Earth from Space

Saturn has its' many rings
We both share the same sun.
And Jupiter has its' many moons
While poor old Earth has only one.

Now, Mars might look good in red,
And Venus has its' clouds.
But when I see the Earth from space,
It makes me very proud.

We've got greens and blues and reds.
It's colorful, what we are.
So, why at night when I go to bed,
Do I wish upon a Star?

Sight Reduction Tables - Not So Obselete

Someday my children; or perhaps grandchildren; will come across these volumes of carefully arranged numbers and wonder just what in the hell they are; and what they were used for. That will explain this post.

I used these books while in the Navy; and later as a Merchant Mariner; to find where we were while at sea. They were commonly called “lattice tables” if my memory holds correct. When shooting the sun or stars for a position these books were invaluable since they saved you hours of the computations necessary to obtain the information already contained in the book.

The book itself   is the finished product of about 3,000 years of observations and calculations made by mariners who were sometimes representative of nations who were at war with one another. But still the knowledge was shared. That’s how important these books were. Now, of course, everything is on computer and smartphones, navigation satellites, etc. but at one time you had to actually know what the numbers represented. And how to use them.

Basically the numbers are published in six volumes, with each spanning a 15 degree segment of latitude. The one at top would be used in latitudes from Northern Brazil to the lower southern United States.; or any other location in the world within those boundaries. They are used for navigating by sextant while crossing the ocean and out of sight of land.

Their use is outlined in the beginning pages so that anyone can open the book up and teach themselves. That’s what I did. You take your longitude in relation the Aries; this is called your Local Hour Angle. That, along with your assumed latitude and sextant reading will yield you the precise mathematical location of the star, or planet, which you have “shot” with your sextant. Converted, this will give you a line of position. Ideally, you do this for several stars.

These lines of position will then be used to lay lines on the chart to the points where the stars would be if they were at sea level. Just like a lighthouse, or bouy. The point where all of your lines cross represents the position you are at on the terrestrial plane.The satisfaction of making these computations is enormous, as they give you a sense of just how small you, and your ship, are in comparison to the larger picture. Nowadays there is a place to go online and the computer will make these calculations for you.

You may have seen these for sale on e-bay. They run anywhere from $9 to $20. I suppose many of the people snatching them up are survivalists, waiting for the end times when all the technology will come crashing down and  knowledge will be magic. More power to them. I’m holding onto mine because when I hold it in my hands I am 26 years old again, “punching pubs” at dawn; or dusk; beneath a red light to preserve my night vision. The ship is rolling and the air smells like diesel; or maybe that was me. 

A Moment with Jupiter and Venus

I have always loved the stars and planets. To me, they represent the divine, the unattainable, and the mystery of life. I don't worship them, rather, I admire them. They do exactly as they are supposed to do without question, or complaint. They are the time clock of our existence.

Looking at a star that is no longer there; the light having taken so long to reach us that the star has long since burned out; always reminds me of the fleeting moments of time which we call our lives. Those years represent only a "needle in a haystack"; or, a lone grain of sand in a desert.

I took this picture last night in front of our house in Concord, North Carolina. There is a street light behind me, and several more down the road. But still, the majesty of these two planets remained visible, even through the clouds. The larger of the two is Jupiter, which is the largest object in the sky, at 9 times the size of our own planet. The shot is of the two planets setting in the western night time sky. For me, this was a huge reminder of just how small we all are.

Mercury - The Insignificant Planet

Mercury is often called the "most elusive" planet. It appears on schedule, of course, but is not always clearly visible, due mostly to the time it rises or sets. Being one of the dimmer planets makes it fade amongst the myriad of other stars when it appears too long after sunset. So it isn't very often we get to see it this clearly.

And that's what you get for the next 10 days or so. Mercury; the elusive, almost insignificant planet, visible to the naked eye. But to see it, you need to find it first. And it's not that hard. Here's how;

The planet Venus,the brightest of all the planets, is clearly visible as it sets just about an hour or so after sunset. I'm at 35 degrees laitude here, so make your adjustments. But basically you neeed only look to the West about an hour or so after sunset and the first, possibly only, thing you will see is a bright star. That's Venus and it's a planet. It glows with the reflection of the sun, which has already dipped below the horizon. The same phenomenon lights our Moon.

Now, to find Mercury, our elusive, insignificant planet, just look 45 degrees down to the right.(Like the hour hand pointing to three-thirty.) Just above the horizon you will see, hopefully, a small, almost reddish, starlike object. That's Mercury, reflecting the reddish glow from the setting sun.

Now, you're asking, why this is important. Here's why. It reveals to the naked eye and all our senses, just how tiny and insignificant we really are. It calls out, clearly, that " we are but a speck of dust." I don't know who said it. I'd need to look it up. And isn't it written that "What is Man that Thou regardest him... He is but a blade of grass to be cut down, to wither and to die." Again, maybe not word for word, but you see where I'm going with this.

Someday, when we all get beyond our petty differences we will realize the basic truth that is so apparent when you look at Mercury, the "insignificant planet." If we would all just realize how small we are in the grand scheme of things, then we could achieve our greatest goals. It's really that simple.