Venus, Mars and the Moon - February 20, 2015 - PART 3 - by Contributing Astronomy Editor, Dan Matlaga

              

FIGURE 1

If you were watching the western early evening skies this past week you would have seen the decreasing separation between the planets Venus and Mars (Figure 1). Minimum separation occurs Friday evening with the addition of the thin crescent moon.

FIGURE 2

The view of the western early evening sky of February 20 is illustrated in Figure 2.  Venus outshines both the moon and Mars.  Although the moon is represented in Figure 2, it does not register at the resolution of the figure, though the moon will be easily visible to the casual observer facing west.

FIGURE 3

A pair of binoculars might enhance the naked eye view.  Figure 3 is the view through a pair of 7X35 binoculars.  This is a popular size of binocular.  The first number "7" designates the magnification of the binocular. The size of the large lenses furthest from your eye while using the binocular provides the diameter of the lenses in millimeters, in this case "35" millimeters or roughly 1.5 inches.

 Note the image of the moon.  It consists of a bright crescent.  That bright crescent is the part of the moon illuminated directly by the sun, light from the sun reflected off the moon to earth.  The rest of the moon has an ashen look.  The ashen light is the result of light from the sun striking the earth, reflecting off the earth to the moon, then reflecting off the moon to the earth and into your eyes.  Not bad for the moon which reflects on average only 12% of sunlight, and is therefore a very dark object. This view of the moon has been described as: "The old moon wi' the new moon in her arms."

The scene before your eyes the evening of the 20th is somewhat of an illusion. Venus, Mars and the Moon are not that close in space.  We can illustrate this using the speed of light. A beam of light can travel 8 times around the earth in one second, yet that same beam of light takes about 8.3 minutes to travel from the sun to the earth. We say then the sun is 8.3 light minutes away from the earth. On the 20th of February the sunlight reflected off the moon takes but 1.2 seconds to reach the earth, Venus nearly 12 minutes and the reflected sunlight from Mars takes 18 minutes.

This is the third of four submissions concerning the planet Venus in the western evening sky. As you observe the Moon, Venus and Mars this evening, you might take a second to look directly east.  The brilliant star like object hovering directly above east is the planet Jupiter.  

The very close appearance of Venus and Jupiter above the western horizon the evening of June 30th will be the 4th of 4 postings.  

The separation between Jupiter and Venus is decreasing already. Look tonight to the west at Venus, then to the east at Jupiter... the June 30th event has begun! 

"Close Approach " of Venus and Mercury PART 2, by Contributing Astronomy Editor, Dan Matlaga

                                    January 20-22, 2015

 

FIGURE 01

Let's examine Figure 01, depicting the southwest backyard sky at about 6:15 p.m. on January 20, 2015. This is a time when a half-dozen stars are visible in your evening sky. Features include the positions of the Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars.

A line drawn from the "S" which stands for South and to the "W" which stands for West would be the horizon if you were standing on a boat in the middle of the ocean. 

The Moon in our setting is just above the South-West horizon.  It is an eleven hour moon.  At 7 a.m. this morning the moon and sun were on the same north south line. The moon travels around the earth such it moves its own diameter each hour, or as viewed in the sky, half-degree each hour. At the time of our diagram, the moon has separated from the sun by 5.5 degrees.

Technically above the horizon, practically it would be very difficult to observe the 11-hour moon this close to the horizon, even though you were trying to observe it atop a large sand dune in the middle of the Sahara.  Only 0.4 percent of the moon is illuminated.  Figure 02 illustrates how little this is.

FIGURE 2

The illuminated crescent part of the moon does not present a continued light line, but is broken up in places due to the moon's crater walls seen edge on.

The brightest image in our sky is the planet Venus. It is the anchor in this our second posting of four; since our last posting of January 10th, when Venus and Mercury were very close in the sky.  Now, just ten days later, Mercury has peeled off to the west and below Venus. 

Mars is above Venus.  It will be interesting to watch from one evening to the next as their separation decreases.

                                    January 21, 2015

Just 24 hours later, we note from comparisons of last evening sky to this, the increasing separation between Venus and Mercury. (Fig. 03)

FIGURE 3

Last evening the Moon was 11 hours old. This evening it is 11 hours old plus 24, or 35 hours old.  It has increased from 0.4 percent illumination last evening to 1.3 percent this evening. (Fig.04)

FIGURE 4

This evening marks the first evening when the crescent moon is an easy target for the backyard observer.  Finding the moon's position is aided by its close proximity to the planet Venus. Two nights and three days ago the moon was an equally visible object in the morning sky immediately before sunrise.  Two nights and three days equal 72 hours. It took the moon 72 hours to pass from the morning sky to the evening sky. Half of 72 is 36.  We have a 35 hour moon this evening in good agreement of a standard two nights and three days traditional description of the dark of the moon, when the moon is not visible to the unaided eye.  

The Greek goddess of the Moon was Artemis. As the goddess of transitions she was a goddess of birth and death.  The crescent moon mythically died two nights and three days ago but now reborn as a crescent in this evening sky. A Greek word to describe a thin crescent moon is the word "Cynthia," abbreviated as "Cindy." Parents in search of a name for their newborn find Cynthia listed as another name for the Moon goddess Artemis.  This is a translation I would expect from a high school guidance counselor or worse yet, from a gym coach. An appropriate sense of the name Cynthia is: "She who hunts among the clouds."

The separation of Venus and Mars continues to decline.

                               January 22, 2015

This is the evening sky at about 6:20. (Fig. 05)

FIGURE 5

Note the position of Mercury. It is getting very low and by month's end will rise and set at the same time as the sun.

In just 24 hours the moon has changed its position from the west of Venus to the west of Mars. If we could pace the apparent distance the moon traveled from last evening to this evening, multiply it by 29.5 times, we would have marked a great circle around the sky. We would find the moon back to the same phase as tonight. This number is near the 30 day cycle of the month.  The month does indeed get its length from this, the Synodic cycle of the moon.

The moon is 9 percent sunlit. (Fig. 06)

FIGURE 6

I refer to this phase of the moon as the Romantic Moon, because it will take the moon 2.5 hours to set; more than enough time to accomplish the tasks at hand.

"Close Approach " of Venus and Mercury by Contributing Astronomy Editor, Dan Matlaga

The illustration shows the "close approach" of  the Planets Venus and Mercury at 6p.m. January 10th and 11th.  The apparent close planetary images is an illusion.  The planet Venus, on the far side of the Solar System is emerging from behind the Sun while Mercury is on the same side of the solar system as the Earth and will pass between the Sun and Earth on the 29th of January.

 It is the pairing of the fainter Mercury with the brighter Venus that makes the planet Mercury an easier target for backyard observing. This is the first of Venus paring with four celestial objects worth noting.  It was these apparent motions of the Sun, Moon and five visible planets that had a profound effect on human culture. 

Watch this space!

Welcome Guest Author Ronel Van Tonder and New Release Compile: Quest Coming December 13th! AMAZON GIFT CARD CONTEST ALERT!

Following the story of two women from discordant halves of a future earth, COMPILE:QUEST tells a harrowing tale of the sinister facets of society, the abuse of power, and how human nature can overcome adversity.

Ronel Van Tonder's soon to be released, brand new novel, COMPILE: QUEST will be out December 13th.  

Here is a little about Ronel, then read on to learn more about COMPILE: QUEST and don't forget to enter the contest to win an Amazon.com gift card.  Thanks Ronel!

Author Bio.:

Ronel is a brand-spanking new indie author. She loves creating fantastical worlds set in the future, the mythical, and the horrific. Translate: She writes science-fiction, fantasy and horror novels.

Her life story is not particularly fascinating, but her love of technology, PC games and writing is. Beside writing, she spends her time slaying rendered baddies in the form of robots, gangsters and aliens - with any weapon that happens to be at hand.

Ronel has published her first science-fiction book, Compile:Quest. She's currently hard at work creating the second book in the Corrupted SUN Script trilogy. When she's not writing, she's gaming, and when she's not gaming she's either sleeping or eating, as these are prerequisites for a continued life on planet Earth.

Synopsis:

In the year 2036, solar storms batter Earth crippling electrical infrastructures across the globe. Night falls and the ensuing pandemonium claims millions of lives, catapulting the world into chaos.

In the midst of this global turmoil a hero emerges. The altruistic SUN Council intercedes, constructing enormous domes on each continent to protect the world’s population from the radioactive CME’s of the incessant solar storms.

But not everyone makes it to the domes. In an attempt to survive the deadly radiation, hundreds of thousands of people dig into the earth, living in squalor under an oppressive military dictatorship.

Now centuries later, the final stage of the SUN Council’s plan to decimate the world’s population approaches. But as victory glimmers on the horizon, two women from discordant halves of this new world start to unravel the conspiracy.



                        

Enter Ronel's Contest Today!

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Follow Ronel Van Tonder and purhase COMPILE: QUEST 

Website Link: 
http://ronelvantonder.co.za

Social Media Links:
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Welcome Guest Author Nathaniel Danes and "The Last Hero"

Welcome Nathaniel, SO happy to have you here today!  

What I found so fascinating and what really resonated with me when you contacted me is twofold:  First, your book, The Last Hero, has similarities to The Kabrini Message that I'm sure will "hit home" with our fans and readers as well - yet's it's unique and very much it's own story as well.  Also, your own personal story is so inspirational.  Again, we LOVE a good "story-behind-the-story" here at The Kabrini Message.  It's difficult for anyone to get published in these times, so when additional challenges are involved, whatever they may be, it's even more proof that what is meant to be will be and NOTHING is impossible as long as you never give up!

So, with all of that said, let's delve into a little more about you and how all of this came about!  How long have you been a writer and how many books have you published?

                I started writing about six years ago. Never tried to publish any of them for about five and a half years. Just wrote and wrote then rewrote. It was a good exercise and helped me sharpen my pen. My first novel, The Last Hero, was just published on Oct. 14 by Solstice Publishing.

Congratulations!  What is it that made you want to become a writer?

My mind is always turning. I often slip into my own imaginary worlds. It's kind of a defense mechanism. I'm going blind from a genetic disorder and it’s an escape to dream universes I don't have any limitations.

I always wanted to write down these fantasies, to get them out of my head. But, I knew I couldn’t for a long time. Then, between college, graduate school, and a professional career that demands a lot of writing, my skills rose to the point where I felt component to start trying.

That is awesome...If you can dream it, you can visit it!  What genre do you specialize in?

                Science fiction within the subgenres of space opera, military, and Hard SciFi. I like writing about the future because you have the freedom to do just about anything. I also like to write military/combat scenarios because all I ever wanted to be growing up was an Army officer but my vision took that dream away from me. Now, I live out that dream through my imagination.

Absolutely.  That is so incredibly inspiring that you have found a way to NOT let your situation have the last say on what you will experience!

What is the most interesting thing that has happened to you since you started writing?

                The reaction of my friends and family when I told them I was getting published. It came as a total surprise to them because I’d told almost no one I had been writing. Not only am I visually impaired, I’m also dyslexic. To them, the idea I could write a book, let along get one published, seemed unreal. It’s fun to exceed people’s expectations of you.

As you know, unless you are already very famous, it seems to be all about non-fiction right now (self-help, etc.)  So getting published at this time, especially for a first time author of fiction, is an amazing accomplishment for anyone! 

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?

                Just write and write and rewrite. Don’t give up. If you write with passion and believe in yourself, chances are someone will give you a shot. Also, don’t try to be a writer you aren't. Write what you want to read. 

Great advice.  The only way one is sure to fail is to give up!  The key is to keep trying, as long as it takes.   

So tell us all about your new book, The Last Hero.

                The Last Hero, is a full length space opera novel just released in October. It

starts off a couple hundred years in the future after first contact with a race of pacifists convinced humanity to make peace with itself and disarm.

                When we first meet the heroine, the last Medal of Honor recipient, he's selling insurance for his father-in-law. A natural warrior, he's made the best of a demilitarized Earth and become a dedicated family man. He's drafted back into active service after a third race destroys the New Earth colony, forcing a crash mobilization.

As he travels the galaxy fighting the war, he struggles with the internal conflict between his lust for battle and his father's heart which just wants to be with his daughter. The law of relativity comes into play to complicate things.

There are big space battles and large scale ground engagements to more than keep the blood flowing, but it’s a deeper story than just action, explosion, fire fight, explosion, the end.

Excerpt:

Trent knelt down where Anna could throw her arms around his neck. She pulled against him tight and started crying again. Tears rolled down his face as he whispered, “I love you more than you can understand. I’m sorry.”

Her cries downed out his soft words.                        

After a minute, Trent summoned all of his strength to break free of her hold. Standing, he shared a look with Madison. She wrapped him in a loving, warm hug.  

This time she did the whispering, “Remember what I told you. Make them pay.”

He pulled away, nodding as he placed his hand on Anna’s sobbing head.

“I’ll see you both again someday. I promise.” The words bound him to a promise he wasn’t sure he could keep.

Blurb:

Contact with a race of pacifists convinces mankind to lay down its weapons and keep the peace. The last Medal of Honor recipient, Trent Maxwell, trades glory for the comforts of a family after the U.S. Army disbands. All that ends when an alien menace attacks the New Earth colony, which forces a crash mobilization. Trent finds himself reactivated and traveling through space to distant worlds, in order to stop this new enemy. During the century long journey of death, love, and loss, he also deals with the law of relativity that wreaks havoc with his daughter.

That is our kind of book - I can't wait to read it!  Where can we buy it?  

Book Links:  

Amazon

Bookgoodies

Do you have and future books in the works?

                Sure do. The Last Hero is the first in a trilogy. I am editing Book Two now. Once this series is over, I will start polishing the drafts I have written for the first two books in another series.

That's exciting - glad to hear there will be two more!  You are a busy guy, but I'm sure you are an avid reader as well.  What are you currently reading and what do you like to read?  

                Exile, Star Force Series by B.V. Larson and David VanDyke. I like to read what I write, space operas, military, hard SciFi.

Thank you so much for joining us today - it has been so much fun and we look forward to having you back again for Books 2 & 3 and any and all future projects!  Please leave us with your contact links so we may stay in touch in the meantime.  All the best of luck to you and thanks again!

 Bio:

Nathaniel Danes is a self-diagnosed sci-fi junkie and, according to his wife, has an over active imagination. Mostly blind, he writes to create universes where he has no limitations. He lives with his wife and daughter in the Washington, DC area.

Author Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nathaniel-Danes/1528587637363979

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nathanieldanes

Blog: http://nathanieldanes.blogspot.com/

Website: www.nathanieldanes.com

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/nathanieldanes

Welcome Back Author Ally Shields. Today is Release Day for "Cross Keys"!

Thank you so much for hosting me and my new urban fantasy release today! I'm thrilled for the opportunity to tell you a little about my book and to share a Cajun recipe, one of several I brought back from New Orleans while researching the book. (If you look around the blogs listed at the end, you'll find eight more recipes!)

Happy reading...and sampling of the Cajun cuisine. :)

Cross Keys (An Elvenrude Novel) by Ally Shields

Genre: Urban fantasy/Paranormal romance

Rating: PG-13

Book Blurb:

Conspiracy, murder, and magic…and the death of all they hold dear.

When the first wanderer—a common elf who isn’t authorized to use the portal—is spotted on the streets of New Orleans, the king assigns Kameo Ryndel to assist in the elf’s capture. But before she can intervene, humans with guns shoot the wanderer and steal his body. When Seth Lormarc, an Elite elf from a rival guild, appears at the scene, Kam suspects he is involved.

Seth Lormarc is in New Orleans to find out who was behind the portal breach, and his best lead is the intriguing Kam Ryndel. When he stakes out her apartment and finds her sneaking out in the middle of the night, dressed in black and leaping to the top of the nearest building, he knows there’s something unique about the beautiful elf. That kind of feat requires magic. Ancient magic.

As their paths cross during their investigations, they develop an irresistible attraction, although there’s little time for romance. The portal breach is tied to an illegal smuggling operation that has come to the attention of the human CIA. But the stakes are raised when Kam and Seth discover a band of conspirators and a rebellion deep in Elvenrude that promises nothing except destruction of their world.

Buy Links:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

Pre-release Book Trailer on Youtube:   http://youtu.be/2GgI4-50QfA

                         

    

Recipe:  One of my favorites was -

Louisiana Gumbo

12 oz boneless chicken cubed

Salt and pepper

1/4 C cooking oil

1 lb sausage

1/2 C all-purpose flour

5 T margarine

1 large onion, chopped

8 cloves minced garlic

1 chopped green pepper

1 C copped celery

1/4 C Worcestershire

1/4 C chopped fresh parsley

4 cups hot water

5 beef bouillon cubes

1 can stewed tomatoes

2 C okra

1/2 pound small cooked shrimp (optional)

Heat oil in heavy skillet or dutch oven. Add chicken, brown over medium heat, and season with salt and pepper.  Remove chicken to separate container. Add sausage to oil and cook until browned. Remove and add to chicken mixture. To remaining oil in pan, add flour and 2 T margarine. Stir until brown, abut 10 minutes. Pour roux over meat and let cool.

Turn heat to low, melt 3 T margarine. Add the onion, celergy, green pepper, and garlic. Simmer 10 minutes. Add Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to taste and half the parsley. Stir frequently another 10 minutes. Add 4 C hot water and bouillon cubes, whisk. Add the chicken and sausage mixture. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes. Add tomatoes and okra. Cover and simmer for 1 hour. Add shrimp and the rest of the parsley 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy! Great over rice.

About the Author:

Ally Shields was born and raised in the Midwest, along the Mississippi River, and considers herself a "river rat." The setting and folklore of the river regions are often incorporated into her urban fantasy books. After  a career in law and juvenile justice, she turned to full-time writing in 2009, and Awakening the Fire, the debut novel in her Guardian Witch series, was released by Etopia Press in September 2012. There are now six published books in that series. Cross Keys is the first novel with all new characters.

When not writing, reading or spending time with family, she loves to travel in the US and abroad. 

Way too often she can be found on Twitter.

Contact the Author:

Website:  http://allyshields.com

Blog:     http://allyshields.com/blog.html

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/ShieldsAlly

Facebook: http://facebook.com/AllyShieldsAuthor

Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6527209.Ally_Shields

Amazon Author Page:  http://www.amazon.com/Ally-Shields/e/B009AKNDZU

Special Thanks to the following bloggers who are spotlighting this release during the next few days (eight more Cajun recipes on their blogs!) - dates of post may vary due to time periods, etc.:

Oct. 3:  AJ Locke, Kirstin Pulioff, Linda McLaughlin, Margay Roberge, Marie Carhart, Shannon McRoberts, Stephanie Stamm, EE Carter, Susan Taylor, Anne Lange, Kath Boyd Marsh, Dan Levinson, Michelle Browne, Sue Roebuck, Chris Redding

Oct. 4:  Carmen Stefanescu, Stacy Juba, Lindsey Loucks

Oct. 6:  Rebekah Ganiere

Oct. 7:  Antonia van Zandt

Oct. 8:  Dani-Lyn Alexander

Oct. ?:  Theresa McClinton

TONIGHT: A Good Evening, Monday September 29, 2014 - By Contributing Astronomy Editor, Dan Matlaga

Go outside at 7:00p.m. and face the southwest.  The crescent moon is easy to spot. Look just below the crescent moon for a bright slightly reddish star like object.  This is the planet Mars.  Below the Moon and Mars is the bright red star Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius. Further to the West, or further to the right, almost out of view is the planet Saturn.

This is a multi dimensional view. The apparent close positions of the Moon, Mars, Antares and Saturn is an illusion.

A beam of light takes only one second to travel eight times around the earth.  That same beam of light traverses the distance from the sun to the earth in just 8 minutes. The light from the moon takes 1.26 seconds, Mars 12.7 minutes, Saturn 1.4 light hours.  These four objects are members of the family of objects that belong to the solar system.

The star Antares however, is so far away the light that strikes your eye this evening left the star 553 years ago.  That is to say it was produced when Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus

was but a boy of ten years old.  The world had yet to hear of the artist known as Michelangelo.

Michelangelo

What will the world be like in the year 2567 when the beams of light now leaving the star reach the earth? Just about everyone inhabiting the earth now would have been long forgotten including those whose names are regularly displayed in the headlines of today's morning news.

The name Antaries means the "rival of Mars."  Easier to understand when we use the Greek word for Mars which is "Aries," That is, "Anti-Aries." Every two years the planet Mars and Aries can be seen riding the sky together.  Since Aries is a red star and Mars is a red planet the question will arise as to which of them will outshine the other.  The keen observer might note Mars wins the battle this time because it does appear slightly brighter than Antares.

If you wait until the next evening the moon would have moved some 12 degrees to the East of its current location, Mars seems to stand still with Antares and Saturn.  It will take a few evenings to establish Mars eastward movement with respect to Antares but Saturn appears stationary

Our second scene takes place two years later.  Mars has completed one circuit around the sun, in front of each of the twelve Zodiacal constellations and once again appears close to Antares.  But now we see in two years the Moon is replaced by the planet Saturn. It took Saturn two years to appear to move from the right hand side of our first image to this, the second image. It will take Saturn nearly thirty years before it makes it's circuit around the Zodiacal constellations to once again appear with Antares.  Where will you be thirty years from now? Will this approach of Saturn in 2016 be your first and last view of the event?

We have to wait until September 8, 2016 for the appearance of the moon.  We observe Mars has moved to the East, and Saturn has taken the place of the Moon, Mars and Antares from the first view Monday evening.

With just these simple illustrations it is easy to understand how the Greeks interpreted the motions in the sky as clockwork.  The Antikythera mechanism mentioned in previous posts lend verification to the concept that far off beyond the Eastern horizon lies a mechanism capable of moving the real sky and all its individual elements at their correct speeds and headings. The mechanism was cranked by three goddesses known as the Fates.

Observers of the skies 10,000 years ago or more noted the set of five wandering "stars."  Today we call these planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Attempts were made to try to predict the position of these five with respect to the background stars.  Always their predictions had a measurable error. 

"Build better measuring devices... change the mathematical and physical models to fit the observations..." was the solution.  The same holds true today.  The positions of the planets are known to great accuracies... but there is still today an observational error.

We can determine the distance from the center of Earth to the center of the Moon to an accuracy whose error is equal to about the distance across a paper clip. Why do we need to improve on this? Because there is a measurable error.  It may take a more accurate set of gravitational laws than what Einstein provides, or perhaps there are influences we have not yet taken into account. But there is an error.

An excellent description on how we can measure Earth - Moon distance to such great accuracy can be found on Google: "Einstein the Moon and the Long - Lost Soviet Reflector."