When I was quite young, I remember looking up at the night sky
with all of its wonderous stars, constellations, moon and
whatnot.
When I was quite young, I remember looking up at the night sky with all of its wonderous stars, constellations, moon and whatnot. And without actually saying it out loud to anyone, but just thinking it to myself, I wondered: If these things are our sky, our stars and our moon here in California, then what do they see at night on the other side of the earth?
Do they look at different stars and constellations than we do? Do they have a moon such as ours? Now remember, I was quite young. Anyone with any kind of education would most likely know that on the other side of the earth they see the same sky, with the same stars and moon as we do, just at a different time of the day. Well, at least I didn’t share my thoughts with anyone else – until now.
So, now that I am somewhat grown up, I look back and remember some of the thoughts that were going through my mind about astronomy and how I thought things worked. I must admit I was very naive.
You might be saying to yourself right now, “Where in the blazes is he going with this?” As you will see, it’s not much, but it is something that just struck me as funny.
Our youngest daughter, Lisa, and I made a trip to Denmark last month, and we had a great time. On the first night we were there, I waited until dark, which wasn’t until after 11pm, to see the night sky. Denmark is farther north than the United States, so the sun goes down considerably later in the summer time.
But the minute I recognized the bright stars in the sky, a little voice in the back of my head noted that this is the very same sky that we have back home. Well, duh! I did catch the thought before it was finished, but nonetheless, it did come out.
I started to laugh at myself, glad no one else was around. And I started to think, here I am educated in astronomy, to some extent. I know enough to understand what is being seen around the world and when, and yet I go back to my adolescent thoughts.
So, I guess you might ask: Am I still the same naive individual I was when I was young? I think when you are young you have very strong thoughts and ideas, and evidently sometimes they are very hard to get rid of as you grow up, whether those thoughts are right or not.
But I must admit, I still retain many thoughts and happenings that occurred way back when. They have left a warm place in my mind as well as in my heart.
One thing did happen on the trip that I will always remember, and this just goes to show you that there is a God. On the way back, flying on Scandinavian Airlines, I was sitting next to a young man who was next to the window. He was one of those know-it-alls. He spent an hour just telling me how great he was. And boy, he was great.
The skies were dark and the stars were at their brightest when my new know-it-all friend said to me, “See that bright object out there? I’ll give you $50 if you can tell me what it is.”
Before his monetary offer, he never did let me get a word in edgewise to maybe let him know some of my interest. Well, I looked out the small window and said, “Let’s see, this is June, the end of June, and it is 10pm. So, that has to be Jupiter,” I said with a ho-hum attitude. If you could only have seen his face. His mouth dropped open, and he looked the other way as if to ignore me. And a moment later he said, “So, you are into astronomy?” “A little,” I said.
The mention of the $50 didn’t come up until about a half-hour later, when he said, “I don’t have the money with me.” At that time, I interrupted him and told him not to worry about the money. He seemed quite relieved.
I would wager that the next time my know-it-all friend will think twice before he wants to bet some stranger without letting him get a few lines of chat in first. See, life can be good.
Constellation
of the Month
No one ever seems to like scorpions. No one even seems to say anything nice about scorpions. Well, when it comes to the constellations, Scorpius is one of my favorites. Not just because that is my sign, but because it is one of the few constellations that even looks like its namesake. It is one of the larger designs in the sky. Scorpius used to be even bigger, until the Romans decided there should be 12 constellations in the zodiac instead of 11, so they made the two claws into the arms of the balance in Libra.
The bright star, Antares, is the scorpion’s heart. Antares is one of the reddest stars in the sky. Its name means “rival of Mars.” As most know, Mars is red as well, and when it goes along the ecliptic just north of Antares, they look as if they are competing with each other.
Orion was killed by the scorpion. Now the constellation Orion in the sky keeps as far as he can from the scorpion in the sky. As soon as Orion sees Scorpius rising in the east, he sets in the west.
Just as Orion is the brilliant central constellation of the winter evening sky, so Scorpius is the brilliant central constellation of the summer evening sky. Take your binoculars to this scorpion in the sky; there is an awful lot to see here.
Clear skies.
David Baumgartner is in local real estate and is an avid amateur astronomer. His Sky Watch column appears monthly.
