience with the one you posted, and could not account for the discrepancies. Then it occurred to me that we were looking in the same directions, but at different times.
When I looked to the South at the time that your post mentioned, I clearly saw Saturn and Jupiter. The night of October first was particularly clear at my coordinates, so my dog Miles had a good amount of unsupervised time while I stared up at the night sky, at two of our distant solar system neighbors. At that time, of course, there was no sign of Venus to the East. It was still below the horizon.
Then, early this morning, 4:15, 2 Oct 2020, I looked to my favorite constellation, Orion. This time I tried to capture a photo of it, as you did in your previous post. The results are posted. I was able to see Betelgeuse and Rigel. Rigel is particularly fascinating. It is a multiple star system, composed of at least 4 stars. It is 860 light years away, and its surface temperature is 36,000 F compared to the Sun which is about 10,000 F. Rigel’s intense heat is caused, by the friction in the region caused by the movement of material from one star to another within its 4 star system. Its brightness is also 47,000 times greater than our Sun.
Koshersalaami
10/02/2020 @ 11:45 am
Thank you. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Venus and I’ve been wondering where Orion was. In the morning sky. I don’t know too many constellations, though in the evening I often see Ursa Major at West by Northwest.
jpHart
10/02/2020 @ 1:20 pm
Learning! You make me nostalgic for those Lake Winnebago nights whereupon Dr. Dresden would exquisitely detail the heavens atwix hook and line sturgeon elbow yanks and sprains….
Just now, I N-gramed Orion and saw that usage spiked circa 1893 which may or mayn’t coincide well with the designation of Pabst Blue Ribbon as America’s Best Beer at the
World’s Columbian Exposition in Sweet Home. I’d mentioned to the very mature Dr. Dresden
(Kurt Vonnegut hair—azure metallic eyes) that we die and go to heaven for awhile but then return as fishermen. He did an ergonomic clasped hand military press saying, “…prove it…!”
Koshersalaami
10/03/2020 @ 8:37 pm
I’ve also noticed that how I view the moon has changed. I no longer look at it like a flat disc. I think of it as a dome, as half a sphere that is entirely lit up. (Actually, half the sphere is entirely lit up, but I don’t bother visualizing the back.) Then I look at it to figure out where the sun is at that moment. The center of the top of the dome is always pointed straight at the sun. So if you see a crescent, that means the moon is pointed mostly away from you. If you see a gibbous moon, it means you can see where the center point is. The moon has to be pointed at a downward angle because if it were pointed upward you’d see the sun – is has to be pointed below the horizon at night.
Bitey
10/03/2020 @ 10:00 pm
I was just out in the back yard looking at Mars, which appears slightly above, and to the South of the Moon. It is very clear here, and I can almost detect the depth of the sphere of Mars.
I’m kind of anxious to see Sirius, but I think that comes into view in the early morning.
The facts about these various stars…especially the stars, is so mind boggling. The measurements of heat, and age, size and distance…they really take you away from the machinations here on Earth. Sirius is a white dwarf. The next stage of its life will be a black dwarf as it cools and loses its energy. The time it will take to become that is more than the age of the universe at present, so no black dwarfs exist. That sort of things just amazes. Not only do we have much to learn, but much of what we have to learn doesn’t even exist yet. I love that.
Koshersalaami
10/04/2020 @ 12:55 pm
So the universe is, in current incarnation, too young for a star phenomenon to ever have happened yet?
jpHart
04/02/2022 @ 5:22 pm
Нет необходимости в жадности или голоде
No need for greed or hunger