Category Archives: Astronomy

Stellarium

Realistic ViewView with ConstellationsToday’s cool bit of software is Stellarium: a realistic sky simulator available for both Windows and Linux and Mac OS X (thanks mneptok!). While it is unlikely to fufill the needs of a serious observer of the heavens, it is a dead simple application which provides beautiful views of both the day and night skies. It is supposed to have over 120,000 stars in its database, but the catalog itself seems fairly weak to me: it didn’t seem to have appropriate double star data. But if you are just a skygazer or you frequently scan the sky with small telescopes or binoculars, this program might be just what you are looking for.

Gill – Six Months in Ascension

Gill Camp on Ascension IslandThose clever lads and lasses at Metafilter had a very cool link to Isabel Gill’s Six Months in Ascension, written in 1877. Sir David Gill went to the island to observe Mars to determine its distance from the sun more accurately, and his wife Isabel went along to help out. This peek into a Victorian scientific expedition from the views of a non-scientist is revealing both in terms of its historical importance and in understanding the roles of men and women in Victorian society.

Don’t miss out on Thomas Cave’s webpage of his more recent astronomical trips to Ascension Island either.

A brief quote, just to entice you:

I cannot think why the poet says,

“Man wants but little here below.”

It seems to me that man, and woman too, wants a very great deal; and the beauty of the universe and the contemplation of the glory of far-off worlds, what consolation do they give, when the kitchen-chimney smokes, when a tooth aches or a new shoe pinches?

Venus Transit Pictures

Well, this rare event has concluded, I’ll try to add links to sites with images throughout the day as my browsing uncovers them. Check back later for more…

My browsing also uncovered the following poem, written by the first individual ever to observe a transit of Venus.

Oh! then farewell, thou beauteous queen!
Thy sway may soften natures yet untamed,
Whose breasts, bereft of the native fury,
Then shall learn the milder virtues.
We, with anxious mind, follow thy latest footsteps here,
And far as thought can carry us;
My labours now bedeck the monument for future times
Which thou at parting left us. Thy return
Posterity shall witness; years must roll away,
But then at length the splendid sight
Again shall greet our distant children’s eyes.

— Jeremiah Horrocks (1618-1641)