By Nancy and Larry Lebofsky
Once again we have reached our final Observing News for the 2007-2008 school year. We hope that you and your students or Scouts have enjoyed the night sky and will continue to observe the stars, Moon, and planets throughout the year.
NIGHT SKY VIEWING:
Facing north, the Big Dipper will be above and slightly east of Polaris by 8:00 p.m. (9:00 p.m. for those of you outside Arizona). Remember to “arc to Arcturus” and “speed to Spica” using the Dipper’s handle as a pointer, following a line to the northeast. Arcturus is the brightest of the spring stars. Its magnitude is 0.0. When measuring magnitude, the higher the number, the dimmer the star. Sirius is the brightest star we see in the winter sky with a magnitude of -1.5, i.e., negative magnitude numbers indicate brighter objects.
Arcturus is in the constellation Bootes, the Herdsman. If you remember the story of the Never-Ending Bear Hunt, some of the birds pursuing the Great Bear are in this constellation. According to Sky & Telescope, Arcturus means “bear-guard” since this constellation follows Ursa Major around the northern sky. Spica has a magnitude of 1.0 and is part of the large and mostly dim constellation Virgo.
It will be mid-May before Scorpius begins to move along the southern sky in mid-evening. It is available on May 1 at about midnight in Arizona, 1:00 a.m. elsewhere. In the western sky, you will still see some of the Winter Hexagon constellations setting for the next few weeks. Remember the tradition for the end of storytelling season. Animals come out of hibernation, ice cracks on the streams, birds begin to return, and we begin to see the Rabbit Tracks or Three Ducks Swimming, in other words, the tail of Scorpius.
The past few evenings have been a wonderful opportunity to observe Mercury about 30-45 minutes after sunset (7:40 p.m. in Arizona). The first evening we observed, we needed binoculars to find Mercury in the not-quite-dark sky. But the past two evenings it has been visible to the naked eye, just north of due west. On May 1, it sits just below the Pleiades. Between May 6 and 8, the very thin waxing crescent Moon moves from just above Mercury to positions higher and further south of Mercury’s WNW position. By all means try to observe Mercury – it’s tiny, but it’s shiny! Look quickly, as it will be gone by the end of the month.
TELESCOPE VIEWING:
Saturn is the best bet for evening viewing. It will be close to Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo, for the rest of the month. According to Sky & Telescope, Saturn will not be near Regulus for another 30 or so years. If you can get it before it is too low, Mercury is also a good object to observe. Around May 12, when it is highest in the sky, it will look like a half-lit moon. Over the next week, as it moves between us and the Sun, it will more and more crescent- shaped. In the early evening, Mars is available for viewing near Pollux in the constellation Gemini. The star and the planet are approximately the same magnitude at this time. Later in May (22nd and 23rd), Mars will be just to the west of the Beehive cluster, visible with binoculars or your telescopes.
By the end of May, Jupiter will finally be rising before midnight, so look forward to pointing your telescopes at Jupiter as summer begins.
As usual, check one of the astronomy magazines or a computer planetarium program for exact times and locations of these objects.
EARLY MORNING VIEWING:
In the very early morning hours of early May, the three stars of the Summer Triangle are high in the sky: Vega (in the constellation Lyra), Deneb (in the constellation Cygnus), and Altair (in the constellation Aquila). Later in the summer and well into the fall, this asterism will be prominent in the night sky.
About one hour before sunrise between May 22 and 25, the waning gibbous Moon moves from a position in the SSW to a spot in the lid of the teapot asterism in the constellation Sagittarius, then above and south of Sagittarius to a position almost directly below Jupiter, and finally to the left (south) of Jupiter in an almost even horizontal line.
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PART I: VIEWS OF THE MOON FROM AROUND THE WORLD
PART II: AN AFRICAN FOLKTALE
SO WHAT DO YOU SEE ON THE MOON?
In the USA, we’ve all heard of (and probably looked at) the Man in the Moon. But this is not a universal tradition. In her book Moon Rope (Un lazo a la luna), Lois Ehlert uses beautiful collage illustrations to retell the Peruvian legend of why we see a fox on the Moon. Fox tricks his friend Mole into helping him braid a long grass rope to reach the Moon by promising Mole that there are lots of worms to eat on the Moon. Fox then convinces some birds to fly the end of the rope to the Moon. He begins to climb, with Mole following. When Mole slips and falls back to Earth, all the other creatures laugh at him, so Mole digs a deep tunnel and stays underground, only coming out at night. But Fox never returned, and the birds say you can still see him on a clear, dark night right there on the Full Moon.
Lynn Moroney’s book Moontellers notes that for the ancient Aztecs, the dark lunar mare which we see as the Man in the Moon formed the image of a rabbit, while in parts of South America it is the image of a jaguar. In India, the Earth mother decided to make her two beloved children immortal. Her son became our Sun and her daughter became the Moon. The daughter Moon rose into the sky before her mother could embrace her, leaving only the mother’s handprints as she caressed her daughter’s cheek one last time.
Lynn Moroney’s book also relates stories about the changing shape of the Moon. In Scandinavia, two children were forced to gather water day and night. The Moon took pity on them, and now they gather their water on the Moon once a month. When the Moon is full, we see both children and their bucket. As the Moon begins to wane, first one child, then the other, falls from sight and the Moon becomes dark. When it begins to fill again, we begin to see the children one by one.
My favorite is the Weaver and the Cat, a Native American legend. An old woman and her wildcat live on the Moon where she is weaving a headband. As she finishes her project, the Moon becomes full. But when she looks away, the cat claws at the weaving and as it unravels, the Moon grows smaller. Every month, the old woman begins her project anew.
SUN AND MOON LEAVE THE EARTH, a retelling of a Nigerian folktale
A very long time, Sun and his wife Moon lived on the earth. Sun’s best friend was Water, and Sun visited Water frequently.
One day Sun asked his friend, “Why do you never visit me? I visit you frequently.”
Water replied, “Your house is not big enough to hold me and all of my people who always come with me.”
But Sun persisted and Water finally agreed to visit if Sun could build a house big enough. Sun and Moon were both delighted, and soon Sun began to build a huge kraal – many huts surrounded by a fence. The invitation was made and Water agreed to visit.
Sun and Moon waited anxiously for their friend. They could see Water coming for many miles, flowing over and around everything in his path. Water was pleased to see the huge kraal and soon began to fill the space. All of Water’s people flowed in with him: small fish, big fish, sharks, whales, and all the creatures of the sea.
As the kraal filled, Water asked, “Are you sure there will be room for all of us?”
Moon was alarmed. Water was rising into and even above the huts. But Sun kept smiling and told Water there was room for everyone. Once Water and his people were over the roof tops, Sun and Moon had to escape. To do this, they made a tremendous leap into the sky.
This was the last time Sun and Moon lived on the earth.
SOURCES:
Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky by Elphinsone Dayrell
“Sun, Moon and Water” from Legends of the Sun and Moon by Eric and Tessa Hadley
