Spring Astronomy Day

will be on April 29.  Here is how the evening sky will look

for the approximate middle of the U.S.A.  But Astronomy Day has become a worldwide fest, and, to quote its website https://www.astroleague.org/al/astroday/astrodayform.html/, “Local astronomical societies, planetariums, museums, and observatories will be sponsoring public viewing sessions, presentations, workshops, and other activities.”  Worldwide is indeed what it should be: the planet should open its compound eye on the universe of which it is part.

It will do so again on September 30, Fall Astronomy Day.  Hey, why not now show that evening by way of comparison:

A month or so after the March equinox, the ecliptic, road of the moving bodies, stands steeply up from the north-hemisphere evening horizon; traveling this part of it are Mars and the three-and-a-half-day-old Moon.  Orion and the other winter-night constellations have not yet disappeared.

Five months on around our orbit, we are facing the downslope of the ecliptic (inhabited by Saturn and, again, a waxing Moon), and now it is Sagittarius and the other constellations of summer nights that are on their way out.  Notice (just passed by the Moon when it was at First Quarter) the “Antapex of the Earth’s Way,” at 90° from the Sun: it is where our spherical Earth is fleeing from.

 

4 thoughts on “Spring Astronomy Day”

  1. Grammatical correction….. it’s from which our spherical Earth is fleeing…. Don’t you know you’re not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition?
    Two young girls board a flight; one a southern bumpkin, the other an elitest …Souther bumpkin, figuring it’d be nice to pass the time in conversation, asks, “So, where y’all from?” The elitist explains that she’s from an upgrade place where she’s learned not to end a sentece with a preposition. Bumpkin thinks a while then asks.,”So, where y’all from, BITCH!.
    I’m lucky to see any skies in April as these showers are to bring May flowers, But isn’t the Mayflower the ship that brought the pilgrims to the new world? I ramble, sorry, but my mind’s just adrift right now. Got to do some planting.next. But I’m still looking for your rypo as you mentioned in your comment.

    1. What hides in plainest sight? The largest typo.
      (For those who didn’t see it: I’ve corrected the typo, which was an o instead of a p in the first word.)

      1. Oh sure, now I see,,, Spring Astronomy day,,,, and all the while I thought we’d be soaring through it, lol
        And who’ll catch my typo in my last comment. What comes around, goes around. Now back to the garden.

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