Robert E. Lee By Julia Ward Howe -- A Tribute

Robert E. Lee after the War Between The States
as president of Washington College in Lexington, VA.
Later renamed Washington-Lee College in his honor.
(Colorized photo courtesy of Library of Congress)

 

Robert E. Lee

By Julia Ward Howe

A gallant foeman in the fight,
A brother when the fight was o'er,
The hand that led the host with might
The blessed torch of learning bore.

No shriek of shell nor roll of drums,
No challenge fierce, resounding far,
When reconciling Wisdom comes
To hear the cruel wounds of war.

Though may the minds of men divide,
Love makes the heart of nations one,
And so, the soldier grave beside,
We honor thee, Virginia's son.

Mrs. Julia Ward Howe (May 27, 1819 - October 17, 1910) was an American poet and author, best known for writing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and the original 1870 Mother's Day Proclamation. Howe was a prominent American abolitionist and Women's Suffrage activist. Born Julia Ward in New York City, New York, USA, she was the fourth of seven children born to Samuel Ward and Julia Rush Cutler.
Her poem about the former Confederate General Robert. E. Lee was written shortly after his death in October of 1870 in respect for his memory as someone who sought to reunify a nation following the brutal and ugly American Civil War (War Between the States) 1861-1865. 

Interesting Facts About The Constellation Orion

 

Greetings fellow night sky fans!

Tonight I thought I'd share something pretty interesting tidbits about the Constellation Orion for y'all.

Named by Western cultures for the hunter in Greek mythology, Orion is probably the most prominent constellation easily recognizable in our sky dome. In the Northern Hemisphere, Orion is most visible in the evening sky from January to March during the winter months. It lies on the celestial equator and is one of the brightest and best known constellations in the night sky. 

Orion is largely made up of eight prominent stars.

The  B-type blue super giant star, Rigel (Beta Orionis) and the red giant star Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis) are the two brightest stars of the constellation respectively. Rigel is the sixth-brightest star in the night sky as seen from Earth. Rigel’s distance is estimated to be around 773 light-years, while the distance to Betelgeuse is estimated to be about 724 light-years away.

The this constellation's most distinctive feature are the three stars that make up the Orion's Belt asterism: Alnitak (Zeta Orionis), Alnilam (Epsilon Orionis), and Mintaka (Delta Orionis). The names of the three stars come from Arabic word Alnilam which means "string of pearls" Looking for Orion's Belt in the night sky is the easiest way to locate Orion.

The other prominent stars that make up Orion are: Bellatrix (Gamma Orionis), Saiph (Kappa Orionis), and Meissa  (Lambda Orionis).

Eight major stars make up the Constellation Orion The Hunter.
The largest of these is Rigel, followed by Betelgeuse, Saiph, Bellatrix, Meissa, and the three stars:
Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka that make up the "Orion's Belt" asterism.

 

In Greek mythology and astrology, Orion the hunter is accompanied by his hunting dogs: the constellations Canis Major and Canis Minor, and is hunting Taurus the Bull.

One can easily find the major stars of each of these three constellation by using Orion as a starting point.

Using Orion's Belt as a straight line an amateur stargazer can easily locate the "dog star" Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky as seen from Earth, to the bottom left.

Going the opposite way, using the upper part of Orion's Belt one can make a line to Aldebaran, the "Eye of the Bull" and the brightest star in the constellation Taurus.

Finally using Betelgeuse as a starting point one can make a straight line to the star Procyon, the brighter of the two stars that make up the "lesser dog" Canis Minor.

Picture here with the Constellation Orion are Taurus The Bull and the two dogs Canis Major
and Canis Minor.
Using a straight line with Orion's Belt as a starting point, finding the bright stars Sirius and Aldebaran are easy.
Procyon can be found using a straight line from Betelgeuse on Orion's left shoulder.

Betelgeuse, along with the stars Procyon and Sirius, also make up the Winter Triangle asterism. These three stars are three of the ten brightest objects, as viewed from Earth, outside the Solar System.

In addition, Orion itself is also a part of and largely surrounded by an even larger asterism, the Winter Circle (or Winter Hexagon) with Orion's brightest star, Rigel, making up one of its six major stars.
 

The major stars of the Winter Triangle and Winter Circle (Winter Hexagon) as seen in the night sky
with the constellation Orion in the winter months in the Northern Hemisphere.

 

The constellation contains several interesting nebulae: the Orion Nebula (Messier 42), De Mairan’s Nebula (Messier 43), the NGC 2068 Nebula (Messier 78), and the famous Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33) among others. In addition seven stars in the constellation Orion possess planetary bodies.

In the winter months one can find Orion by looking to the east an hour after sunset. The easiest way to spot it is to find Orion's Belt.

Well folks, I hope y'all enjoyed this presentation. Let me know in the comments section below.

Night Sky Photography -- 01-12/14-2021 -- Constellations Orion & Taurus, The Winter Triangle, & The Winter Circle

Good evening, fellow Stargazers!

Over a couple of cloudless evening this month, I managed to get some really good shots of two of the winter month's most prominent star constellations: Orion The Hunter and Taurus The Bull.

The bright stars Sirius, Betelgeuse, and Procyon (the primary stars in the three constellations of Canis Major, Orion, and Canis Minor, respectively) make a triangle, which I mentioned before in previous blog posts is sometimes called the Winter Triangle asterism in the Northern Hemisphere. Betelgeuse makes up the "shoulder" of the Hunter. Follow the line of the three stars of Orion's belt to find Sirius The Dog Star. Procyon makes up the third corner of the triangle outlined in red in the photo.

Also pictured in the photo are the stars Aldebaran, Rigel, Pullox, and Castor which make up part of the larger Winter Circle (or Winter Hexagon) asterism, which I outlined in yellow. The star Capella which makes up the last star in the Winter Circle, is out of frame. Aldebaran is of course the major star of the Constellation Taurus, also known as the "Eye of the Bull".

These two constellations and the Winter Triangle and Winter Circle asterisms will remain prominent in the night sky throughout the winter months in the Northern Hemisphere. Look for them rising in the east an hour after sunset.

Have a wonderful evening and please keep your eyes on the night skies, y'all!

Night Sky Photography -- 12-21-2020 -- The Great "Christmas Star" Conjunction of Jupiter & Saturn!

Good Evening and Happy Holidays, Y'all!

Today, December 21st, marks the winter solstice for 2020. The winter solstice marks both the shortest day of the year, as well as the longest night of the year -- the astrological tipping point of the Earth's axis where daylight once again starts gaining ground on darkness in the Northern Hemisphere. 

This detail is quite symbolic with my night sky planetary photography offering for y'all this evening. A sight that has not been witnessed here on Earth since the European Middle Ages, and is believed to have been a scene witnessed earlier to one of the greatest moments in human history -- the birth of Jesus Christ.

This evening, my corner of South Carolina was truly blessed with clear skies for a perfect view of the Great "Christmas Star" Conjunction of the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn. My first photo was taken 45 to 50 minutes after sunset.

As y'all can see Jupiter and Saturn are so close together they almost appear to be a single bright star to the naked eye. With my camera's lens, however, you can clearly see Jupiter and Saturn together at less than 0.1 degree apart side by side -- which about the thickness of a dime held at arm's length, according to NASA -- making them appear to be a double planet. 

The word conjunction is used by astronomers to describe meetings of planets and other objects on our sky’s dome. The term great conjunction is used to describe the meeting between the two largest heavenly bodies in our solar system, which happen about every 20 years, or so, when the two outer planets appear close in our night sky from Earth. The last of these took place in the year 2000.

Though the two planets appear spectacularly close together from our perspective here on Earth right now, Jupiter and Saturn are actually a whopping 456 million miles apart from one another, even at this close approach in their planetary orbits. Saturn is nearly twice as far away from us as Jupiter and appears much smaller, in spite of its famous rings. Saturn takes nearly 30 years to go around the sun, while Jupiter takes nearly 12 years. Thus, every 20 years, Jupiter catches up to Saturn as viewed from Earth.

However, what makes the 2020 great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn so special is the fact that its the closest one since Wednesday, July 16, 1623 when they were only 5 arc minutes apart. This took place roughly 13 years after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei invented the first telescope!

Before this an even closer recorded Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurred in the early morning hours of Saturday, March 4, 1226 during the Middle Ages. Tonight's conjunction is the closest meeting of the two planets in Earth's sky dome since that time, with the next really close great conjunction not happening again until the two gas giants stage another exceptionally close show just 60 years from now, in March 2080.  

 

What makes this astronomical event so important is the speculation by some scientists that it was a great conjunction of the two giant planets and the bright star Regulus which occurred in the year 2 BC -- the same year as the estimated birth of this historic Jesus Christ in Bethlehem recorded in the book of Matthew in the Bible.

This great conjunction of the two planets and Regulus are believed to be the possible event that formed the Star of Bethlehem (or Christmas Star) that the Three Wise Men (Magi) in the biblical Nativity story were thought to have seen that inspired them to travel to Judea (modern-day Israel) to find the newborn Jesus.

This is, of course, one of several probable theories regarding the Star of Bethlehem. All the same, considering this year's close great conjunction corresponding with the winter solstice and the beginning of return of longer days, or "light conquering the darkness" if you will, and the symbolism could not be any closer from an astrological and theological point of view.

That's pretty awesome, huh?

My next photo is a close-up of the great conjunction and shows something really cool -- an elongated Saturn from its famous rings, and the four Jovian, or Galilean Moons: Io, Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto.

In 1610, 14 years before the great conjunction of 1623, Italian astronomer Galileo pointed his newly improved telescope to the night sky, discovering the four largest moons of Jupiter. In that same year, Galileo also discovered a strange oval surrounding Saturn, which later observations determined to be its rings. 

Note the oval shape of Saturn in my photo, taken from my trusty Sony DSC-H300 digital camera with 35X Optical Zoom lens at full magnification. It and the large Jovian Moons all appear in my photo probably about the way Galileo first witnessed them when he made his discoveries.

Finally, my last photo of the evening is a beautiful close up of the last First Quarter Moon of the year 2020 during the solstice.

Well folks, I certainly hope y'all enjoyed me photos of this once-in-a-lifetime event as much as I enjoy bringing them to all of y'all. Truly a beautiful astronomical event and one for the ages. Please let me know what you think in the comments section below, and as always have a good evening....and Merry Christmas to y'all! 

Tribute To The Uncrowned Heroes -- By Ruby B. Kyle

Tribute to the Uncrowned Heroes

By Ruby Beryl Kyle,
Birmingham, Alabama.

 

Let none declare that we are blind

To bravery of friend or foe;

Though costly marble may not mark

Each martyred brow that lieth low,

We honor all.

The tears we shed o'er Southern graves,

That fall upon each rose-gemmed bed,

Are for the private as the chief.

There is no rank among the dead;

God loves them all.

Salvation's starry helm is theirs,

As bright for each as other;

The banner and the sword is cleansed,

And Heaven, common mother,

Hath crowned them all. 

 

Confederate Veteran, September 1894