for September 2016
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| Harvest moon over L.A.(Los Angeles) |
That big harvest moon is talking to us. The evenings are lengthening and the stars are taking more curtain calls. No, I don’t mean all the movie folks at the Toronto Film Festival. (Although it would have been fun to be interstellar in the Big Smoke for a few days.)
Being star struck is
something all of us experience at one time or other. While some people seek the
stage their whole life, others are just fine being the audience. Actors, hockey
greats, Olympic athletes and rock stars are undeniable, magnetic aspects of our
universe.
The other evening I had
the opportunity to cheer on some night-time entertainment. The almost full
harvest moon was a bright white disc in the east, sliding up the sky as day
light waned in the west. Our brightest star had slipped away to the other side
of the world so the moon was left to juggle reflected sunlight. Towering pine
trees stood as sentinel silhouettes, white quartz pebbles became ground stars
and Lake Superior hid under its mysterious shiny blue/black self.
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| Crescent moon over L.S. (Lake Superior) |
This night nature is a
powerful force. From the ancient star gazing Phoenicians to modern telescope
laden observatories, we always have wondered about and wandered with star
directives. The desire to look up and beyond will never go away. The Algoma
Astronomers know this and that’s why they highlight Lake Superior Park as a
go-to destination. Jeff Deans, a very active organizer in the group, visited
the park on Labour Day weekend and along with about 140 people saw the Saturn
Ring Nebula as well as the Globular Star Cluster in Hercules. Whew! Just those
adventurous names alone make one want to peer through the lens.
Deans is working on
making that a possibility. He is hoping that by next year Ontario Parks will
designate Lake Superior Park as a dark sky preserve. Deans is very passionate
about astronomy; a passion he learned from his father, who also loved sky
watching. Dean’s father was considering making a telescope purchase,
but he died from a brain tumour before he got the chance. So, about nine years ago,
Deans invested a substantial sum- $4000- on a telescope. In an email he said that
it was kind of a whim, but then added, “My thought was I don't know how much
time I have, so it’s now or never”.
Terrence Dickenson
knows that too. His column in this month’s Sky News magazine sure convinced me
of the importance of preserving dark skies. Dickenson posted a Google
Earth/Fabio Falchi et al map of North America Light Pollution. Wholly Lights
Batman! You better stick to your cave. Flood lights fill at least half the
continent. The Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and both U. S. coastlines are
under the glow.
Dickenson also mentions
Helen Sawyer Hogg (1905-1993). I Googled her name and discovered that she was
an astronomer who pioneered research into globular clusters and variable stars.
Hogg embraced the stars so much that she became one herself. A leading
authority in astronomy, she published over 200 papers and wrote a weekly column
in the Toronto Star for 30 years. She supported women to pursue science and helped
make astronomy popular. Her book “The Stars Belong to Everyone” was a hit.
As I continued on this
investigative trek, another chance encounter offered insight. Sasha, a young
high school student came with his dad for a visit. Sasha, who has spent considerable
time hiking and camping, was wearing a blue T-shirt with a logo from the Wolf
Ridge Environmental Centre in Finland, Minnesota. On the back of the shirt was
a starry scene along with a quote from Francis Clark, a famous innovative music
teacher. She said,
“There wouldn’t be a
sky full of stars if we were all meant to wish on the same one.”
No wonder Wolf Ridge
chose her words. The Centre follows the philosophy of Richard Louv, the author
who, in 2005, wrote “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature -
Deficit Disorder. Louv believes that passion is what ultimately motivates
change. He says that passion is lifted from the earth itself by “the muddy
hands of the young; it travels along grass – stained sleeves to the heart.” But,
as Deans has learned, passion doesn’t stop there. It moves from the heart to
the stars.
The Canadian Oxford
Dictionary defines a star as “a body so far removed from the earth it appears
motionless.” But, we know about those deceptive appearances. We’ve always known
that the stars move. As ancients, we sat up all night and watched them slide
across the sky as the cosmos led us to exotic and familiar places. Today’s
observers have a much easier way to check out the movement of the solar system.
Folks can put their cell phones on time lapse and catch star spin.
No matter how or where
we do it, seeing the night skies will always be vital to our well being. Star
worlds are the delicate threads that bind us together. We might try and exist
as a “Globular Star Cluster in Hercules” but one thoughtful stare into space
lets you know that those billions of lights are all equal, all waiting for a
wish. So let’s hope for some clear, star-filled fall nights. Then we’ll have a
better chance to hear what the universe has to say.
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| Ethel |