January 2008 - Reflections for the New Year |
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Written by Ken From
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Friday, 28 December 2007 |
The beginning of a New Year offers an invitation to
reflect on simple but grand aspects of life that may be overlooked in
our daily routines. Gazing at the night sky with its variety of
stars, planets and the moon is a simple activity but in a few minutes
we make a profound connection with something majestic and beyond our
lives and world. Timothy Ferris comments, “The universe is
accessible to all, and can inform one’s existence with a sense of
beauty, reason and awe as enriching as anything to be found in music,
art, or poetry.” (Seeing in the Dark, p. xvi) A
person’s first view of Saturn often elicits
the initial response of an exuberant “WOW!” Spending more time
under the night sky allows one to build an appreciation for the
diversity, uniqueness and beauty of each component that makes up the
whole. Others have found the night sky to be a source of
healing and stability during difficult and unsettling times in life.
The order and grandeur of our starry canopy offers strength and
security to our broken world and broken lives. I have met cancer
survivors and those grieving significant loss looking at the stars and
finding strength and meaning for each day. Children seem to
have a natural connection to the cosmos that can either be nurtured or
lost. Others find a commonality with people of other religions and
races as we travel together on one planet in a vast and glorious
universe. Perhaps you will want to begin the New Year by spending
a few minutes or a few hours under a clear dark sky for reflection on
the wonder of life in the grandeur of all things.
On a moonless evening in January, you might scan the
night sky with the naked eye or binoculars to soak in an endless
variety of star patterns, star clusters and bright planets.
Mars begins January appearing as the brightest star of the evening
sky. Earth recently passed the red planet and will slowly
pull away from our close neighbour and catch up with it again in
2010. Because we continue to travel in the same direction, in
2008 Mars continues to dim and will hang around like a dinner guest not
knowing when it is time to go home. By the middle of January, Saturn
will be rising over the eastern horizon in the late
evening. If you wait until at least 11 PM you should be
able to see Saturn’s rings and its moon, Titan, with a modest
telescope.
With darkness extending late into the morning you
can catch three planets in the eastern sky before dawn in
January. Venus continues to blaze brightly in the southeast
while later in January it will be joined by Mercury and
Jupiter. We might think of Mercury as a shy star never
straying far from the sun. In the second and third week of
January you might catch Mercury in the morning sky as a fainter
star. Late in January, Jupiter emerges from behind the sun
and moves closer to Venus each morning. Watch late in
January for a close conjunction of Venus and Jupiter in the morning
sky. A breathtaking view of these two bright planets occurs
on the morning of February 1. Mark your calendar to rise
early that morning.
The most prominent constellation of January evenings
is Orion. Follow the three bright stars of Orion’s belt
downward to the bright star, Sirius. From northern latitudes,
Sirius mostly remains low in the sky where its bright light penetrates
extra blankets of air to reach our eyes. The air acts like
a prism to refract the bright starlight into many colours and causes
the star to twinkle more than most others. With
binoculars or a telescope you will see flashes of red, white and blue
from Sirius. Follow the three stars of Orion’s belt to the
upper right and you should find a bright red star, Taurus, and then the
Pleiades star cluster beyond Taurus. January evenings will find
the Pleiades high in the sky where you can find dozens of bright stars
in binoculars.
The beginning of a new year along with views the beautiful night sky offer a very “Happy New Year!”
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