05/08/2026
May 7, 2026
Twinkle, twinkle, little star....
What in the world would a simple saying like 'pray without ceasing' mean in a busy world demanding attention to a thousand different issues? In this case, especially after a trip to Greene Bean, buzzing with thoughts of life, family, and several ideas that came up last night at the scope, I think, for now, it means apologizing to so many that like a quick read, and being careful to avoid a spider's web of different strands of thought , getting stuck on a variety of ideas going different directions. Here we go.
Last night, we started off with Venus and Jupiter. I've recently had hesitations about observing with temps, winds, lights, and energy. I've thought of concentrating on just the moon and planets, but there are still ? 'contradictions'. The moon is 'bright' and hides 'fainter' things. Yes, and no. The moon isn't much different from coal when it comes to reflecting light. It is the sun it reflects that brightens it. It is Venus that is bright, that, also reflecting the sun, but so good at that because of clouds which hide its surface. I could spend some time 'there' but that's probably one of the 'strands' to get stuck on. Jupiter's 4 moons were visible, continuously falling around that huge gas planet.
As a few stars became visible we turned to observing double stars; Castor, Regulus, Spica, and Mizar and Alcor, and we pointed out T Corona Borealis, the star 3,000 light years away we didn't really see but is set to explode and Shine. The question of distances came up and I gave an explanation that was too brief. Also too brief, the question of why I set up the scope. "Science". Well, yes, but there is really more to it than that.
Except for a few high thin clouds, the sky, earlier, had looked good and clear. We then made another attempt to find a galaxy, something I had failed at, been frustrated with. A couple years ago, setting up on the dark country road just north of Deal's Orchard with a 70mm refractor which gathers about 1/4 as much light as the 6" scope I most often use, we MUCH more easily found the galaxies M65 and M66. Last night, I finally succeeded in locating them, but they were frustratingly faint. Trying another possibility, galaxy M51, which this time of year is almost straight up, seen through less air, so less for light to reflect from, but also more difficult to move the alt az mount I use. We were able to find it, again, faint, but better. A little encouraged, I tried to stretch that 'success', searching for the star cluster, M35, below Castor, in the west, over the square,the worst direction for lights, and where I had failed to find faint things before. This time, I was able to find a small collection of points of light. Rather than the 'sparkling diamonds on black velvet' some say in describing star clusters, this was more like seeing sand on ashes. I don't mean to complain. This was still some sort of success, but a distinct variation of 'faint'.
To end the evening, we again checked the position of Jupiter's moons, trying to detect the motion of two moons that had been close to each other. What we noticed more was that one of the moons, closer to Jupiter, probably Io, a 'tiny point of light' ( but really, we know now, a place, pockmarked with volcanoes, stressed by the gravity of Jupiter to the point rocks melts) had moved 'closer' to Jupiter
So why would this be important? Why spend time observing these things?
In a little more than a hundred years, our knowledge, 'view' of the universe has changed drastically. Besides scopes, we have incredible tools, like the periodic table and spectroscopes. It can be hard, confusing, trying to keep up with everything. I certainly can't. When I was young, we had just learning that Mars was cratered, Saturn had 10 moons, and we learned more about high energy physics from what we first suspected might be 'little green men'. At that time, sketching the planets was a viable way of contributing to science and that was what I wanted to do. Another thing that didn't happen the way I thought it would. I remember hearing the idea that 'astronomy was a safe hobby', but, there are issues.
On my way home last night, on Mulberry, the road going south from the fairgrounds, a car turned north on that road. Why is the sky blue? Because oxygen and nitrogen are the right size and so good at reflecting, scattering blue lightwaves. With modern lights getting brighter and brighter, and bluer, they scatter more light. With oncoming traffic I have been trying to watch the white line on the side of the road, but that road didn't have that. I did know though, that there was a mailbox on the side of the road. The light blinded me and I could see nothing ahead, so I stopped.
There have been 'clear' nights that I decided not to go uptown with the scope because there was still haze or some thin cloudiness that made viewing questionable. The contrast between a 'bright' Venus and a moon that isn't Nearly as reflective shows up in other ways. The 'bright' lights of the square, the fairgrounds, some of the 'light bombs' around, or now, our cars, are puny compared to even dwarf stars that fade to insignificance even at 'short' distances. More and more we are losing 'faint' things that we learned so much from.
'Twinkle, twinkle little star' might not be heard as often as before, but the idea persists. It is so easy to see only 'points' of light, fail to see the depth and dimensions of the sky and fail to imagine real places, the varieties, they really are. We have a Rare existence, have enough troubles understanding finite things, let alone Infinities. I see 'astronomy' as much more than just 'physics'. I think we have learned a lot of things from 'faint' lights and can learn more. The next thing I would want to say is that, in general, we have a lot more to learn and while that may well be, and will always be true, that is not the main point. Things change and life is short.
