Cumberland-Times Sky Columns
July 2005

July 3- Scorpion in the South
July 10 - Sky Cartoons and Monkey Rescue
July 17 - Finding Speeds
July 24 - Firefly Summer
July 31 - Aliens Strike Again!

July 3rd - Scorpion in the South

My favorite sight of July evenings is the star group Scorpius, floating low above the southern horizon. The Scorpion resembles a starry "J" with the bright star Antares near the top. The lower left end of the "J" is marked by the close pair, Nu and Lambda, which are called "cat's eyes". To the left of the Scorpion is Sagittarius, whose brighter stars resemble an old fashioned tea kettle.

High in the East is the Summer Triangle, peaked by the bright white-blue star Vega. On moonless evenings (now through July 8th and in July's last week), the Milky Way can be seen as a delicate glow that runs from the bottom of the Summer Triangle down to the southern horizon (the Scorpion and Sagittarius).

On July evenings, the Big Dipper is prominent, high in the North Northwest. The Dipper's lowest two stars point right to the North Star, a modest star appeqaring about halfway up in the North. The Dipper's handle can be extended outward to the bright golden star Arcturus, tied with Vega as the brightest evening star. (Venus and Jupiter are brighter but shine with a steady light, in contrast to the twinkling night stars.)

July 10th - Sky Cartoons and Monkey Rescue

There are two excellent beginner's books on space that use cartoons. Over 50 years ago "The Stars" by H.A. Rey appeared. Rey, a German immigrant was famed for his children's books featuring Curious George. Rey turned his cartoon ability on the night sky and created simple figures for each star group! These sky cartoons make learning the constellations a lot of fun. "The Stars" was my favorite sky guide in grade school and high school. If you check out "The Stars" from a local library, you'll be charmed by Rey's portrayal of the Scopion, the Serpent Doctor, the Lion, and the Eagle in our summer evening sky. On fall evenings, you'll be able to trace out the Southern Fish, the Fishes (Pisces) and the Princess Andromeda. Winter evening's best sky cartoons include Orion, the Hunter and the Big Dog. Some spring evening cartoons still in view include the Herdsman, Virgo and the Crow. Rey has a children's version of the "The Stars" called "Find the Constellations", using the same cartoons.

A children's cartoon book that I had great fun reading is "Captain Fact's Space Adventure" by Knife & Packer. Captain Fact in everyday life is Cliff Thornhill, TV's worst weatherman. His faithful companion is his dog Puddles, who appears with him on the TV weather reports. As a youth, Cliff fell asleep in a local library that was struck by a violent lightning storm. The lightning passed through the books and into Cliff, imbuing him with an enormous amount of information. When he became an adult, Cliff vowed to use these facts to aid those in distress. So in times of crisis, Cliff becomes Captain Fact and Puddles becomes his sidekick Knowledge. While listening to the news, Cliff hears about Dr. Barnabas, the world's most intelligent monkey. Barnabas is orbiting Mars aboard the Ape-ollo 13; Barnabas is in serious danger, with only two bananas left! So Cliff and Puddles run into the Fact Cave and emerge as Captain Fact and Knowledge. The fearless twosome take off in a rocket to rescue Dr. Barnabas! Every so often, Captain Fact has a fact attack where he spews out space facts on their interplanetary misadventure. You can get "Captain Fact's Space Adventure" through your local book store. It's a Volo book with ISBN 0-7868-5511-8 for $5.

July 17th - Finding Speeds

Racing fans feel excitement when their favorite drivers hit 200 miles an hour on the straight away. Few of us realize that the Earth's local speed of rotation is about four times faster! The fastest military jets can reach 2,000 miles an hour. But as we travel around the sun, the Earth is moving 33 times faster! The way to find the speed of rotation or orbital speed is by the same formula. Speed = distance/time. This formula is easy to understand if we consider a trip to Pittsburgh, a distance of about 110 miles. If we make the trip in 2 hours, we have to average 55 miles an hour as 110 miles divided by 2 hours = 55 miles an hour. But in rotation and orbiting speeds, the distance is the circumference of a circle. All the way around a circle = 2 * Pi * radius. Pi is a constant that's about 3 and 1/7 or more precisely 3.142.

Let's consider the Earth's rotation. The Earth's radius at the equator is about 4000 miles (3963 miles actually). Then the circumference of the Earth's equator is 2 * Pi * 3963 = 24,900 miles. This is the distance around the equator. This is also how far the Earth's equator moves in 24 hours. Then the speed of rotation at the equator = 24,900 miles divided by 24 hours = 1040 miles an hour. Since we don't live at the equator but about latitude 40 degrees, there is a reduction of the distance that is given by the cosine of the latitude. (Cosine(0 degrees) = 1, while Cosine(40 degrees) = 0.766.) Taking the equatorial rotation speed and multiplying by the cosine of our latitude gives us a local rotation speed of nearly 800 miles an hour. This means that a jet traveling East at 800 miles an hour could stay in daylight continually.

Now let's shift to our orbital motion. The average Earth-sun distance is nearly 93 million miles. Since the Earth's orbit is nearly circular, we can approximate the Earth's orbital circumference by 2 * Pi * 93 million miles = 584 million miles. So every year, the Earth travels over 1/2 billion miles in its orbit. How far does the Earth move in one day? To find out, we need to divide 584 million miles by 365 and 1/4 days. This calculation tells us that the Earth moves 1.6 million miles each day! To break it down even finer, there are 24 hours in a day. So 1.6 million miles divided by 24 hours in a day yields 66,700 miles an hour! So in a little less than 16 hours, Spaceship Earth travels a million miles around the sun! The Earth's average orbital speed is about 88 times the speed of sound near the Earth's surface!

July 24th - Firefly Summer

Late at night, I usually take my dog Jazzy out for a walk before retiring. This has been a great summer for fireflies! Sometimes I see more fireflies than stars, particularly in the trees near a stream. I've also noticed that the flashes I see in my neighborhood are white-green. At night, take a walk around the big trees in your neighborhood and see if you can spot fireflies.

Why are the fireflies so prominent this summer? A larger number of fireflies rely on a moist winter and spring, followed by early warmth in summer. Fireflies are prevalent in damp shaded areas near the trunks of large trees. All these combine to give a greater number of fireflies. The density of fireflies can be in the millions per square mile!

What are fireflies? Despite their name, fireflies are actually soft bodied bettles, typically under an inch in length. Worldwide, there are 1900 species of fireflies, of which 175 different species live in the United States. Fireflies are not found in arid, dry areas; so there are no fireflies in arid states such as Arizona or New Mexico nor in the Middle East (Iraq, Israel).

Fireflies glow to attract the opposite sex! Typically, the male flashes first and the female closer to the ground flashes in response. Each species of fireflies has a special kind of light signal. Then the male firefly mates with the female. The female typically lays about 500 eggs. Some of these eggs develop into larvae, where they crawl around the ground for 1 or 2 years. The firefly larvae typically live off snails, earthworms and slugs. They kill their prey by injecting a venom, which liqueifies the unfortunate creature. Then the larva sucks up the liquid leftovers. For 5 days to a month, the larva takes the form of a pupa, in which the exoskeleton of the adult firefly forms. Then the firefly breaks out of the pupa and spends a few weeks as an adult firefly.

How do fireflies glow? Fireflies contain two special chemicals: luciferin and luciferase. When combined with oxygen (fireflies inhale it), ATP (life's energy molecule), luciferin and luciferase, the firefly's abdomen glows. This light is accompanied by no heat as most light sources, so fireflies have 'cold light'. In Asia, hundreds of fireflies on one tree can flash together; the light from these congregations of fireflies have been seen up to a distance of 1/2 mile! When Spaniards began to explore the America's after Columbus, they were often assaulted by Indian tribes at night. The Indian chief would wear a bright glowing beetle on his forehead to lead his warriors through trails at night.

July 31st - Aliens Strike Again!

In 1898, British writer H.G. Wells unveiled a frightening story of a Martian invasion of the Earth called "War of the Worlds". About this same time, American astronomer Percival Lowell claimed to have seen a global network of canals on Mars. The public became fascinated with aliens, creatures on other worlds that could be a threat to humanity. In the 1920's science fiction magazines could be found in most corner stores; their covers usually showed a lovely woman about to be seized by a drooling extraterrestrial monster!

Even before Lowell died in 1916, astronomers showed that Mars' thin atmosphere would not allow liquid water, making canals useless. (Mars' atmospheric pressure is so low that the water would either boil away (if in the sun) or freeze solid (if at night).) But the public had seized on this phantasy of dreaded aliens. On Halloween of 1938, Orson Welles on the radio program, Mercury Theater of the Air recreated "War of the Worlds" for an American audience. At the start, it was announced that the radio broadcast was fiction. But many listeners missed the first part of the program. Those late listeners became convinced that Martian space capsules had actually landed in New Jersey! From these capsules had emerged giant tripod machines that marched across the countryside, destroying all resistance with a sinister heat ray. A few listeners actually fled their homes and headed for the hills to evade the Martian invaders!

In the 1950's the cold war tension between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. sparked a number of science fiction movies featuring alien invaders. Perhaps the best of the malevolent alien movies was George Pal's "War of the Worlds". In this film, the Martian capsules first fall in California. Our U.S. military use all their weapons (including an atomic bomb) against the Martians to no avail. Just as the original "War of the Worlds", the Martians are brought down by airborne bacteria that their weak immune systems were unprepared for.

In the 1970's there were several rock operas, among them Jeff Wayne's "War of the Worlds". This musical work has just been released on a two CD set. The music is based on Wells' original story and features songs devoted to the red (Martian) weed and the sinking of the Thunderchild (British ship that fought several of the Martian tripod machines).

Now Steven Spielberg has his own version of "War of the Worlds" that is set in the United States. The special effects are amazing. But this movie introduced a troubled single dad as a main character; this person has to protect his children when the aliens begin to wipe out humanity.