A Humid Place on the Moon

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This entry is part 22 of 23 in the series Lunarcy

The monster crater here is Gassendi (114km diameter), a landmark for this colongitude on the north shore of Mare Humorum, the “Sea of Moisture”. Gassendi was flooded during the same even that created the mare so we only see the tops of what once were magnificent central peaks. The faulted floor is always a enjoyable but I particularly like the detail in the walls of the crater as they catch these early rays of the rising sun. Note the two notches in Gassendi’s wall at about the 11 o’clock position. On LROC Quick Map they appear to be to impacts through the mountains giving the appearance at this lighting of being parallel rimae. The nice central peaks and rimae on the floor are provide a rich field for examination. There are 3 main rimae that diverge from a point to the east of the central peaks. Between two of them is a small crater, Gassendi N (3km). The rima on … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – May 5, 2020

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This entry is part 145 of 148 in the series In the Sky This Week

Libraries across the U.S. are looking for online presentations by NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassadors and NASA Night Sky Network members; my wife is having me give my presentation about the Sun (and possibly a tour of the solar system using SpaceEngine) to her science classes using Google Hangouts Meet. If you are an astronomy presenter and you have the equipment to present remotely, you may want to contact libraries and schools in your area to see if they would like you to do an online presentation. Mars continues to pull away from Saturn and Jupiter in the southeastern predawn sky; the Moon joins the early morning planets at the beginning of next week. Venus appears a bit lower each evening at dusk in the western sky. Early next week, comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) will be in the same general region of the sky as Venus, however it will probably not be as spectacular as the depiction in the image below. … Continue reading →

Sabbatical Journal Six: Stewardship or Survival – What Covid-19 Has Taught Me About Care For Creation.

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Some of you may have wondered why I haven’t written on the topic of care for creation for some time. The decision was intentional, not because I have lost interest in the topic or have had a change of heart. Rather, I’ve been taking a step back from the topic to see how I could approach it anew. I know people appreciate my pieces on the subject of care for creation, but I could also tell they weren’t gaining much traction in terms of a real change of heart. Something happened, however, that has rekindled the flame. Last week, I was watching the evening news from a national outlet that will remain nameless. After an update on infection numbers and death, the show host said, “Coming up after the break, will Covid-19 be the new tactic for the radical, environmental left?” I was stunned at the mere insinuation that people who care about creation might be somehow rejoicing that we … Continue reading →

Specola Guestbook: August 31, 1913 – Edward Pickering

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This entry is part 40 of 43 in the series Specola Guestbook

Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory.  A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints. Today’s guestbook entry is from August 31, 1913, when Edward Pickering made a visit. Next to his name, Edward Charles Pickering FMRS HFRSE (1846-1919) wrote “Director of Harvard College Observatory, Cambridge Mass, USA.” He was director of the Harvard College Observatory from 1877 until 1919. Pickering made significant advances in stellar spectroscopy. Building on early work by Fr. Angelo Secchi, he and his team of astronomers and computers (including Annie Jump Cannon) developed the Harvard Stellar Classification scheme that is still widely used today. (This is the “O.B.A.F.G.K.M.” sequence that you may have had to memorize if you ever took an introductory astronomy course.) The team produced the Henry Draper Catalog, a stellar catalog with spectroscopic classifications for more than 200,000 stars. Pickering also discovered the first … Continue reading →

Cutting Up: Math through Eyes of a Mathematician

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Over time I have had the pleasure of introducing to readers of Sacred Space Astronomy guest bloggers who are scientists, bishops, and worship directors.  Now I am pleased to introduce a mathematician.  Jeffrey Diller is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Notre Dame (currently on leave, having finished up a term as chairperson of the Department of Mathematics there).  He studies dynamical systems that arise in a complex analysis context.  He also teaches: he was awarded the Fr. James L. Schilts, C.S.C./Doris and Eugene Leonard Teaching Award at Notre Dame in 2012, the Joyce/Kaneb Award for Undergraduate Teaching in 2015, 2008, and 2003.  Since I have been running a series of posts on the topic of mathematics, I wanted a mathematician to give a mathematician’ s perspective on what is great, and what is appealing, about mathematics.  Jeff tells me that he became interested in the topic of this post in part out of his recent experience as coordinator … Continue reading →

Go Observe Comets

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I really love drawing comets, it is sometimes challenging to find them but always a thrill when you do. So, in essence, I occasionally spend time trying to find chunks of ice, dust and gas travelling through space. Some might consider that a bit mad, however, it can be very satisfying. Back in October 2007, I started to observe Comet C17 P/ Holmes. My drawings of that comet go from when it was a very small dot until it became the largest object in the solar system. Here is a previous article about that comet. It is the changes these objects go through that really absorbs my interest. Their shape changes as they outgas, develop tails or their comas become thin enough to allow stars behind them to shine through. Enjoyment also comes from following their journeys across the night sky. Sometimes another object in the viewing vicinity becomes a target for sketching. Like a beautiful overlooked jewel. Recently three … Continue reading →

The “X”

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This entry is part 21 of 23 in the series Lunarcy

Our best observing weather in southern AZ is when the days are hot, the evenings warm and still. The colongitude was just right so this was a good night to get a look at the famous “X” on the moon. Can you see it on the terminator? It only lasts for and hour or so. Here’s how you get there. The area below center of this image is dominated by the two circular pools of darkness that are Aliacensis (82km diameter), lower, and Werner (71km) above. A line between the centers of these two craters lead to the “X” formed by the walls of Blanchinus, La Caille, Purbach and several smaller features. Above Aliacensis and Werner is a nice flat floored crater, Apianus (65km) and further above that is a smaller crater Playfair (49km). Near the top of the image is a pair of craters Azophi (49km) and above it is the irregular Abenezra (43km) with Geber (46km) partially cut … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – April 30, 2020

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This entry is part 144 of 148 in the series In the Sky This Week

I’ve been having a pretty rough time since the recent loss of my brother – thank you for the kind thoughts. I’ve been an avid computer gamer ever since the first computer games existed; I’ve recently started playing No Man’s Sky, a futuristic space exploration and survival game with more worlds than I could explore in my lifetime – it’s providing the distraction my mind needs right now. The conjunction of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn continues in the southeastern predawn sky – Mars has pulled far away from Saturn and Jupiter. Venus appears in the western sky at dusk accompanied by Betelgeuse and Capella. The Moon appears between the stars Regulus and Pollux high in the southwestern sky after sunset on April 30th, and very near the star Regulus on May 1st. The Moon is a waxing crescent, visible toward the southwest in early evening. The first quarter Moon occurs on May 1st, it will be visible high in the … Continue reading →

ⓜ Other Worlds, Other Civilizations?

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This entry is part 5 of 21 in the series And Then I Wrote

And then I wrote… Finishing up my string of articles for the International Year of Astronomy, this paper was one that I never got to give. I was supposed to fly from London to Italy for a conference on the celebration of Galileo’s telescope, to be held in his old home town of Padua, but the day my flight was scheduled to leave Gatwick the airport was shut down due to snow! The amount of snow would have been nothing in Chicago, but for London it constituted a major blizzard… It was finally published in the proceedings conference proceedings, Galileo’s Medicean Moons: their impact on 400 years of discovery As so many of the presentations at this conference have confirmed, Galileo’s discoveries with the telescope, epitomized by his discovery of satellites orbiting Jupiter, revolutionized astronomy. They also revolutionized our view of the universe, what has been come to be called our scientific “cosmology.” And in the process, they gave a new … Continue reading →

Sabbatical Journal Five: When Covid-19 Colors Everything… Even When I Write About International Dark Sky Week

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It is very difficult to divorce my sabbatical experience from the looming cloud of Covid-19. Perhaps it has to do with how I’m wired when prepping homilies – If your people are thinking about it, preach about it. Perhaps its the psychological byproduct of trying to understand life in light of a national pandemic. Nevertheless, I have thought of about fifty reflections to offer you today, but none of them have made it from mind to megapixel save this one. Why, may you ask? Its hard to explain, but most of the reflections I thought of felt aloof and divorced from the reality we’re dealing with as a global community, In light of this inner conflict, there is a growing intuition to repress the more idealistic part of who I am, feeling a need to give primary attention to our global pandemic. For example, if all were normal, I would write to you about International Dark Sky Week, the importance … Continue reading →

Religious Scientists | Fr. Athanasius Kircher S.J. (1602-1680): Jesuit Polymath

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This entry is part 15 of 15 in the series Religious Scientists of the Catholic Church

Athanasius Kircher lived at a time when a wealth of information was coming to Rome from the missions — many of them Jesuit-run — around the world.  Missionaries were documenting new plants, animals, cultures, and natural phenomena.  Stationed in Rome himself, Kircher collected these reports and artifacts from abroad and corresponded with scientists and academics throughout Europe.  His writings — more than 40 texts — compile, report, and expand upon many different fields from linguistics to Egyptology to paleontology to magnetism and more.  Living at the end of the age of Renaissance polymaths, he has been called “the last man who knew everything.” His scientific contributions were largely hit-or-miss, many of them having been corrected or negated by later findings.  Often, historians have emphasized these failures to paint a picture him as anything from a well-meaning but failed scientist to an outright charlatan.  This bias, however, fails to recognize the value of his overall body of work.  More recently, some … Continue reading →

So… Something Blew Up Over Me This Morning: A Brief Story Of An Asteroid Observation…. Kinda’

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If you live in the Tucson area, did you notice something odd in the sky about 4:00am? This morning, as prep for my forthcoming post on International Dark Sky Week, I was walking the grounds of the Redemptorist Renewal Center, capturing Milky Way images. In fact, I’ve been doing photography every morning for two reasons. One, its getting hot for my Wisconsin blood and doing my daily walks before sunrise is more comfortable. Two, the skies have been absolutely gorgeous this week! The image above is the Milky Way over the outdoor Chapel at the Redemptorist Renewal Center. This Chapel has a special place in my heart. It is here that I celebrated the closing Mass for the Faith and Astronomy Workshop. It is a place that is peaceful and prayerful, but also a place that has become a deep part of my spiritual journey. This morning, I was back at the chapel playing with my fisheye lens. I wanted … Continue reading →