Reconnect with Antiquity Amid the Starry Sky  

“The sad and solemn night

Hath yet her multitude of cheerful fires;

The glorious host of light

Walk the dark hemisphere till she retires;

All through her silent watches, gliding slow,

Her constellations come,

and climb the heavens, and go.” 

                       William Cullen Bryant circa 1860                                                                                                                                                                             

       A moonless week like this one is what turns people on to amateur astronomy by appealing to the genetic, celestial DNA that seems to flow through mankind.

       And if you go out and recognize the mighty Orion the Hunter taking command of the night, you are well on the way to being an amateur astronomer.

       To gaze upon the stars, the Moon and planets is to make a connection with every human being who has looked up at the dazzling night sky and wondered.

       That’s because when it comes to the pattern of stars tossed the sky, no one owns the original.  These are the same stars of Orion—or Taurus or Gemini—that all people who’ve walked the Earth have laid their eyes upon.

Ancient Zodiac Mosaic

       It’s exciting for me to think about not just great astronomers like Galileo and Copernicus looking at these same stars. But people like the Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Jesus and the Egyptian builders of the pyramids, all saw the same stars I do tonight.

       There are 6,000 or so stars seen with the naked eye from both hemispheres of Earth, and their positions have changed very little during the 10,000 years of civilized man.

       To the stargazers over the centuries, these patterns of stars have become friendly acquaintances whose positions give us a sense of time and familiarity with the seasons.

       Monuments like Stonehenge were built to the rhythm of the stellar seasons, while civilizations worshiped the sighting of certain stars which seemed to trigger the time to plant or harvest.  And then there are the mystical events that often terrorized ancient people when the Sun disappeared behind the Moon, and the Moon disappears in the Earth’s shadow—the total solar and lunar eclipses.

       Even though each star in the night is moving through the Universe at speeds around 30,000 mph, the distance between the stars is so vast that it takes millions of years to see any change in the familiar constellations.   

       So, nothing seen tonight in 2014 is any different than what Moses of The Bible saw thousands of years ago. Confucius was inspired by the same stars that the writers of the Psalms when they so beautifully penned the praises to the Creator.

       “The heavens declare the Glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork.”  Psalm 19:1

Photo by MarQ

       After years of watching the parade of constellations rise and set, a history of people, places and things become engrained in the subconscious of the avid stargazer. And it is those memories, like seeing distant relatives, which draws me to the stars, no matter what time of year.

       But Winter is always special, as the brightest stars and boldest constellation patterns are on display.  Many of the brightest stars of the night have distinctly Arabic names, kept by the star-mappers over antiquity.

       Orion’s shoulders are Betelgeuse and Bellatrix; his knees are Rigel and Saiph. The three stars of the distinctly angled belt of the giant hunter are, from left to right, Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka.

The name of each bright star adds to the personality of the night sky. Let your imagination run wild as you realize each star is like a human—a specific size and temperament—each star with its own alien planets and their moons, as well as possible comets, asteroids and other objects yet unknown.

These are also the winter nights to behold the brightest star of all, Sirius, well below Orion and also called the “Dog Star” in the Big Dog, Canis Major. And way above it is Procyon, in the Little Dog, Canis Minor. 

       Above Orion is the “V”-shaped stars making the horns of Taurus the Bull, one of the oldest recognized star patterns going back to forgotten civilizations.  The animal’s eye is reddish Aldebaran, “The Follower.” Just what this star is following is in the Bull’s shoulder, the cluster of Seven Sisters, or The Pleiades, a source of celestial folklore from the Chinese to the Native North Americans. Another fainter star cluster, The Hyades is at the point of the “V,” and they are the half-sisters of The Pleiades in mythology.

       A purely Roman constellation is above Orion and another ancient one.  Founding brothers of Rome, mythical Castor and Pollux head the side by side string of stars making up Gemini the Twins. 

       A Greek man with a strange name of Auriga is the inventor of the chariot.  And he is immortalized by a lopsided wheel shape group of stars. Auriga’s brightest star, Capella, is a yellow one.

       Different cultures in different eras of mankind have arranged the stars and given them names in their native tongues. Whole cultures have put the stars into patterns that immortalize their gods and heroes.  Today, the names of 88 constellations are universally agreed upon, as are the stars names on the modern celestial charts.

       The patterns of the constellations look the way they are only from our perspective in the Solar System. 

       From any planet or object orbiting our Sun, the constellations look the same.  But if we rocketed to the nearest stars, that would change the perspective and alter the familiar dot-to-dot patterns. 

       Connecting those points of light into arbitrary formations have merely served as landmarks to navigate the celestial realm as seen from Earth. Some stars are near, some are far, but seen side-by-side they make up patterns that are given borders by their specific sky coordinates.  

Photo by MarQ

       Modern light pollution has robbed the night of its faintest stars once seen by the naked eye. Few of us can see the Milky Way from our own suburban backyards.  And the number of stars realistically seen from an average neighborhood is maybe half of what it was just 50 years ago.

       When someone gets in the country or mountains on a dark, moonless night and takes the time to look up, their dark adapted eyes can leave them breathless with the splendor of the night.

       The many multitudes of stars that can be seen from a dark observing sight gives the 21^st Century stargazer a hint at what could be seen in the night sky just 200 years ago when there was no electricity.  For thousands of years, the skies were so dark for civilized cultures to ponder.  Modern man can hardly imagine the impact.  The false science of astrology is one lasting influence. 

       Again, unlike the Mona Lisa painting in the Louvre, or the statute of the Pieta at the Vatican, no one owns the original when it comes to the night vault of stars overhead.

       They are there for the asking, ready for you to examine, marvel at or mediate upon. 

       Looking up, like every person who has walked the Earth, gives you some cosmic connection to be enjoyed and cherished.

       And this moonless Winter week is a terrific time to make that connection…something I’ll be enjoying, and hope you will, too.  

      

      

       Martians Messin’ With NASA Rover? 

              A true Martian “now you don’t see it, and now you do” bit of mystery is fueling the alien conspiracy experts demanding an answer to who left a jelly doughnut right in front of Mars rover Opportunity.

       Even Star Trek renowned actor William Shatner has publically asked NASA what’s up with the mystery rock on Mars. Shatner poised the question via Twitter during a NASA press conference on Opportunity’s latest discovery.

       “Have you ruled out Martian rock throwers?” tweeted Shatner, whose role as Capt. Kirk on the Starship Enterprise is one of Hollywood’s iconic characters.  

       To get you up to speed, while perched in its stationary winter position, Opportunity photographed the rocks near it one day, and 12 days later on Jan. 8 a mystery rock appeared.  The white rock has a red center, and is about the size and shape of a jelly doughnut. The information has made its rounds in the UFO circles, fueling the Internet with all kinds of speculation.

       Mars Rover lead scientist Steve Squyres said the object, called “Pinnacle Rock,” is just that, a stony rock—but unlike any seen before. The space scientist thinks the rock is flipped over, exposing an underside that might not have seen sunlight for millions of years. Squyres answered actor Shatner’s tweet by saying he’d look out for any Martians. 

       Conspiracy writer Rhawn Joseph, has filed a suit against NASA for withholding information about the obviously alien object. The advocate of extraterrestrial life says the Martian rock is a living thing that is growing, like a fungus. In papers filed in a Florida court, Joseph calls for NASA to thoroughly examine the object.  This is exactly what they are doing. 

What is it?

       Keep in mind, this new, “now you see it, yesterday you didn’t” Martian rock is in front of Opportunity, an old rover.  The new rover, Curiosity, is on the other side of Mars in an ancient stream bed at the base of a mountain.

The facts so far and NASA’s best hunch as to what’s happen:

       Analysis with Opportunity’s arm of scientific instruments shows the rock to be nothing like any rocks sampled before. And it literally appeared out of nowhere.  Analysis has shown the rock contains twice the amount of magnesium than any other on Mars. It also has sulfur and manganese—all components of volcanic activity like occurred on Mars two billion years ago.

       Hunches where the Martian “jelly doughnut” came from are:

       -- One of the many frequent dust devils in this part of Mars deposited it Wizard of Oz style.  These tiny twisters have cleaned off the solar panels of Opportunity many times, allowing the batteries to recharge.

       -- The stone is debris from a nearby meteor impact that happened between Opportunity’s Martian days 3,528 and 3,540;

-- The rock was kicked out of one of six wheels of the golf cart-sized Opportunity.  Maybe it’s been stuck awhile during the amazing rover’s 25-mile, 10 year trek across a once wet lake;

-- Aliens left it as a subtle message to mess with us humans on Earth. Don’t laugh. There are extraterrestrial investigators that are dead serious about this. .

This isn’t one of those trick-of-the-light mirages that perpetuated the phony “Face on Mars” hysteria of the 1980s.  That famous image by the 1976 Viking 1 orbiter has been photographed dozens of times by the sophisticated orbiters of the 21^st Century and revealed to be nothing more than an interesting rocky plateau.

"Face on Mars" plateau various lighting  NASA photo

As for what this Martian mystery rock will turn out to be, the verdict is still out. And Steve Squires and his team of Mars experts at Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California are on top of it, in full view of the media and social network. Thus the Jan. 23^rd press conference on Facebook and Twitter.  What was a promised 3-month job for Opportunity’s guaranteed life expectancy has turned into a decade of incredible information gathering.

Opportunity has not moved in six weeks as it waits for the Martian Summer Solstice this week on Feb. 15 and warmer weather to recharge its batteries for power to the wheels.  It is at the rim of a large crater named Endeavour.

Opportunity and its shadow

Mars has become a familiar home to a core group of less than 50 planetary scientists around the world.  They’ll figure it out…but it probably won’t satisfy those alien advocates.  Look for more news at your local grocery store rack of National Enquirer and Globe. 

Apollo 14 Moon Landing Redeemed NASA

 

Apollo 14 moonship Antares February 5, 1972

       The Moon’s crescent to full phase appearance in the evening skies for a couple weeks each month should always serve as a reminder of how far mankind has traveled. 

As your footprints are set firmly in your backyard looking at the dark-splotched globe, there are twelve sets of human footprints that have kicked up moon dust in six places on our celestial neighbor 240,000 miles away.

I never miss an opportunity to remind people that 24 humans made the quarter-million mile journey to the Moon and back. And this is the week of NASA’s triumphant Apollo 14 mission that landed Feb. 5, 1971 almost in the center of the alien world we see in the sky.

       Redeeming the near fatal failure of Apollo 13 in April 1970, the mission of Apollo 14 less than a year later showed the technological prowess of America to solve a problem in front of the eyes of the world.

Stu Roosa, Alan Shepard and Ed Mitchel
Apollo 14 Moon voyagers

       The back-story of the Apollo 14 is an interesting one involving the first American in space, Alan Shepard, and his famous golf shot on the Moon. Then, there are the telepathic experiments, unbeknownst to NASA, by the sixth man on the Moon, Edgar Mitchell, and the red-headed forest ranger Stu Roosa, who seeded the world with “moon trees.”

       Shepard was an American hero who on May 5, 1961 took a 15 minute, suborbital trip to the edge of outer space, rocketing off Cape Canaveral inside Mercury spaceship called “Freedom 7” and landing near Bermuda.  While training for a Gemini mission, he was diagnosed with an inner ear disorder called Meniere’s Syndrome that affected his walking balance.  Shepard was given a desk job, sharing rein over the astronaut corps with Deke Slayton, another Mercury astronaut grounded because of heart arrhythmia. Together, they chose the crews for Gemini and Apollo. 

Shepard in 1961 Mercury spacesuit

In 1968, Shepard had ear surgery to fix his problem and was cleared for flight.  He put himself on the Apollo 13 flight crew, but later moved to Apollo 14 for more training as NASA’s oldest astronaut at age 47 when his Saturn V rocket roared off launch pad 34-B.  Shepard died in 1998 from leukemia.

The third member of the crew, Stu Roosa, orbited the Moon in the Command Module called Kitty Hawk for two days. He would have commanded and walked on the Moon with Apollo 18 had the mission not been cancelled.

Roosa was a former smoke jumper, and was coaxed by the Forest Service to take 500 seeds of trees with him to lunar orbit.  The seeds were germinated and grown by the Forest Service and disseminated throughout America.  The “Moon Trees” include included Sycamore, Sweet gum, Redwood, Douglas Fir and Loblolly Pine (one of which is alive and well on the Knoxville campus of the University of Tennessee).   Roosa died in 1994 of pancreatitis.

       The destination for the third landing was the original target for Apollo 13, with a little rougher terrain than the flat land of Apollo 11 and 12.  Called Fra Mauro, the hilly moonscape is near the middle of the Moon.  Fresh debris tossed out of 1,000-foot wide Cone Crater millions of years ago was the goal, and Shepard hit the target with the moonship called Antares.

Apollo 14 landing site at Fra Mauro
3D rendering from NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter 

       NASA added a big handheld drill to bore into the surface and bring back three-foot core samples of lunar history.  Also, a wheeled rickshaw to carry tools was toted around with some effort in the very fluffy areas of moon dust, some places a foot deep.

       A color, vidicon tube television camera sent back the live images of the two, four-and-a-half-hour Extra Vehicular Activities (EVAs) to the public. For the first time the commander, Shepard, was easily distinguished from Mitchell by the red stripes on his arms and legs. That red stripe to tell spacewalkers apart is still used today aboard the International Space Station. Though the videos from the Moon were in color and clear, the American public wasn’t as captivated by the lunar exploration as they were with Apollo 11 in July 1969.  And on Apollo 12, the video camera was damaged when accidently pointed at the Sun, eliminating any live television from the second Moon landing in November 1969.

Mitchell trots with map

       The alien world of one-sixth gravity proved a formidable match for the two astronauts, who struggled uphill in ankle deep moon dust in an attempt to reach the rim of Cone Crater and have a look inside.  But tired, disoriented and running out of oxygen time in their moon suits, Shepard and Mitchell had to reluctantly turn back.  Photos taken in 2009 by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter showed their foot tracks stopping just 30 yards from the rim!

Shepard holding core sample tube
lunar rickshaw carried tools

The two astronauts worked hard and efficiently, bringing back almost 100 pounds of moon rocks and core drillings. They deployed a science station called ALSEP and detonated explosive charges for detection by a seismometer.

TV image of Shepard's golf shot

TThen, there was a little time for athletics.  Before walking up the ladder to end the second moonwalk, Shepard took out of his leg pocket a Wilson six iron golf club and stuck it to a sampling tool metal pole.  Then he dropped two Titleist golf balls on the lunar surface, and with one inflated spacesuit arm took a couple mighty golf swings!  Actually, Shepard needed several swings in his stiff moon suit to smack the golf balls.

Not to be outdone, Mitchell took a tool handle and flung it like a javelin across the Moon’s surface. It was a moment of distraction in the serious business of Moon exploration, and captured on video.  You can check it out on YouTube, along with all the moonwalks and NASA space highlights.

Shepard and Mitchell spend 33 hours on the Moon, each less than 10 hours outside.  Meanwhile, Roosa was busy in the Apollo mothership Kitty Hawk, making 13 orbits as the most isolated human from Earth, taking hundreds of valuable photos of future Apollo landing sites.

Enjoying the triumphant, three-day trip back in their mothership called Kitty Hawk, the trio landed Feb. 9, 1971 in the Pacific Ocean.  They were quarantined aboard the Navy ship New Orleans against any moon germs until Feb. 27—the last moon voyagers to be kept in isolation. 

       Shepard’s conquest of the Moon was symbolic as he was the only member of the “Original Seven” Mercury astronauts to have met President John F. Kennedy and fulfill his challenge to land a man on the Moon.

       Shepard was the quintessential jet-jockey test pilot, cocky and living the fast life.  In fact, the character Garrett Breedlove portrayed by Jack Nicholson in the 1983 movie, Terms of Endearment, is partially based on Shepard’s bravado. He parlayed his Mercury flight into the first astronaut millionaire through real estate investments around Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

 In May 2011, the US Postal Service issued a first-class stamp in Shepard’s honor as the first American in space, the first US stamp to depict a specific astronaut.

The sixth man to set foot on an alien world, Edgar Mitchell, is alive and well at age 84 on his ranch outside his hometown of Herford, Texas.  Since 1974, Mitchell has been promoting his Institute of Noetic Sciences. The institute he founded conducts and sponsors research in neglected mainstream science like telepathy, psychic intuition and possible alien influences. 

Edgar Mitchel circa 2000

       Of the 12 moon walkers, four were greatly affected by their lunar voyage.  Mitchell claims he felt a conscience presence in the void of space and on the Moon. 

Mitchell actually went to the Moon with a plan to communicate with several people on Earth telepathically while on the Moon.  While the experiment conclusions were mixed, Mitchell became more engrossed in the paranormal, UFOs and psychic healing. His experiences and belief system are outlined in his book, “The Way of the Explorer: An Apollo Astronaut’s Journey Through the Material and Mystical Worlds.”  Enough said.

       Mitchell claims that he sensed the consciousness of another entity in space. And though not a religious experience for him; it was so overwhelming that he’d never be the same.  He .has made controversial statements that extraterrestrials are visiting Earth, as well as expounding the concepts of paranormal research.  

Other moonwalkers who were drastically changed by their experience were Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin, 84, who battled alcohol and pills to suppress ego problems with being the #2 and nearly forgotten moon man; Apollo 15’s James Irwin, deceased, who began a quest to find the Noah’s Ark; and Apollo 16’s Charlie Duke 82, who became a born again Christian and has written that he doesn’t consider the Moon mission among the top 10 events of his life! The other eight seemed to resume have resumed normal, yet very successful lives post-Apollo.   

The mission of Apollo 14 and life of America’s first spaceman, Alan Shepard, is vividly recounted in his book, Moonshot: The Inside Story of America’s Race to the Moon. Like any astronaut tell-all, much is censored about their social life. The superstar status of the first Mercury and Gemini astronauts, let alone the Apollo moonwalkers attracted their share of groupies, hucksters and idolizers.  And Shepard was on astronaut who seemed to revel in the attention. 

       The Apollo 14 mission proved America had the know-how and fortitude to continue with its exploration of the Moon.  Though the Apollo program was back and flourishing in the Winter of 1971, the US Congress would cut funding for any more moon missions after Apollo 17 in December 1972. 

The desire to establish an Antarctica-like base camp on the Moon may have been vanquished as sending humans there was being perfected. But America’s satisfaction of six lunar conquests in three and a half year span is still to be praised as one of mankind’s greatest periods of exploration.

China moon rover Jade Rabbit January 2014

And though it might be 50 years after Apollo 14’s mission, mankind will return to the Moon to continue the quest began by Americans.  But they will probably be Chinese spacemen! The Communist nation has boastfully announced the Moon as a goal for their ambitious manned space program. In January, the Chinese landed a successful science station and small rover on the Moon—the first time that had been done since the Soviet Union 37 years ago.

And if the next moon men are Chinese, let’s hope they come in peace for all mankind, just like America did.