THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
207-780-4249 www.usm.maine.edu/planet
70 Falmouth Street Portland, Maine 04103
43.6667° N 70.2667° W
Altitude: 10 feet below sea level
Founded January 1970
Julian Date: 245939.16
Julian Date: 245939.16
2019-2020: CXV
"You're alive. You want to be more alive."
-G.B. Shaw
THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Monday, March 30, 2020
The Remote Planetarium:
The Absurd Act of Astronomy
The Absurd Act of Astronomy
Welcome!
During this period of quarantine and self-isolation, we decided to offer a free, introductory astronomy class. Each day a new section. Our aim is to cumulatively send as much basic astronomy as can be encapsulated within a series of brief articles. The DA will remain focused on this series of "remote planetarium" articles, as opposed to bouncing haphazardly from one topic to another as it generally does.
We sincerely hope you'll find these articles useful. If they are worthy of it, feel free to forward these articles to anyone at all, even if you merely harbor an unhealthy antipathy toward them.
Also, please send any questions or concerns you have. We will truly try to answer them in a timely fashion.
PREFACE: The Absurd Act of Astronomy
Or, unnecessary introduction by a blowhard who likes the sound of his own voice
Does that photo seem out of place? Perhaps you were expecting tree tops silhouetted against a rising moon or a resplendent, vibrantly colored nebula or even the arc of Saturn's rings. A photo of a gorgeous tropical beach taken in the time prior to obligatory social distancing seems incongruous. How could such a scene be related to astronomy, the darkest of all sciences? Well, examine the image closely. What do you observe? Yes, precisely. You see humans scattered along the beach luxuriating in the onslaughts of Sun fire, and congregating along the edge of globe-wide water body from which our long-dead forbearers emerged hundreds of millions of years ago. Whether crouching in the shade of palm fronds or riding the ceaseless waves, humans abound in all directions. Contained within each one of those specimens one could find the most magnificent object in the known Universe: the human brain.
We won't bother attempting to describe the brain as its powers transcend even its own fathoming. From the regulation of eye blinks to the development of the profoundest philosophy, the human brain is a self-contained Universe of seemingly unlimited potential. (That most of us are burdened by the self-defeating notion of an inferior brain is an atrocious consequence of social conditioning.) It is also within the human brain that one would encounter astronomy. You'll find no astronomy in the Sun's core, a lunar mountain or within any globular cluster congregating around the galactic halo. Astronomy is an all too human endeavor. It is your endeavor.
We won't insult you by instructing you on why you want to learn astronomy. We can never know and besides it is none of our concern. Studying the cosmos could just as easily resonate with that part of your supernatural mind that yearns to scrutinize ancient manuscripts as it could appeal to that part of you that wants to embark on a mad pursuit of malicious white whales. Yes, both notions are likely embedded in there somewhere. Like an intricately designed series of catacombs, your brain has room for everything. It is as capable of deep contemplation as it is inclined toward absurd activities.
Astronomy is absurd.
It is the ascent of the mind toward unattainable summits far beyond its range of influence. The infiltration of impertinent mortals into a rarefied realm they strove in vain to comprehend. The old Uranographers acknowledged the loftiness of these Olympian heights by including cherubs and other mythological entities onto their maps and diagrams.
To engage in astronomy was to find oneself in the immutable play fields of ageless immortals. The messy terrestrial beings clumsily crashing about the pristine celestial spheres and pressing muddy footprints onto the crystalline membranes. It was a place we humans didn't belong.
Humans ventured there, anyway, and in so doing discovered a Universe so vast in proportion and so varied in its constructs that our imaginations are staggered. Through the depthless darkness astronomers uncovered a cosmos populated by more than 400 billion galaxies spread over a rapidly expanding volume. Each second this cosmos spawns 20,000 stars and likely an equal number of planets. Planets revolving around stars and those cast adrift in interstellar and intergalactic space. Add to that ultra-energetic stellar nurseries such as that in the Orion Nebula and the dissipating remains of exploded stars such as the Crab Nebula in Taurus. What exists in this nearly 14 billion year old cosmos is even more variegated than what one will find on this four billion year old planet.
Over the next few weeks we will explore as much of this cosmos as we possibly can. We'll find much to engage us: from the moon phases to the complex planetary motions to the formation of galaxies. Along the way we'll discover that the celestial realm and terrestrial world are inextricably linked, for the former gave rise to the latter and, of course, to us, as well.
Fortunately, the celestial cherubs will permit us unfettered access to these remote reaches. After all, like astronomy, the cherubs are, themselves, only human.
This week's schedule
Tuesday, March 31
RP 2: A Slice of Sky for Walt Whitman
How learned astronomers outraged nature by carving up a beautiful sky. [Topics: Celestial Spheres and associated constructs.]
RP 2: A Slice of Sky for Walt Whitman
How learned astronomers outraged nature by carving up a beautiful sky. [Topics: Celestial Spheres and associated constructs.]
Wednesday, April 1
RP 3: Gliding Along the Zodiac
How we're going to make the learned astronomers weep by using the term "Zodiac," and why the ZODIAC is so immensely important to those who want to track celestial motions. [Topics: the thirteen constellations of the zodiac and their association with lunar and solar motions.]
How we're going to make the learned astronomers weep by using the term "Zodiac," and why the ZODIAC is so immensely important to those who want to track celestial motions. [Topics: the thirteen constellations of the zodiac and their association with lunar and solar motions.]
Thursday, April 2
RP 4: A Falling and Phasing Moon
Lunar myths, misconceptions and facts that will keep you up at night. [Topics: Well, the moon, actually, and its associated phases and motions.]
RP 4: A Falling and Phasing Moon
Lunar myths, misconceptions and facts that will keep you up at night. [Topics: Well, the moon, actually, and its associated phases and motions.]
Friday, April 3
RP 5: Quiz 1
A review quiz about the first week's topics. The sort of quiz we all wanted in school. Plenty of notice and no grading.
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