Jupiter Venus Mercury

For the last three nights, I have faithfully journeyed to the shore to give witness and homage to the brilliant dancing glow of our sister worlds, Jupiter Venus Mercury. And for the last three nights, clouds as dense as the ocean itself poured their libations directly upon our heavenly kin. So I spent some time on Stellarium (a free star map software program available online) mapping out what I missed and making this cool mural.

Beginning in late May, when Venus began her ascension past the sun and into our darkening twilight, the paths of the three planets were destined to meet, forming the beautiful and rare CoNjUnCtIoN. An ironic intersection of time / space where to our Earthbound eyes the gentle wanderers appear to head toward collision and certain death. Yet in the sprawling metropolis of solar satellites, there is currently little fear of such destruction. (While rouge asteroids and comets travel to the beat of their own orbits, and occasionally make contact with a planet, the solar system has chilled out greatly since its earlier party days and few mega collisions happen anymore.) So while we watch Venus shooting up like a Chinese lantern on a windless night, inching past Jupiter and mingling with the usually shy Mercury, take note that this brilliant ballet is nothing more than a quirk in our earthbound skies. And I love every moment.

See You on the Dark Side of the Moon

When I was a little girl, I lived near a pasture clearing in the deep woods of Florida. Thick pines and soft deciduous trees lined my little world and at night, the darkness of night hung low and personal. My young mind wandered and wondered through the clouds and stars, filling in my own treatise and creation myths. I thought that the sky was a dark colander, tipped over the Earth and hiding back the brilliant white light that peeked through the tiny holes. I dreamed of flying beyond in the brightness, my body as light as the beams themselves. I saw the birds flying above the trees and whispered my ideas to them so they could fly high and examine the world as I could not.
I remember seeing three little stars clustered together and thought of my two best friends and I, hanging in the sky forever together. Me, Violeta and Linda Estrella.
At some point in my ponderings, my father bought me a telescope. Mechanically challenged and disinclined to measurements, I wrapped my attention around the colorful posters hidden folded in the box. Our solar system in dust rings around a burning sun. A giant green moon mountainous and glowing.
I didn't know many facts those days. I could not have told you how many days it takes for our Earth to move around the sun once. I had no notion the moon moved separately each moment. The stars' pictures were evident enough to me, though written in no book ever or since. And the telescope, it lay in pieces in a drawer, its red shell a warning sign to my novice youth. But my mind was ablaze with spinning planets, drifting dust comets and the peace and strength of the moon.
I don't know why exactly I have such a deep link of my father and sister moon, waxing away the shadows. It would be years after his death that I would fully embrace and understand the pull she has on my heart and the power she has on our Earth. I can't truthfully recall a time we looked at the moon together, through my two small pieces of glass, though I have memory flickers I dare say spring from my imagination. But when I see that moon, and when I think of that man, my heart swells and one particular heart string hums a melody of love.

My father died six years ago of viral meningitis, brain damage. Though he smoked his whole life, ate ramen noodles and drank rotations of Coffee and Mellow Yellow and broke a sweat only at the heat of his wild hot sauce, the great end did not take his lungs, liver, kidneys or heart. The great end took his brain. In two days his masterful machine slowly melted under the pressure and greed of the undead virus. Eyes open, calling calling, eyes weak, fighting fighting, eyes closed, forever.

In the pain and fear and numbfoundness that followed, my heart whispered to his, "I'll see you on the dark side of the moon."

We played the Pink Floyd album, Dark Side of the Moon at his wake in the funeral home. Breathe, Time, Great Gig in the Sky...Brain Damage, Eclipse. I read the album cover with silent understanding of what I may never really know. The beauty and sadness and ultimateness of the universe pulsing through the melody and lyrics like the gentle heart of the mother's womb.

A mysterious link connects my father and I and the moon. A link found as common as in the ocean shells and sunflower petals and moisure clouds and ladybug dots. A link that tells us, We are One. And like the moon, we will rise again.

The lunatic is on the grass
The lunatic is on the grass
Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs
Got to keep the loonies on the path
The lunatic is in the hall
The lunatics are in my hall
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more
And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room upon the hill
And if your head explodes with dark forbodings too
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon
The lunatic is in my head
The lunatic is in my head
You raise the blade, you make the change
You re-arrange me 'till I'm sane
You lock the door
And throw away the key
There's someone in my head but it's not me.
And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon

Helllooo Spring!

Today, Tuesday March 20, marks the beginning of our Earth's Spring or Vernal Equinox. But while the calendar's little 20 box may look to be the start of this season, it is really the rotation of our world and its slow progression around our sun that delivers us into this warming season of growth. This morning, the Sun perfectly aligned  along our Earth's Eastern point and will continue to glide along the eccliptic,  setting perfectly in our Western sky. This perfection happens but twice a year as our Earth wobbles on its axis, creating  the dual equinox event in Spring and Fall. (This wobble also accounts for the Sun's procession across the sky that completes its own rotation every 26,000 years.) For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, we have begun to once again point closer to the sun thus receiving more and more sunlight and therefore more warmth. In contrast, the Southern Hemisphere is now beginning to point away from the sun, creeping into colder and more dark days. But for two days of the year all Earthings will experience the same exact thing. A day and night of equal length. Everyone on Earth today will experience a 12 hour day and 12 hour night. If we did not wobble, that is if our poles aligned directly north and south, but spun directly up like a freshly released spinning top, we would have eternal equinox. If our poles aligned more like Uranus, running East and West, one half of the Earth would forever be bathed in sunlight while night forever held the other. Fortunately, for now, our poles are positioned in such a way to make Earth habitable to its beautifully diverse flora and fauna. And as we wobble closer to the sun and gain its warm glow, fresh life buds from the dark soil, springs up from the rocks and breaths life into the stiff winter air.
It is a time to rejoice in new life and embrace the fruits of the Earth. Early humans celebrated the arrival of spring with festivals of bounty and the intricate decoration of eggs, the symbol of life. We have similiar rituals of celebration today from Easter to Picnicing to Baseball Spring Training. The glory of the Christian Resurrection, the return of lush green grass and leaves, the smell of sweat and leather of the baseball field. It is a time of joy, a time of celebration, and a time of gratitude. Take time today to acknowledge the warmth of the sun, the fresh oxygen from budding plants and the wondrous movement of our little spaceship Earth.

Cassiopeia Reigns the Night

At midnight tonight I spotted the season's reigning royal hanging boldly in the sky. Made of five bright stars, her angles carve out a crown of heavenly proportions.

To Spot Her:
Face NE, 2oclock, look for the #3.
Once you see it, you can't unsee it.

Cassiopeia is a constellation named for the Greek Queen, mother of Andromeda and Wife of Cepheus. This family caused a lot of drama and were immortalized in star-form as befitting their celebrity.

Banished from Earth by the Olypmian Gods and hung upside down for her insolence, Cassiopeia still holds an elegant beauty. And, she lights the way for more amazing star finds. If the crown is a 3, there are two peaks. The 1st top peak points directly to the Andromeda Galaxy-M31-nesseled right at the heart of the princess constellation. This galaxy can be seen in very dark environments. It is the closest neighbor galaxy and it getting closer. Scientists estimate our Milky Way galaxy will collide with Andromeda in the next 2 billion years. With a telescope, you can easily find evidence of Andromeda's collision history. The wreckage-M32-fell into the orbital spin of the monster cluster. The sight is at once violent and peaceful.

The bottom, shorter peak of Cassiopeia's 3 opens like  > to reveal the King of the earthbound sky, Polaris. The North Star. Sitting spot on the magnetic north pole of our celestial sphere. For now, in our precious experience, this star is the ultimate GPS unit. But in 13,000 years, forget it. We will have spun off center of his position and approach the lyre and its Vega. Funny wonderful coincedence.

This is my favorite time of year for stargazing. There is something about this season that pulls at my heart strings just right. And its always amazing to share that moment with fellow dreamers, if only in silent oblivion.Thanks for reading, keep looking up!



**GoogleSky App is the coolest tool you will ever find for stargazing. A PC version is available. Astronomy Today is a great resource for celestial data and DomeoftheSky rocks for mythology.**

Prehistoric Planetarium of Lascaux

17,000 years ago our human ancestors gazed upon the same earthbound sky we now enjoy. Armed with growing brains and wild imagination, they created rich paintings upon cave walls. They depicted the most important events and spectacles of their age. Animals and rituals of the hunt, lush and beautiful vegetation, and of course the greatest wonder in nature: the human form. But among the images another sort are found --thousands of years later our contemporary eyes recognize this illustrations as common nightly visions. Sketched in brilliant pigments, these ancient murals detail the position of the stars. Vega, Denebe and Altair- the three stars of the summer triangle, take a prominent position in the cave art. Seven tiny dots form the Seven Sister of The Pleiades. Above a curve figure seems to represent the extrordinary sight of the Northern Crown. Were the caves a quiet refuge in which our early brothers educated their kind with maps and stories of wonder? It would appear so. Dr. Rappenglueck, a German scientist, tells BBC News Online, "It is a map of the prehistoric cosmos. It was their sky, full of animals and spirit guides."


From tiny paint dots on a cave wall, to elaborate digital machines capable of projecting thousands of tiny starlike lights on domed screen, man is obsessed with capturing the wonders of nature with tools of his hands. So the next time you are sitting in the quiet, cool refuge of your local planetarium, close your eyes and imagine sitting in the quiet, cool refuge of a natural cave, listening to your elders relay the wisdom and wonder unique to our human minds. Tat Tvam Asi. We are One.

Creating Constellations

There is no rule in astronomy that's says you can't create your own constellations. Perseus, Pegasus, Cassiopia, long dead heros of another time. The big dipper is cool, I totally spot my curry ladle twisting round in the north. But the little dipper? Forget it, even I have never seen it clearly. I love spotting Orion in his manly stance, but Sagitarius the archer only looks like a little teapot. No, I much rather enjoy connecting-the-stars in more familiar shapes like the VW beetle, lollipops, and the "mind blowing star made of stars."
With this personal affinity for creating constellations you can imagine my grotesque excitement when I stumbled upon this t-shirt. While I wanted it more than anything, it simply was not meant for me. Instead I gifted it to my best astrogeek friend Maxwell. (Though I did wear it to bed one night, shhh don't tell him.) Afterall, if there was ever a star gaze to find "pterodactyl with machine gun" it would be Death Bear.

Clear Sky Adventures

Each night, as our Earth spins away from the Sun, our sky dims to dark allowing the tiny vibrancy of our intersteller comrades to shine through to wide eyed eager eyes. Generation after generation we are sharing this earthbound sky, sharing stories and knowledge binds us as a human race. And yet, despite this nightly show, most people do not look up but with a passing glance of admiration. As an astronomy teacher I always embrace the chance to talk to friends and probe their knowledge of the extraterrestrial realm. From hunting out favorite constellations to locating the eclliptic or discovering satellites, my fellow humanoids generally love having a knowledgable pal handy.

Often times people are intimated by the great size and span of the space beyond. I've heard friends say, "I love space, but there is so much to know, I'll never know what Im looking at." Well fear no more fellow star gazers! For those living in the Tampa Bay area, a new astronomy master has entered the teaching arena. Clear Sky Adventures offers a wealth of learning programs and outtings. Equipped with the best telescope gadgetry on the market, their experienced Science Guides will work to squeeze the vastness of space into easily understandable lessons for ages 3-93. Friendly, passionate and skilled in star gazing navigation an evening with these astrogeeks will not disappoint!

For booking information and details check out their new site: http://www.clearskyadventures.com/
*Tell them I sent you over and you will receive the friendliest service ever! :D

Happy Star Gazing!