Nan at Night by Nancy Hoyt
-Thursday the 14th: In mid-evening look high in the southeastern sky for Orion, the hunter. Orion’s infamous belt, a line-up of three stars, is the center of the constellation. His belt points down toward Sirius, the Dog Star, the brightest star in our night sky.
-Friday the 15th: New Moon today creating inky black skies for excellent stargazing. It is lost from view as it passes between Earth and the sun. Look for its return as a thin crescent in the western sky around sunset as early as tomorrow evening.
-Saturday the 16th: Draco the dragon, circling around the pole star, Polaris, has been seen as a dragon for centuries. The constellation is so large, that if its stars were placed in a line they would reach from horizon to horizon.
Sunday the 17th: Brilliant Jupiter hovers to the upper left of the moon at nightfall. Take out a telescope and look for the four Galilean Moons; Europa, Ganymede, Calisto and Io.
-Monday the 18th: Jupiter is still hanging around the moon this evening. Look for it below the moon tonight. It is brighter than any of the true stars in the night sky so it should be hard to miss.
-Tuesday the 19th: Aries the ram is high in the sky at nightfall. One of its most important stars is too faint to see without a telescope. Yet, half a century ago, it helped scientists discover that most of the chemical elements are forged in the heart of stars.
-Wednesday the 20th: A faithful dog leaps across the southern sky on winter nights, Canis Major, the big dog. You can’t miss Sirius, the brilliant alpha star in this constellation rising in the southeast around 9 p.m. tonight.
Four hundred years ago in January of 1610, Galileo Galilei discovered the four largest moons of Jupiter, now referred to as the Galilean Moons. He named them for his patrons, the Medici family. Although, sometime later, they were formally named after denizens from Greek mythology: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Calisto. Galileo’s discovery proved that astronomical bodies could orbit something other than Earth, which supported the Copernican idea that Earth is not the center of the universe. He also discovered that heavenly bodies were not perfect orbs without blemish, as believed at that time, but other worlds with mountains and crevasses not unlike our own here on Earth. These pronouncements led him to suffer serious consequences involving the Catholic Church and the threat of the Inquisition. Sadly, he spent his latter years in silence, fearing for his life. His discoveries and forward thinking have earned him a place of honor, bordering on reverence, in the field of astronomy.
