I eventually learned about Orion and then Sirius. And Cassiopeia. I studied star charts and went on a backpack where we saw satellites and an Iridium flare. A few years ago I had Pegasus pointed out to me. I learned about the summer triangle and Cygnus. I still couldn't really tie things together.
In June I went backpacking again and we spent a couple of hours looking at stars. This was a break through for me. I studied charts again. We identified Bootes, Corona Borealis and Virgo. I learned a little more of the sky, but I also saw for the first time how they tied to the Big Dipper. Suddenly I felt like I was starting to put together the pieces. I was very happy.
That night we also spent a lot of time looking at Hercules. We were very confused. Hercules is huge and the stars are dim. The star chart I had was confusing. Finally Hannah noticed that we were looking at it upside down. It was still confusing, but we could at least see it.
It turns out there are two ways of looking at Hercules. The traditional way was how our star chart was laid out. It is the "upside down" way. Alpha Hercules is above his head. His left arm points at Lyra, his back is toward Corona Borealis. The keystone trapezoid is his midsection. Here is the traditional charting:
Even the chart is upside down. Here is the picture right-side-up.
There is also a newer way to see Hercules. In this his back is toward Lyra and his head is the keystone trapezoid and leans forward toward Corona Borealis. His his left arm runs under Corona Borealis and points at Serpens. Here is the chart.
Part of the confusion is that Ophiuchus and Serpens are right below Hercules. Notices how this Serpens chart even connects Alpha Hercules to Ophiuchus.
3 comments:
Hmmm..if we can see Hercules all those different ways, no wonder we were confused!! Good for you for researching that. We will have to stargaze again soon. Everything makes more sense when you have a sky in front of you rather than a computer screen right?
Thanks!
-Hannah
Yes, even a computer geek like me admits the real sky is much more awesome than a computer screen. Carolina and I went star gazing last night as part of our date. We saw most of the stuff we saw at Jennie Lake. I found Hercules and could see both pictures. We got to see lots more too. I almost know what I'm doing now.
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
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