More About Virgo

Spica

Spica is the real star of Virgo. Her rising marked to official beginning of Spring and the planting season. She has been called the "Queen Star of the Spring," and the "Star of Prosperity," but literally means "Ear of Wheat" which Virgo is holding in her left hand. The Egyptians built many temples to Spica's movement. At key times in the year, the light of Spica would penetrate deep shafts in these temples like in that Indiana Jones movie. The star is a brilliant blue-white in color and lies 260 light years away - or 1,508,000,000,000,000 miles! It is a binary star - meaning it is really two stars revolving around each other.

Vindemiatrix is the second brightest star lying north of Spica. Vindemiatrix means, "Grape Gatherer" because it rises in the morning before the time of the vintage. The star lies 100 light years away and is a yellow giant.

Near Vindemiatrix rest many galaxies. Look a little to the right of Vindemiatrix with a large telescope and see what you can find. One of the largest galaxies around is called M87 and is located in Virgo. The Hubble Telescope caught this picture of it with a jet of material streaming out. To many astronomers this indicated the presence of a super-massive black hole in the center of M87

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Virgo the Maiden

As Spring turns to Summer, the constellation Virgo reclines in the south after sunset. Virgo is lying on her back holding an ear of wheat in one hand and a dove of peace in the other. It's difficult to make out her silhouette in the sky - many of the stars are dim, and really don’t look much like a maiden. But her brightest star, Spica (pronounced SPY-ka), makes up for this obscurity. Spica is one of the most beautiful blue stars and easy to locate.

First find the Big Dipper in the northern sky. Trace down the arc of the handle and continue that curved line out in the sky. This should take you to a very bright, vaguely orange star called Arcturus. Now straighten out the line a little more and continue it until you hit Spica farther in the south. And there is Virgo. There is a catchy saying to remember all this. "Follow the arc to Arcturus then hit a spike to Spica." All right, it’s not that catchy...

The majority of the cultural myths - from Greece to India - describe Virgo as a maiden, virgin, or symbol of purity, innocence, and justice. The ancient Greeks likened her to the daughter of Zeus and the goddess of justice. She lays in the sky next to another zodiac sign, Libra the scales to mark her association with the scales of justice.

The ancient Egyptians thought Virgo represented the great goddess Isis. Isis had an ear of corn in her hand instead of wheat. Isis was the creator of the Milky Way, the band of fuzzy stars that form the heart of our galaxy, when she was up in the sky. One day, Isis was chased by a monster just as she was about to eat some corn. In the chase, she dropped the corn which scattered around the dome of heaven making the Milky Way - or should I say, "The Corny Way."

The Milky Way - Rightclick to open in new window

The Arabs initially included Virgo in a giant Lion constellation and some called it the Barking Dogs, but many groups seem to have changed it to conform with the Greek myths. Virgo is "Al Adhra al Nathifah," the Innocent Maiden.

And in India, the Hindus believe Virgo to be Kanya, the maiden and mother of the great Krishna.
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Finding Direction - Your North Star

 

Found

 Let's say you're lost (on a mysterious island or in the city). What do you do?  The stars can guide you my friends...

Although the Little Dipper is faint, and the Little Bear is dim, this constellation holds the most famous star in the sky. Polaris, also known as the North Star, is the guide of travelers, stargazers, and all-around lovers of the night. Polaris is the star on the end of the Little Dipper's handle or the Little Bear outrageously long, stretched-out tail.

Contrary to popular opinion, the North Star is NOT the brightest star in the sky. In fact it ranks about 48th in brightness. Through the city haze, it is just barely visible.

The best way to find the North Star is to use the brighter stars of the Big Dipper to guide you. Follow the two stars at the end of the Big Dipper's spoon (named Merak and Dubhe) and they will point you to Polaris. This is called the "Pointer Star Method" and can help you find your way around many parts of the sky - even over to Cassiopeia.

Around Cincinnati the North Star is always about halfway up in the sky. Now that you can find the North Star, you'll never be lost again!

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KITT PEAK and SOME NEEDED DOME WORK

Dean with the 4-meter

Last week I visited Tucson, Arizona for an astronomy conference called Project Astro.  As part of the conference I had the pleasure of visiting the National Optical Astronomy Observatory on Kitt Peak.  But there is not just one dome and one telescope atop this mountain - there are 19 optical telescopes and 2 radio telescopes which dot the top of the ridge over 6500 feet above sea level. 

As part of the tour I saw their largest scope, the Mayall 4 meter.  The researchers were getting ready for a night of observing but were nice enough to show how the roof opened and rotated and even moved the telescope down to where we could see the huge mirror.  It was a little eerie how quiet everything moved.  Seeing a hundred ton object moving silently toward you was like watching a building lean over.



Looking up the solar tunnel



I also got to see inside their great solar observatory, the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope.  This odd-shaped building was designed to capture and analyze sunlight and I was able to peer down the tunnel that continues into the mountain itself.

Reaching new heights

Finally when I returned to Cincinnati, we needed to do some maintenance to our dome.  It seemed so much smaller than the domes at Kitt Peak so I volunteered to climb up.  I'll tell you, it was a real rush sitting atop a dome with 1/16 of an inch of steel holding me above the old telescope (and the hard flood below).  The life of an astronomer - travel, adventure, and a little danger too...

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Canis Minor, The Little Dog

Canis Minor is, perhaps, the lamest constellation in the sky (although Antila the Air Pump is pretty bad too). This little constellation is supposed to be the little hunting dog Orion brought with him into the sky. But this stellar canine is pretty hard to pick out of the stars... maybe because it consists of only TWO stars. The only dog this resembles is a hot dog!
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One of the Little Dog's stars, Procyon, is incredibly bright. Procyon ranks as the eighth brightest star in the sky for one important reason: it is among the closest stars to us. At about 11 light years away, this white sub-giant star has a white dwarf star orbiting it. You can easily find Procyon in the southwestern sky this month about 25 degrees above the brighter nose of the Big Dog (Canis Major) - the star named Sirius.

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The other star visible in Canis Minor has the name Gomeisa. Gomeisa is actually a much bigger, brighter, hotter, and more interesting star than Procyon. Astronomers have detected a large cloud enshrouding this star (see picture to the right). The name Gomeisa is a shortened version of a longer Arabic word meaning "The Little Bleary-eyed One" (or "Bleary-eyed Woman" depending on your translation). Another myth said this was the star left behind by Sirius and Canopus (a bright star below the southern horizon) and still cries in the sky. Okay, I think I'm more likely to see a little dog in this constellation than a single, solitary, crying star.  But maybe that explains the cloud!

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Sirius Mysteries



No Dog Days Yet

Sirius the Dog Star is the brightest star in the nighttime sky. It has fascinated people around the globe and plays a prominent role in cultural myths. To the Egyptians it was worshipped as the "King of Suns," who based their calendars on its movements. The rising and setting of Sirius told the Egyptians when to plant, when to harvest, and when the Nile typically flooded. The phrase "Dog Days of Summer" originates in the ancient Egypt. During the hottest part of summer, the Sun stands high in the sky. And even though they could not see it, the Egyptians knew that Sirius was also nearby the Sun during the day. They claimed that the presence and brilliance of Sirius added to the intensity of the Sun's heat.

In Hindu mythology, Sirius was a hunter. This hunter was the father of 27 daughters represented in the 27 phases of the moon.

The Finnish poet Topelius wrote a poem hypothesizing that two stars fell in love and became one - he turned out to be correct Sirius has a small white dwarf companion circling it, Sirius B
which orbits Sirius every 50 years.

Two controversies surround Sirius. Ancient Greek texts claim that Sirius is a bright red star. In actuality Sirius is shimmering white. Did Sirius change colors over the years? Did the Greeks get this wrong? Was Sirius lower in the sky and therefore appear more red? We may never know.

The second controversy involves the mythology that the Dogon people of West Africa had about Sirius. According to French anthropologists who first met this tribe, the Dogon had a special reverence for Sirius and developed many unique rituals around this bright star. The Dogon legends say that aliens from Sirius visited their people 5,000 years ago. They perform a celebration every 50 years in honor of their alien visitors. Why every 50 years? The aliens told them that where they come from they have 2 suns, a smaller one that orbits the larger one every 50 years. It turns out that modern astronomy proved the existence of a smaller companion star (Sirius B) that orbits the main star (Sirius A) every... wait for it... 50 years! So the question still remains, were the Dogon really visited by aliens from Sirius or were they just given inside information from aliens from France?

Look for Sirius in the southwestern sky this March and April.

Sirius Aliens?

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Leo the Lion

Spring has sprung in Cincinnati and we can finally focus on the constellations of spring.

The first of the major spring constellations, Leo is recognizable by the six stars which form his head shaped like a backwards question mark - also called the sickle or fishhook. The bright star Regulus is the dot in the question mark and designates this King of the Beasts. The back end of Leo is marked by a triangle of stars - the farthest east being his tail, Denebola.

In Greek mythology, Leo may represent the Nemean Lion which ravaged the Mediterranean countryside long ago. The boldest, bravest hunters were sent out to kill Leo but faced a nearly immortal enemy. Leo had an impenetrable hide. When the hunters shot arrows at the lion, they just bounced off. When they tried stabbing him with the sharpest swords, no cuts could be made.

Hercules comes on the scene to kill the lion as the first of his twelve labors. This is where he shows that he has some brains (unlike the dimmer Orion). Hercules stalks after the killer beast and, at the most opportune moment, leaps onto Leo’s back wrestling him about the neck. Using his mighty muscles, Hercules squeezes and squeezes until Leo the Lion is strangled to death.

But Hercules isn’t all muscles. If you ever see pictures drawn of Hercules, you may notice his un-stylish clothing. After killing the lion, Hercules decided to keep Leo’s hide as a bullet proof jacket. Now he could walk down the street - and people would be shooting arrows at him or throwing knives - without fear. It was grrrrrr-reat.

Question from a smart second grader in the planetarium: “If Leo’s hide could not be cut, how did Hercules make it into a suit?”

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