EXPLORING IOWA NIGHT SKIES
SMITH'S ILLUSTRATED ASTRONOMY lists the planets as “Mercury, Venus, the
Earth, Mars, (Fifty-seven Asteroids or small planets,) Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, and Neptune.” It asks, ” What is the body called
upon which we live? It is called the Earth, or World. What idea
had the Ancients respecting the shape of the earth? They believed
it was an extensive plain, rendered uneven by hills and mountains…
They believed it extended much farther from east to west than from
north to south. It is more probable that the Earth is in motion than it
is at rest.” These are just a few of the statements in Lesson I from an
1864 version of an astronomy book created for teaching. It is a
valuable resource in that the illustrations were painstakingly hand
drawn and they give us a glimpse into the past. Pluto had not
even been discovered yet.
Much of our knowledge has been updated since then. We have
excellent teachers, extensive libraries, public television, and
students along with many adults who thirst for more information about
our planet and its companions that share the universe. In the
late 1970's, CARL SAGAN presented to us the book and television series
“COSMOS”. His compelling descriptions and homey storytelling
contributed to the lay person understanding the motion of our own Earth
and all else out there. SAGAN'S narrative style made you feel as
though you were in a big comfy chair with your feet propped up holding
a fantastic vision within your being.
Swirling mist, gigantic red and yellow and green colored gas clouds,
colliding atoms….these are just part of the “COSOMS” lesson.
Another, the legend of the black basalt ROSETTA STONE included the
deciphering of it by JEAN FRANCOIS CHAMPOLLION. When he was
young, Champollion of France, was a boy genius in oriental languages,
and went on to become an expert in translating Egyptian
hieroglyphics. The Rosetta Stone was composed of a message
written in GREEK at the bottom, in cursive hieroglyphic called DEMONIC
at the middle, and on top, in HIEROGLYPHICS (meaning sacred carvings).
The Rosetta Stone had been “uncovered in 1799 by a French soldier
working on the fortifications of the town of NILE DELTARASHID, which
the Europeans, largely ignorant of Arabic, called Rosetta”. In
1828, then 38 year old Champollion “set foot in Egypt, the land of his
dreams, and sailed upstream from CAIRO, following the course of the
Nile, paying homage to the culture he had worked so hard to
understand. It was an expedition in time, a visit to an alien
civilization:
The evening of the 16th we finally arrived at DENDERA. There was
a magnificent moonlight and we were only an hour away from the Temples:
Could we resist the temptation? I ask the coldest of you mortals! To
dine and leave immediately were the orders of the moment: alone and
without guides, but armed to the teeth we crossed the fields…the Temple
appeared to us at last. One could well measure it but to give an idea
of it would be impossible. It is the union of grace and majesty in the
highest degree. We stayed there two hours in ecstasy, running through
the huge rooms…and trying to read the exterior inscriptions in the
moonlight. We did not return to the boat until three in the morning,
only to return to the Temple at seven…
What had been magnificent in the moonlight was still so when the
sunlight revealed to us all the details…We in Europe are only dwarfs
and no nation, ancient or modern, has conceived the art of architecture
on such a sublime, great, and imposing style, as the ancient Egyptians.
They ordered everything to be done for people who are a hundred feet
high.” These were the words of Champollion as he embarked on the
greatest journey of his life, and as retold in Sagan's wonderful book.
So find your binoculars, your telescope, your family, your friends and
get thee outside. Yes, it may be 4-degrees Fahrenheit, but as you
look up at other worlds, just remember, some of them may be 450-degrees
below Fahrenheit! You can live with a little cold IOWA
weather. Check our your local colleges, universities, high
schools, and yellow pages for an observatory near you. BETTENDORF
HIGH SCHOOL in Scott county as well as THE WAPSIPINICON ENVIRONMENTAL
CENTER on the border of Scott/Clinton counties both have public viewing
places. In Linn county south of Mt. Vernon, the CEDAR AMATURE
ASTRONOMY CLUB'S site is also a wonderful location for viewing overhead
vistas. Take the time. Discovery is fun. Exploration
can change your life.
Don't forget to CPR: CONSERVE/PARTICIPATE/RECYCLE
For more information see: www.carlsagan.com
www.astronomy.com and www.skyandtelescope.com
Read “THE PLANETS” by David McNab and James Younger published 1999 by Yale University Press….see www.yale.edu/yup/
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