Harvest Moon September 6, 2011
Posted by fathersky in Culture, Science, Uncategorized.3 comments
Every full moon has a name from Beaver Moon to Worm Moon but by far the most popular is Harvest Moon. This particular moon has a couple of special traits that earn it it’s popularity.
The first is the legend that it’s illumination was used by farmers to extend their harvesting day into the night hours before the age of artificial light.
- Full Moon by basykes
This story has been around for all of my life and probably many generations before. But am I the only one who has a hard time believing it? Have you ever tried to do something rather detailed with only the light of the moon? Yes, it’s quite bright, certainly bright enough to walk around and even read something with somewhat large text but it would seem to fall short of providing the light necessary for harvesting most crops. Everything is shades of gray in moonlight so how do you determine which item is ripe and which isn’t? Perhaps the story is true for a limited group of crops but certainly not all. I’d love to hear from a farmer to set the record straight.
But it is the second trait that is really quite fascinating. If you follow the motion of the moon at all you’ll know the moon rises roughly 50 minutes later each successive night (on average). That’s the rate it takes for the moon to make one complete orbit around the earth every ~29 days. But the Harvest moon rises pretty close to the same time each night which allows for more of those prolonged days (for harvesting or whatever) than a typical full moon. How can that be?
The answer actually has more to do with the earth than the moon. I am unable to insert a map that illustrates this but if you could take a look at this link…
http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/cm2.html
… you will see a map of the night sky as seen from earth during our Northern Autumn (or Southern Spring). I wish to draw your attention to the straight line running from the lower right to the upper left with the name “Ecliptic” in white just below it. That is the path that the Sun and all of the planets take through the celestial vault from our earthbound perspective. This includes the moon. The journey all of the celestial bodies take is from right to left (West to East). During the other seasons of the year the path flattens out, curves downward and then curves back up. Sort of like a lazy “S” on it’s side. (the reason for this non-linear path is due to our 23.5 degree tilt)
The moon makes one complete circuit of this path every month but it’s only during our Northern Autumn that we have a full moon on this steep upward portion of the path.
So while the moon is moving West to East it is also climbing North a significant amount each day (or night). So instead of rising 50 minutes later each night, the moon may rise with as little as a 20 minute delay night over night providing more nights of mostly full illumination.
So how ever you use the extra moon time, be sure to get out and enjoy the show this fall. 
Top 5 reasons it’s hard to educate the public June 21, 2011
Posted by fathersky in Science.2 comments
Over the years I’ve had a number of opportunities to share the wonders of the night sky with people from all walks of life. Most of the time the evening goes well and I feel that at least a few of them have walked away with a greater appreciation of the cosmos and our place in it.
But there’s also a good number of visitors that have a hard time following even the most basic explanation of what’s going on up there.
So I started to wonder “why”. What I came up with is a short list of 5 reasons that in themselves (mostly) seem harmless enough but also point to a deadening of our awareness of the natural world in what we say and what we do. I’ll be interested in hearing if you agree and if you’d make a different list:
#5: Vocabulary: Our day-to-day vocabulary is sprinkled with words and phrases that if not plain wrong are certainly misleading. Probably the two most common ones are “sunrise” and “sunset”. The etymology of the word “sunrise” first started showing in mid 15th century writing which pre-dates Copernicus’ heliocentric model by approximately 100 years. Since that time we’ve learned the sun does not “rise” or “set” but that the earth spins. Our vocabulary, however, never changed to that new understanding so we still have sun rises and sets. A couple of other incorrect phrases are Shooting Star (actually it is a meteor that is seen streaking across the sky) and when someone is on the fast track to success we talk of their Meteoric Rise, (meteors actually fall).
#4: Inconsistent terminology: It’s not just the terminology of the general public that is confusing, lets take the example of the phases of the moon we astronomers follow passionately. When we say terms like Full, Crescent and Gibbous all one has to do is look up and sure enough that’s exactly what the moon looks like, (after they probably looked up the word “gibbous”). But what about First and Last Quarter and even New? A first (or last) quarter moon doesn’t look quarter full, it looks half full. And a new moon doesn’t look like something shiny new… it’s invisible! Confusing! (my explanation of quarter moon being a quarter way around in it’s orbit often gets polite smiles but I’m not convinced it always takes hold).
#3: Telescope: Many people don’t own telescopes and assume you can’t see anything without one. Or, lured by the urge they’ll pick up a discount cheapie with poor optics and a complicated setup. Enough to discourage anyone. Fortunately, there is a lot you can see without complicated equipment. Get away from city lights and you can see plenty with just your eyes. The band of the Milky Way, the Andromeda galaxy and a number of clusters and nebulae. Even if you can’t drive out to a dark sky there are still cool things to find such as seeing the moon, even in daylight. You can also see all 5 of the pre-telescope planets, and of course comets and meteor showers.
#2 It’s Complicated: The bits of astronomy news that is sensational enough to make it to the more public networks is full of things like Black Holes, Gamma Ray bursts and the Hadron Collider. Sometimes it feels like you need a Physics degree to simply get started. Fortunately, this also isn’t true. Hours and hours of fun await with a simple star map and perhaps a pair of binoculars.
#1: Light Pollution: Nothing discourages more than not knowing where to start looking when all you see above you is muck. I won’t go into a rant here. Just tap in to any local astronomy group and you’ll get an earful of all the unnecessary lighting, health hazards, etc. But I will just ask that if you do think you need deck lights or yard lights, that they light the deck or yard and not the sky.
The night sky is for all of us. Look up and see what you’ve been missing. Clear skies to you.
the Star, the Magi April 2, 2011
Posted by fathersky in Culture.4 comments
In this last installment of our quest for better understanding of the Star of Bethlehem I would like to turn our attention to some very interesting characters in this story; the Magi. The account in Matthew is all too brief so we must turn to other sources, limited as they are.
In Herodotus’ The Histories we learn that the Magi were one of six tribes of the Median Empire. Media was situated along the SW shore of what we know of as the Caspian Sea in present day Iran, the province of Azerbaijan. The Median Empire fell under Persian rule around 550 BC, Hellenistic rule around 330 BC and were under the rule of the Parthian Empire from 247 BC to 228 AD, which covers the time of the gospel of Matthew.
Darius of Media Atropatene, 70 AD
(above coin is among the few physical records we have of Media)
Unfortunately we really don’t have much beyond Herodotus’ account of the doings of this specific tribe. Other sources usually only provide the general sequence of rulerships for Media as I shared in the second paragraph.
Please note that Herodotus refers to them as a “tribe”, which would include women, children, artisans, craftsmen, laborers, and so on as well as priests which is what we think of today. He does make a point of saying whenever you need a dream interpreted, it’s a Magus (singular form of Magi) you are going to call. “The Histories” do also portray Magians as normal individuals of a tribe, but it is being dream interpreters for which they are most famous. I should note that dream interpretation and astrology go hand in hand.
In the little bit of information we have outside of Herodotus we learn that the Magi are one sect of Zoroastrian priests who were primarily responsible for the spread of the Zoroastrian religion. It seems this unique priesthood is endowed with magical powers, the power of divination and the ability to interpret dreams. This seems to be in harmony with what we learn from Herodotus.
Finally, we have a few references to “Rab-Mag’s” in the bible. Are these the same Magi? Some suggest they are. But I ask you to look closer. In Jeremiah we read of Rab-Mags as princes (or is it a single prince?) from Babylon who were present at the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. And then in Acts we run into Barjesus (or Elymas), also a Rab-Mag who is a sorcerer and a false prophet. Not exactly wise men from the east.
Now some modern christian writers suggest that the Magi represent the gentiles. That Jesus was born for Jew and Gentile alike. That here we have some “kings” from another land coming to bow before the new born Jewish king. But considering what we know about the Magi, and what we know of the culture of the time, I’m thinking the writers of Matthew were actually trying to show that even the signs in the heavens acknowledged a king was born and here we have the highest authority on star signs to prove it. The Magi would not be a good representation of gentiles. They do however, provide credibility to that particular interpretation of the sky message and that it is something that everyone would understand.
Adoration of the Magi by Rogier van der Weyden
Numerous painters have given us their artistic “magic” of that event such as this Rogier van der Weyden painting “Adoration of the Magi”, but we may never know exactly what those writers of Matthew were really telling us.
So was the star a guide for esteemed wisemen, a made up story to demonstrate some point, or a portend of a kingly birth? If the story is to be believed at all, we have to acknowledge astrological influences.
I may not have convinced you but I hope you will begin to read these stories with a questioning mind.
Note: If you search Adoration of the Magi you will get numerous hits. I particularly liked the one above with the star just peeking over the stable roof to the left.
The Star V March 12, 2011
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Been busy the last few weekends so I am just now getting back to this.
If you’ve followed these Star posts at all you might be wondering what exactly I am trying to prove. I’ve brought up a number of scripture passages that certainly seem to indicate the various authors were at least familiar with the workings of astrology. Does that mean I am saying they believed in and/or practiced astrology? No. The point I am trying to make is that in those early times there was much about the workings of the world that was mysterious and just couldn’t be explained by simple observation. Many of those mysteries came from the heavens. And astrology was a popular method of making sense of it all while maintaining a somewhat attractive “mystery” in itself.
So I am suggesting that astrological language and assumptions were so much a part of society in those days that they couldn’t help but include its terminology in their writings.
Perhaps not a perfect example, but think of sports in our American English today. How many times have you “tackled” a problem? Did you “strike out” asking the boss for a raise? Or “go the extra mile” for your friend? You don’t have to be a baseball or football player to use that language. Anyone can use it and everyone understands what you are saying. So when the author of Revelations says, “Morning Star”, everyone in that day knows he is talking about the planet Venus.
So the astrology language I shared in The Star III was all about how heavenly bodies can and do influence our lives, just as is suggested in astrology. In the Star IV I shared some examples of the importance of where these heavenly bodies are in the sky as well as noting the time, just as astrology does.
In this post I’ll briefly talk about symbolic names. Today when the subject of, say, Mars comes up we usually think of some Hubble image or perhaps some grade school lesson on the 9 planets. But in astrology the heavenly bodies take on a special status and suddenly Mars becomes the masculine Roman God of War.
So lets look at Genesis 37:9-10, “Behold, I have dreamed yet a dream and behold, the Sun and Moon and eleven stars bowed down unto me. And he told it to his father and to his brethren; and his father rebuked him and said unto him: What is this dream that thou has dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren come to bow down before thee to the earth?”
This of course, is one Josephs dreams that got him into so much trouble with his brothers. But lets look closer at what it actually says. The first sentence is suppose to be a quote from Joseph about his dream. Each of the important characters are celestial bodies; the Sun, Moon and Stars. The last sentence is suppose to be a quote from his father. Here he is telling us what the dream means. The Sun is the father, the Moon is Josephs mother and the eleven stars are his brothers.
So the symbolism is obvious; Sun=Father, Moon=Mother, etc. But perhaps more significant is the use of the astrological terminology of human attributes for celestial bodies as well as the importance of dream interpretation. The author used that language because it was well understood.
I mentioned Venus as the “Morning Star” earlier. We see this reference in both the old and new testaments. Venus is certainly the brightest “star” in our sky (aside from our sun which wasn’t thought of as a star then). It’s only natural for special spiritual significance be assigned to this beautiful beacon. When the author of Revelation gives this quote to Jesus (Rev 22:16) “I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star”, I don’t believe he is asking us to believe that Venus is Jesus. But he knows his audience. He knows Venus was highly revered so why not ask his readers to think of Jesus as they gaze upon it’s brilliance? Rather than deny the astrological significance of Venus, he turned it to his advantage by attempting to redefine the star.
So when you see terminology such as the sun governs the day and the moon governs the night or for the lights in the expanse of the heavens to… be for signs and for seasons, the scriptures used language that was familiar to it’s audience and at least some of that terminology was astrological.
If nothing else, I hope these Star posts open your eyes to more than one interpretation of these old texts. We will shift gears slightly next time as I attempt to fill in some details on the Magi.
The “Star” IV February 13, 2011
Posted by fathersky in Culture.1 comment so far
… continuation from my last two posts. I’ll cut short the introduction and ask you to refer to those previous posts to understand where we are.
The second characteristic of the language of astrology I’d like to focus on is time and place which this shot of the clock at Bracken House by Remko van Dokkum beautifully shows:
Bracken House
2# Time and Place As anyone knows who has even casually followed their horoscope in the local paper, astrology is very much about where things are and when. Your sign is the house or chamber (constellation) the sun was in at the time you were born. Other influencers are each of the other heavenly bodies (moon and planets) and if they are ascending (rising) or descending (setting). So lets look at some bible passages in this new light, starting with the passage that started this topic.
Matthew 2:2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him” also Matthew 2:9 “And having heard the king, they went their way; and lo, the star, which they had seen in the East, went on before them, until it came and stood over where the Child was.” – so if the Magi, who are from the east, see a star in the east, how is it they traveled west to Judea unless that star was in a certain place at a certain time which they took to be a sign that a king was born?
Genesis 1:14 “Then God said, let there by lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years.” – the heavenly bodies are truly there for signs and times.
Isaiah 40:12 “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the heavens by the span…” – how else are the heavens marked off except into houses/chambers (constellations).
Job 9:9 “Who makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south;” – clearly these chambers are not terrestrial in nature being in the same sentence as the celestial Bear, Orion and Pleiades.
Job 38:31-33 “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loose the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth a constellation in its season, and guide the Bear with her satellites? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, or fix their rule over the earth?” – the constellations have laws (ordinances) that rule over the earth in their seasons. What laws do constellations have other than astrological?
Ecclesiastes 1:5 “Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; and hastening to its place it rises there again.” – This is from that story about there is nothing new under the sun. And even the sun has its routine. It needs to be in a certain place each day.
Exodus 22:1-3 “If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen the the ox and four sheep for the sheep. If the thief is caught while breaking in, and is struck so that he dies, there will be no bloodguiltiness on his account. But if the sun has risen on him, there will be bloodguiltiness on his account. He shall surely make restitution; if he owns nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. – This is an interesting one. It seems the judgment is different once the sun has risen. Why would that be?
Jeremiah 33:25 “Thus says the Lord, If My covenant for day and night stand not, and the fixed patterns of heaven and earth I have not established, then I would reject the descendants of Jacob…” – This is from the section where the Lord talks to Jeremiah about breaking the covenant. Again we have our fixed patterns for more than just beauty but also as a sacred covenant.
Of course there are even more examples but these should clearly demonstrate that to these authors it is very important to understand where the heavenly bodies are and when so you can understand the consequences.
Next time: Symbolic names.
The “Star” III January 30, 2011
Posted by fathersky in Culture, Science.1 comment so far
I ended my previous post on the Star of Bethlehem (Jan 22) with the promise of sharing some of my biblical astrology research. But before I begin I want to emphasize this is a Cultural Astronomy blog, not an astrology blog. I’m only sharing research on this one topic that happens to point to astrology.
I also recognize this is certainly a controversial topic but I usually don’t get very many hits on my blog so I decided, what the hey, and plowed forward.
Lets begin by laying out what it is we’ll be looking for. Astrology, like any belief system that has been around a long time, has it’s own “language” with words and meanings unique to it. Some are quite subtle, others stand out when you know what to look for.
We’ll look at three areas that, hopefully, will shed new light on words we’ve heard all of our lives. due to the depth of the matter, I’ll share the first point in this post and pick up the other two in the next:
#1. Influence: One of the tenants of astrology is that the heavens; especially the stars and planets including the sun and moon, have more of an influence on our lives than just light and heat and pretty little patterns. There are actually numerous examples of this but hopefully these mentioned here are sufficient samples (all from the NAS bible):
Genesis 1:16-18, “And God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. And God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night…” – so God placed them not merely to provide light (and heat), but also to govern, (my bolding).
Psalm 8:3 “When I consider Thy heavens the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou has ordained…” – When someone is ordained, they are given responsibilities. What responsibilities might we be talking about here?
1 Corinthians 15:41 “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory…” – Paul is telling the Corinthians that the glory of the heavenly bodies is heavenly and different than the glory of the earthly bodies.
Psalm 50:4 “He summons the heavens above, and the earth to judge His people…” – speaks for itself.
Deuteronomy 4:26 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today…” – see also Deuteronomy 30:19 and 31:28 for more witnessing.
A few others in brief: Psalm 136:8-9 ruling day and night. Judges 5:20 stars fighting. Job 38:31-33 more ruling. Exodus 22:3 rules are different when the sun rises. Psalm 96:11 heavens be glad, earth rejoice. Isaiah 24:23 moon abashed, sun ashamed. etc.
In summary of this first point, the bible often speaks of heavenly bodies behaving like objects (or beings) that truly interact and influence our lives. They also take on real personalities and carry out Gods wishes. All of this fits in the language of astrology.
Next time: Time & Place and Symbolic names.
The “Star” II, more research January 22, 2011
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It’s been a while since I last posted. Some of the reason is I’ve gone in to much deeper research on this “Star of Bethlehem” story which takes time. My first post on the subject was October of 2009 where I shared some interesting ideas brought forth from Michael Molnar in his book, “The Star of Bethlehem”. Some 15 months later I still believe he was on the right track.
But lets back up a moment. I’ll assume you are familiar with the story so won’t repeat it here and just do a quick assessment. As I see it, there are just three choices about this story:
1. The story is completely true as written.
2. The story is completely false. The writers of Matthew made it up for various reasons. Or
3. The story could be valid if viewed from a different perspective than the spiritual or logical view most try to apply today.
My opinions:
#1 (True)… Highly unlikely – No record of this “star” in any other text of the day, neither religious nor “pagan” . Something that remarkable would certainly be noted by others. And just how does a star “stand over” a stable or house or whatever? The next clear night I invite you to go outside and look for any bright star that seems to be standing over a neighbors house. Now walk 50 yards either right or left. Now what house is that star standing over? Not that same one I assure you. I could also go on about us not finding any of the original texts of the New Testament, not knowing who really wrote it, etc. I’ll just summarize by saying this story doesn’t stand up to logical scrutiny.
#2 (False)… Likely – (see above) But then we’d have nothing to write about! 
#3 (not literal)… Possible – The reason for this post and which I hope to add some discourse to this possibility over the next few posts.
What I will focus on are the two special guests in the story, the Star and the Magi. Everyone else in the story is well known from all the other stories in the bible.
I’ll begin with the star. I will expand on this quite a bit in my next post but I’ll set the stage by saying no physical star acts like what was written in Matthew. What if Mr Molnar is correct? I decided to do some research of astrology in those times. I am not a believer of modern astrology so this research was a bit difficult but I believe I have the essence.
Why astrology (besides what Michael Molnar suggested)? Because one of my first questions was, “If the writers of Matthew included some astrology in their writings, would I find it elsewhere in the bible?” The answer I found is certainly “YES”.
So bear with me. I won’t be able to lay this all out in one post. It’s too involved to cut it down to 500 words or so and I don’t want to leave things out. Stay tuned.
Peace
Consequences of Split-Minded November 10, 2010
Posted by fathersky in Culture, Science.2 comments
Anyone who has dug a little into the history of astronomy learns of the heroic period of early Greek science such as Pythagoras, Herakleides and capped off with Aristarchus of Samos who “…supposed that the fixed stars and the sun are immovable, but that the earth is carried round the sun in a circle…” . In other words, a heliocentric model (sun centered) of the universe, which we know to be true today… yet this was around 270 bce!
Then suddenly, all progress toward understanding this model stopped. We go through a huge gap of time filled with numerous geocentric models (earth centered) of increasing complexity as everyone tries to reconcile actual observations to the model.
Geocentric model by Bartolomeu Velho
It isn’t until 1543 ce that Nicolas Koppernigk (Copernicus) returns us to a heliocentric model with his “The Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres”. Everyone knows that this was the book that put Copernicus on the map, Galileo in trouble and science back on the right track.
But did we really go approximately 1800 years before someone figured out we had it right in the beginning? How did Copernicus suddenly discover we had it wrong all these years?
Perhaps it wasn’t all that sudden. Perhaps the gap wasn’t as broad as these published accounts suggest.
The problem with the geocentric model was as we became more sophisticated in our observing, the less that model represented reality. The sun and the moon are the only two bodies that appear to smoothly orbit the earth. Mercury and Venus do this up/down dance on our horizon while the remaining three naked eye planets plod along against the backdrop of stars and then seem to stall, go backwards a bit, stall again and then resume course (this is actually due to the earth having an inside orbit so “pass” Mars, Jupiter and Saturn on our yearly journey). The solution… epicycles:
simple epicycle
If a planet were to orbit a point on it’s earth orbit, it would appear to occasionally stall and go backward as well, (think seats on a Ferris wheel). Problem solved.
Well, not quite. Actual planetary motions still didn’t quite fit the model so additional epicycles were created (epicycles upon epicycles). By Copernicus’ day the number of epicycles needed to explain planetary motion was 40!
Clearly, the model was useful in explaining planetary motions but many were beginning to doubt that’s what was really going on up there. Alphonso X of Castile (1221 – 1284ce) is quoted as saying, “If the Lord Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon creation I should have recommended something simpler”.
More and more “men of science” were starting to take on a split-minded persona. The public persona maintained that the Ptolemaic geocentric model was correct while in private exchanging thoughts and idea’s to find that “something simpler”.
Ones we know about include Roger Bacon (1214 – 1294ce), William of Ockham (1288 – 1348ce), Jean Buridan (1300 – 1358ce) and Nicolas of Cusa (1401 – 1464ce). All found faults with the geocentric model and at least hinted that a heliocentric model made more sense. But it was Copernicus who actually published the model so he’s the one we credit today.
Makes you wonder what other Testaments we have today that may be on similar shaky ground!
Coping October 13, 2010
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I’m pleased to report I am taking medication for my Vertigo and that it is working. My dizziness is much less than before and my endurance is improving. I still have a long way to go but there is finally room for optimism.
Evening time is the worst but I’ve actually been able to get a little observing in with binoculars and even my quick little 80mm refractor. Observed Jupiter for about an hour last night. No way I could do that a few weeks ago. I’m finally seeing the loss of the SEB (Southern Equitorial Belt) that everyone is talking about and photographing this year. Haven’t seen the enhanced Great Red Spot yet but maybe I’ll still get a chance.
Also my ability to read is returning. Hope to have more Cultural Astronomy posts soon.
Out September 18, 2010
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I haven’t been the most frequent poster anyway but I need to provide an update that I don’t see myself providing any new posts for a while. I am trying to cope with Vertigo and it looks like there won’t be a quick solution. One side effect is I have a hard time concentrating so I doubt I’ll be able to contribute anything here. My best to whomever bumps in to this space and hope to be back soon. – FS
