See Saturn in the constellation Leo

Saturn in Leo in the Spring of 2008

It's once again that time of year when "the Lion is higher than Orion"!  After proclaiming the glory of God through the winter months, the awesome constellation Orion is once again sinking toward the sunset as the days of spring grow warmer and longer.  In this month, the constellation Leo is high in the evening sky after sunset. 

Unlike a lot of constellations, Leo actually looks like the object it is supposed to represent.  Its trapezoidal shape looks like a big cat in mid-jump, and a faint "sickle" of stars is reasonably recognizable as a head. 

In the current season, Leo is joined by the planet Saturn, which is the brighter "star" nearby the star Regulus in Leo.  If you've been observing Leo and Saturn throughout this winter, you have had an excellent opportunity to observe the "retrograde motion" of this planet. 

In the weeks before the Earth "passed" Saturn back in February, the Earth's motion has caused a change in the line of sight between Saturn and the more distant background stars, causing the ringed planet to appear to move backwards. 

Consequently, Saturn appears to be moving west and approaching Regulus.  Since Saturn's position on the night of the lunar eclipse in February, Saturn has moved quite a noticable distance to the west.  These two bodies will make their closest approach at its "station" on May 3, when Saturn will be only a couple Moon diameters away from Regulus.  After that time, Saturn will resume its regular eastward motion and will draw away from Regulus.      

The waxing gibbous Moon will pass near Regulus and Saturn on the evening of Tuesday, May 15, 2008.  Though this will be visible from North America, these bodies will appear very close to the Moon as seen from the meridians of Europe and Africa.  The meridian of Jerusalem will be especially favored for this conjunction, and the Moon will appear very close to Regulus.  Observers to the south in Madagascar will be able to see an occultation of Regulus by the Moon, in which the Moon will pass in front of this star, covering it from view for a time.  Wherever you are, this lunar conjunction should be a pretty sight for everyone in the world. 

Backyard Compass - Winter Solstice

Further to our previous Backyard Compass entries, we were blessed with some clear noon skies this week to create the last installment.  Here's a snap of my son Happy showing his shadow around noon near the Winter Solstice.  Note how long his shadow is, especially compared to the previous summer and autumn shots. 

Noon shadows around the shortest day of the year are nealy twice as long as the height of the persons or objects casting them.  This is because the Sun is very low in the noon sky at this time.

The pic was snapped on December 17, which is close enough to the actual solstice so that any difference would be very small.  Happy needed to stand in the Sun next to the actual standing stone, since the pine tree in our backyard covered the compass.  The standing stone and the "North" marker stone are indicated with red circles to make them more clear, since we had a big snow storm the day before.  (BTW, these shots were taken from our second storey bedroom window, overlooking our backyard in Cleveland, Ohio.) 

The seasonal changes in the shadows are among the many thing your homescholar can learn from Signs & Seasons, our Christian homeschool astronomy curriculum.

Backyard Compass - The Autumnal Equinox

Following our last Backyard Compass entry, here's a snap of my son Happy showing his shadow around noon on the Autumnal Equinox.  Note how much longer his shadow is, and also how different the noon sunlight looks when the Sun is at a slanting angle and not directly overhead.  LORD willing we'll have clear skies around the Winter Solstice so we can show how long the shadows are on that day.

These are all the sorts of things your homescholar can learn from Signs & Seasons, our Christian homeschool astronomy curriculum.   

Backyard Compass

In Signs & Seasons, our first field activity is to make a "backyard compass" that will help orient the observer to the compass points while making observations of the Sun, Moon, and stars.  Here's a pic of my 13yo son Happy standing in the backyard compass he and his younger brothers made.

The boys made it their little busy project, which is always a lot of fun for their Mom to watch.  They did a fine job.  The compass is slightly off from true north and south, but it does the trick.  We had a hard time finding enough round paver stones so we used bricks for the intercardinal points, NE, NW, SE and SW. 

Note that Happy's shadow is very short.  This shot was taken on about June 17, very close to the summer solstice.  If we come back on the equinox, his shadow will be about his height, and on the winter solstice his shadow will be twice as long as that. 

Also note that his shadow is slightly pointed to the west.  This tells you that it's not quite "High Noon," which occurs at about 1:30PM in our longitude during daylight savings.

Let us know how it goes if your kids make a backyard compass.  Send us a pic and we'll post it. 

Signs & Seasons Animation

Check out the animated book preview for Signs & Seasons, our new astronomy curriculum. 

For more information and to order online, please visit our Signs & Seasons page at the Classical Astronomy website.