CELESTIAL MYTHOLOGY!
Tuesday mornings 10:30 - noon
March 26, April 2, 9, 23 and 30

Let's imagine we escape this snow by propelling ourselves back 5,000 years to Salisbury Plain in February where they are laying the foundations for what we now call "Stonehenge."  And, well, ok, so we'll still have snow.  However, when we look up, what do we see?     We see Orion the hunter battling Taurus the Bull.  We watch Auriga the Charioteer riding high along the luminous arc of the Milky Way.     We behold the fearsome Leo the Lion ascending in the eastern sky in vain pursuit of Cancer the Crab.      We see the constellations then as they essentially are now.   They've changed slightly by virtue of the proper stellar motions, but not that we could truly notice with the unaided eye.        

Now, let's go to a Martian colony in the year 3,500!   Ha ha! No snow!  Of course, no oxygen, either, so there's a bit of a trade off.  We look up at night and what do we see?     Spot on!   Orion versus Taurus;  Leo hasn't abandoned his pursuit of Cancer;   Auriga describes his wide nocturnal arc across the heavens.    (Yes, the constellations appear the same on this other planet because the stars are so far away.)     Within the space of one tedious e-mail, we've covered thousands of years of time and the constellations seem immutable.   

Ok, one more journey:

2,000,000 years in the future. Back on Earth.      We look up and behold:  Oh....huh.....we see stars.    Yet, the constellations are nowhere to be found.  Well, none that we recognize.  After the passage of so many millennia, the constellations have finally dissipated, only to be replaced by other star patterns.     The solar system has moved less than one percent around its galactic orbit since we were milling about on Earth in 2019.   Yet, that shift, in combination with the stellar motions, has been enough to dismantle Orion and cast away Taurus into the void.      The constellations are like cloud forms that disperse in deep time.     

This month, we invite you to take this moment to admire and learn about the constellations.  The bold paladins and zoologically improbable creatures that adorned the ancient sky and are destined to decorate those of the remote future, loom high above us.       Sagas, quests, prophecies, intrigues, monsters and mayhem.  All of it impressed onto the celestial tapestry.

A class designed for those who love the richness and complexity of celestial mythology.

$75.00 enrollment fee.
($20 each individual class)

Tuesday, March 26:  Spring Night Sky
Tuesday, April 2:  Summer Night Sky
Tuesday, April 9:  Autumn Night Sky
Tuesday, April 23:  Winter Night Sky
Tuesday, April 30:   Comprehensive Review of the Night Sky