Welcome to another school year!
Today we begin a full, free, free-wheeling, fun (hopefully) on-line astronomy course. During the next year -which, if experience is any guide, will fly by at hyperluminal velocities- we’ll cover all the basic astronomical topics: from the imgainary sky constructs to the very birth of the Universe itself. A rather grand ambition for a single year, of course.
The Wandering Astronomer will still post other astronomical articles as well. However, the focus will be this course. The classes will generally be brief because we know that learning astronomy is like drinking from a water cannon: an immense amount of information assailing you like a maelstrom. We will impart this information to you more gently.
Also, please send any questions or concerns you have. We will truly try to answer them in a timely fashion.
PREFACE: The Absurd Act of Astronomy
Or, unnecessary introduction by a blowhard who likes the sound of his own voice
Does the photo seem out of place? Perhaps you were expecting tree tops silhouetted against a rising moon or a resplendent, vibrantly colored nebula or even the arc of Saturn’s rings. A photo of a gorgeous tropical beach taken in the time prior to obligatory social distancing seems incongruous. How could such a scene be related to astronomy, the darkest of all sciences? Well, examine the image closely. What do you observe? Yes, precisely. You see humans scattered along the beach luxuriating in the onslaughts of Sun fire, and congregating along the edge of globe-wide water body from which our long-dead forbearers emerged hundreds of millions of years ago. Whether crouching in the shade of palm fronds or riding the ceaseless waves, humans abound in all directions. Contained within each one of those specimens one could find the most magnificent object in the known Universe: the human brain.
We won’t bother attempting to describe the brain as its powers transcend even its own fathoming. From the regulation of eye blinks to the development of the profoundest philosophy, the human brain is a self-contained Universe of seemingly unlimited potential. (That most of us are burdened by the self-defeating notion of an inferior brain is an atrocious consequence of social conditioning.) It is also within the human brain that one would encounter astronomy. You’ll find no astronomy in the Sun’s core, a lunar mountain or within any globular cluster congregating around the galactic halo. Astronomy is an all too human endeavor. It is your endeavor.
We won’t insult you by instructing you on why you want to learn astronomy. We can never know and besides it is none of our concern. Studying the cosmos could just as easily resonate with that part of your supernatural mind that yearns to scrutinize ancient manuscripts as it could appeal to that part of you that wants to embark on a mad pursuit of malicious white whales. Yes, both notions are likely embedded in there somewhere. Like an intricately designed series of catacombs, your brain has room for everything. It is as capable of deep contemplation as it is inclined toward absurd activities.
Astronomy is absurd. It is the ascent of the mind toward unattainable summits far beyond its range of influence. The infiltration of impertinent mortals into a rarefied realm they strove in vain to comprehend. The old Uranographers acknowledged the loftiness of these Olympian heights by including cherubs and other mythological entities onto their maps and diagrams.
To engage in astronomy was to find oneself in the immutable play fields of ageless immortals. The messy terrestrial beings clumsily crashing about the pristine celestial spheres and pressing muddy footprints onto the crystalline membranes. It was a place we humans didn’t belong.
Humans ventured there, anyway, and in so doing discovered a Universe so vast in proportion and so varied in its constructs that our imaginations are staggered. Through the depthless darkness astronomers uncovered a cosmos populated by more than 400 billion galaxies spread over a rapidly expanding volume. Each second this cosmos spawns 4,800 stars and likely an equal number of planets. Planets revolving around stars and those cast adrift in interstellar and intergalactic space. Add to that ultra-energetic stellar nurseries such as that in the Orion Nebula and the dissipating remains of exploded stars such as the Crab Nebula in Taurus. What exists in this nearly 13.8 billion year old cosmos is even more variegated than what one will find on this four billion year old planet.
Over the next year we will explore as much of this cosmos as we possibly can. We’ll find much to engage us: from the moon phases to the complex planetary motions to the formation of galaxies. Along the way we’ll discover that the celestial realm and terrestrial world are inextricably linked, for the former gave rise to the latter and, of course, to us, as well.
Fortunately, the celestial cherubs will permit us unfettered access to these remote reaches. After all, like astronomy, the cherubs are, themselves, only human.
This week’s schedule
Tuesday, September 3, 2024:
(We’re sending two classes today because of Labour Day yesterday)
Class # 2: A Slice of Sky for Walt Whitman
How learned astronomers outraged nature by carving up a beautiful sky. [Topics: Celestial Spheres and associated constructs.]
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
Class # 3: Gliding Along the Zodiac
How we’re going to make the learned astronomers weep by using the term “Zodiac,” and why the ZODIAC is so immensely important to those who want to track celestial motions. [Topics: the thirteen constellations of the zodiac and their association with lunar and solar motions.]
Thursday, September 5, 2024
Class # 4: A Falling and Phasing Moon
Lunar myths, misconceptions and facts that will keep you up at night. [Topics: Well, the moon, actually, and its associated phases and motions.]
Friday, September 6, 2024
Class # 5: Quiz 1 A review quiz about the first week’s topics. The sort of quiz we all wanted in school. Plenty of notice and no grading.
Today’s Quote:
“You’re alive. You want to be more alive.”
-G.B. Shaw
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