Father Sky

Anyone who has been around astronomy for any length of time has come across the phrase, “… heliacal rising… ” and with a little further reading will come across the explanation, “… when X rises just ahead of the Sun and thus disappears rapidly in the brightening of the morning sky.” (X being the subject of discussion, ” heliacal rising of Sirius” or “heliacal rising of Venus”, etc).

But so what? Why do we care about a viewing that lasts only a minute or two compared to opposition, when we can enjoy the object all night long?

Well, one reason is it could serve as an extremely accurate calendar. I was reading John Eddy’s article on Native American medicine wheels in the book, “Astronomy of the Ancients”. He shared a story of the time he took his family to the Bighorn medicine wheel in Wyoming. The wheel had several cairns and he was able to verify by lining up two of them that he was pointing precisely at the point where the sun would rise on the summer solstice. Two other alignments pointed to where the sun would set on the summer solstice. But what about the other cairns? At roughly 10,000 feet elevation the wheel is completely buried in snow for the winter solstice and even the two equinox’s.

One possibility is that the other cairns have nothing to do with astronomy. They may point to sacred landmarks in that culture’s belief system or perhaps even just to give the wheel symmetry.

Eddy next decided to check for alignment with significant stars. From the previously mentioned text, ” About an hour before dawn, Aldebaran would rise. The pre-dawn sky would already be blue, and all the dim stars would be gone. Indeed, the coming Sun would be brightening the sky so rapidly that on this particular day Aldebaran would flash out like a beacon near the horizon, lasting only a matter of minutes before disappearing in the predawn glare.”

Now that was significant! The day before, Aldebaran would not have been seen at all and the day after it would have dwelt for a while before it was snuffed by sky glow. “Flash”, that was the key word for me. You can just imagine the anticipation of the priests or whomever was assigned this important task. “Would today be the day this important sign would flash at me, or must I wait still longer? Important ceremonies and rituals hinged on the precise timing I provide.” You can almost feel the adrenalin.

Today, heliacal rising no longer carries the excitement it once did, it has been replaced by the crack of a starting gun or the opening song of a public event, but now that I understand it better perhaps the emotion of it isn’t entirely lost. The next time the skies are clear when I go for a morning walk, I’ll be watching for a flash!

NOTE: The photo above is just a stock photo of a rocky hilltop, not Bighorn or any other medicine wheel.