Ending Superstition on December 22, 2012

The Un-pocalypse — or false Mayan “End of the World” — of December 21, 2012, is the most widespread cultural phenomenon of the year. Some joke about it, others fear it, but everyone knows about it.

There is no planet coming to destroy us, but we hold a widespread fear of the dark, unknown universe, a cosmophobia. Our reaction to apocalyptic myths reveals our true cosmic compass. What we make of the Mayan calendar doesn’t tell us anything about the Maya. It speaks volumes about us. Some look on the Maya with the same fear and superstition that pervaded the Spaniards of the 16th century. How we decode the ambiguous Mayan writings exposes in what century our mindsets dwell.

When death fails to come from the skies on Friday, I would like us to truly be 21st- century humans. If we have any doubts, make this pledge before the end of December 21 regarding the purported ends that were predicted by us (not the Maya).

“I solemnly swear that if on December 21, 2012 (Eastern Mayan Time), we are not destroyed by:

Meteors, comets, or the rogue planet Nibiru;
Super Sun storms;
Magnetic poles flipping;
The entire Earth flipping;
Earth ceasing to rotate;
Planets lining up;
An eclipse (solar or lunar);
Or Earth lining up with the black hole in the center of the galaxy,

I will be more trusting of scientists and astronomers and less taken in by superstition and doomsday charlatans.”

Let’s welcome December 22, 2012, as the dawning of a new age: an age of reason.
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Know Your Seven Sisters

This is a great time to view the Seven Sisters open star cluster in the night sky. Look high in the west for a small cloud the size of the full moon. Upon closer examination your eye can catch the individual stars in the cloud and you can start counting. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6... and maybe 7 stars (if you have really good eyesight) in the cluster.

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These are the Seven Sisters, or Pleiades (their family name). They are the children of a Titan named Atlas (the guy that holds up the world) and a sea-nymph named Pleione. The names of the Seven Sisters are: Alcyone, Maia, Taygeta, Celaeno, Merope, Sterope, and Electra. On a clear night you can see Alcyone, Maia, Taygeta, Merope, and Electra along with one or both of their parents.

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Most people with 20/20 vision can only make out 6 stars in the cluster. What happened to the 7th? One legend says that in the ancient Greek days (2500 years ago) they could see all seven. But one star suddenly got dimmer. To explain this phenomenon, the Greeks believed that one of the sisters (Electra in some stories, Merope in others) was sad and covered her face with her hands - thus shielding her beautiful light from the world.

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With any binoculars you can see much more than 7 stars in the cluster. In total the cluster contains over 1,000 members resting about 440 light years away that were all formed from the same nebula. Click on the pictures for close-up views. Try to find them tonight and see how many you can catch.

"Seven Sisters" a painting by Helen Gerro

STARGAZING REPORT'S New Website

For the last year I've been recording weekly, "What's Up in the Sky" pieces for WXIX Fox19 news in the morning.  These 1-minute pieces called The Stargazer Report will get you ready for upcoming astronomical events and stuff you can see even without a telescope.  The bad news is that they air at 4:20am on a Monday morning.  The good news is that I don't record them live...

The even better news is that now you can watch them whenever you want - no need to set the Tivo, DVR or anything.  Go to: http://www.fox19.com/category/242740/stargazer-report-with-dean-regas  and watch what's coming to a sky near you this week.
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TAURUS THE BULL

Taurus the Bull is easy to identify even in light polluted skies. This year you have a extra bright clue to help point your way.  The giant planet Jupiter is hanging out in the bull's horns and you can't miss it.  Look east after sunset and Jupiter will be the brightest starlike object.

Just to the right of Jupiter is a bright star that should look a little orange.  That's the Bull's Eye star called Aldebaran.  Fainter stars nearby make a "V" shape with Aldebaran and represent the bull's face.  Aldebaran means "the follower," but what is it following? If you look about 15 degrees above Aldebaran you will see a little cloud of stars.  Those are the Seven Sisters (aka the Pleiades).  As the night goes on, Aldebaran follows the Seven Sisters through the sky.



See the "V"?

Inside the "V" are a lot of stars. This is called the Hyades star cluster (in Greek mythology five of these were the half-sisters to the Pleiades) ((wait a second... seven plus five... that's a lot of kids for the god Atlas to raise!)). The Hyades are the closest open cluster to Earth at only 150 light years distant. You can observe dozens to hundreds of these stars with a good pair of binoculars. Aldebaran is not a Hyade, though. It is much closer to the Earth and just appears in the same neighborhood.

In November and December you can see Jupiter and Taurus all night long. In the evening they'll be in the east.  Around midnight they'll be high in the south.  And before dawn, they'll be setting in the west.  Check them out and watch Aldebaran "following" those Seven Sisters!

Shameless, eye-catching picture of Jupiter

PLANETS, PLANETS, EVERYWHERE!

This has been a busy month for extrasolar planet discoveries.  First amateur astronomers discovered a planet orbiting four stars.  That's right, if you lived there you'd have up to four suns in the sky (of course when you visit, some of them may have set ;).  This planet is about the size and composition of gaseous Neptune - so you couldn't actually stand on the planet.  But imagine the view!    

Second, the planet around Alpha Centauri is doubly cool - first because Alpha Centauri the closest star system to us - and second because it is really a triple star system, two big stars orbiting each other with a tiny third one nearby.  Alpha Centauri A is a star just slightly larger than the Sun and Alpha Centauri B is a smidgen smaller than ole Sol.  The third star is Proxima Centauri which happens to be slightly closer to Earth than the others.  So finding a planet around a triple star system was unheard of just a few months ago.  This planet orbits around Alpha Centauri B every 3.2 days only 3.6 million miles from the star.  It's though that the surface is rocky but boiling at an average temperature 2,240 degrees F!  Hopefully, this is just the first of many discoveries we make in our stellar neighborhood. 

Artist rendition of planet Alpha Centauri Bb

Now before you start packing your bags for Alpha Centauri Bb, remember that it is still over 25 trillion miles away.  The New Horizons space craft would take over 74,000 years to get there!

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DELPHINUS THE DOLPHIN

This small constellation is one of my favorites to find in the summer sky. It can only be seen on very clear nights through the summer haze - a rarity for city dwellers.  But now that the crisper, fall skies are here, you may get lucky and see it.  The Dolphin looks like a small diamond-shape of four stars with an extra star off to the side for a tail.  In fall, it's just above the longest side of the Summer Triangle. With some imagination you may see a faint dolphin, arching its back, jumping out of heavens.  Of course, it's upside-down too!

Delphinus was said to be the messenger of Poseidon. Delphinus won great acclaim for saving Arion’s life (Poseidon’s son) when his ship was attacked at sea. The ancients attributed the Dolphin with great wisdom (I wonder how they knew dolphins were so smart), and also a love for humans. Dolphins were a sailor’s best friends and often got shipwrecked folks out of trouble.

Delphinus also helped Poseidon get a date from a the beautiful Nereid named Amphitrite by delivering her a message in the Atlas Mountains.  I'm not sure how this dolphin-gram reached her since he couldn't exactly swim it there! 

The two brightest stars in Delphinus have an interesting history. They are:

SUALOCIN and ROTANEV - both blueish-white

These stars are the reverse spelling of the name Nicolaus Venator who was an assistant to the Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi – the discoverer of the first asteroid. What a creative way to get your name in history.

AQUILA the EAGLE

Located high in the southern sky and in a rich part of the Milky Way, Aquila the Eagle was thought to be Zeus' favored pet. Many Greek myths indicated that Aquila carried the thunderbolts Zeus frequently hurled at troublesome humans. In fact since eagles seemed to be the fastest creatures, the Greek associated them with lightning strikes. In other Greek myths Aquila swooped down to carry away a mortal named Ganymede who Zeus fancied. Zeus to his servants: “I’m so busy today. Send my eagle around to pick him up.”

Another gruesome Greek tale involved Prometheus and the Eagle. The gods punished Prometheus for stealing fire from Mt. Olympus and sharing this powerful gift with us lowly humans. As a punishment he was chained to a rock while a giant eagle came to feast on his liver. But having this happen only once wasn’t good enough. The gods magically restored his liver every day so that the eagle could return to torture Prometheus for eternity. Wow, that’s harsh. What was poor Prometheus thinking as he awoke in the morning, whole, only to hear the ominous flap, flap, flapping of the eagle’s wings coming ever closer?  Prometheus was finally freed from the tortuous existence by Hercules who killed the eagle with an arrow. Fire anyone?

Aquila’s Main Star:


Rapidly Rotating Altair

ALTAIR - “Flying Eagle” in Arabic
One of our closest neighbors at 17 light years away
Part of the Summer Triangle with Deneb in the

constellation Cygnus and Vega in the constellation Lyra.

Easily identified for its brightness as well as two sentinel stars on each side of it, Alshain and Tarazed. These stars get their names from the Persian name for Aquila, Shahin Tara Zed, or the Star Striking Falcon.

“She (Altair) steals into the sky timidly and seems to tremble there as if half afraid and shyly reveals her beauty to us before we are scarcely aware of her presence.”  Altair spins so fast that it's squished at the poles!
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