Transcript Dialing up the Stars

Dialing up the Stars
We are creatures of the day…The gifts of
night are less tangible. The night does not
come with fruits and flowers and bread and
meat; it comes with stars and stardust, with
mystery and nirvana.
John Burroughs
Have you ever wondered…
…why we sleep at night? Could it be that
we are uncomfortable with facing the
anguish of the uncertainty that night brings?
The haunting doubts that darkness stirs
awakened primeval tensions that were
inherited from some distance ancestor who
faced the blackness with the incessant
question, “Will I survive to bask again in
the warmth and light of the sun?”
Over time…
…some of us have made our peace with the
darkness that overwhelms the faint sentinels
set in the black velvet night cover. As Chet
Raymo observes, some of us are darkness
lovers.
“Who goes abroad at night?
The glowworm trailing phosphorescence. The
whippoorwill and the cuckoo, self-announcing.
The bullfrog and the cricket, contrapuntal, out of
tune. The hedgehog is abroad, with spikes tipped
with stars. The woodcock, in flirtatious circles.
The slug and the snail on threads of slime. And
astronomers. When the sun goes down
astronomers rise into their element like shades and
badgers.”
An astronomer is not a special kind of
human; every human is a special kind of
astronomer. Welcome to years of sleepless
nights . Enjoy the nightlife!
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To make the star dial
seem real be sure you
observe the features of
your own backyard
surroundings.
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Be sure of the
compass directions as
they relate to your
own horizon.
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Carefully examine the
night sky. Notice how
the dome of the sky is
centered on you.
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When we stand
beneath the great
dome of the sky, we
enjoy a panoramic
view from side to side
and up from the
ground to the top of
the sky, bounded only
by the range of our
vision.
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To see the sky behind
us in this panoramic
view and from top to
bottom requires that
we turn around and
face the opposite
direction.
It is a satisfying thought to be the
center of the universe.
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Enjoy it while you
can!!
BECAUSE……
CRASH!
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Now that the heavens
have been brought
down to earth, our use
of the model will
require that we make a
mental transition from
reality to the model we
will use.
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Remember the
“outside” view of the
outdoors does not
exist! No one has ever
reached the horizon to
view the total sky
from this vantage
point.
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There is no reality to
the horizon. No one
has ever held it in their
hand. It is a mental
construction we create
to make sense of our
experience.
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We are looking down
on our collapsed dome
with north rotated to
the top of our sky
chart.
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To use the star chart,
remember you can
only view the
panoramic half you
are facing.
This view is limited by
our ability to only look
up from the horizon to
the top of the sky, the
center of the star dial.
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You are facing east or
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you are facing north or
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you are facing west or
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you are facing south
Important!!
In this class overhead will mean the top of
the sky or the technical term, zenith.
 In everyday language overhead may be used
to describe the location of the ceiling above
the floor in your house.
 Overhead will now be used to describe a
specific point in the sky.
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As you encounter…
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…the dark night, randomly decorated with
its luminous sentinels from your backyard
outpost, remember that you, like those
humans that came this way before, carry
with you two very powerful tools. You bring
to your backyard a telescope, your eyes, and
a computer, your mind. Turn your
equipment, your head, on….look up!
Though my soul may be set in darkness, it
will rise in perfect light; I have loved the
stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.
Epitaph of Augustus Baldwin Longstreet
St Peter’s Cemetery
Oxford, Mississippi
Credits
Larry Mascotti – Intellectual design
 Bob Snyder – PowerPoint design and
graphics
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