Joann Merritt's Essays

Stars In Your Eyes
August, 2002

Sixteen Midnats and visitors had stars in their eyes Saturday night, August 10th, 2002. When the group reached Crawford’s Ridge at 9:00 P.M. only Venus and the crescent moon were visible and though it was hidden by clouds Donna assured us that Mercury was low on the western horizon. No matter, for stars such as Vega, Altair and Deneb (that famous Summer Triangle Trio) soon appeared as did many others. The Milky Way was a special treat as it can’t be seen in urban areas because of light pollution.

Donna’s teaching skills were put to the test, she was kept busy setting up her scope, answering questions, identifying stars and constellations and explaining things celestial to us. For instance, Polaris (the North star) is situated at the end of the Little Dipper’s handle and is stationary which makes the Little Dipper appear to circle around Polaris as the earth rotates. We learned a “handy” method of measuring degrees in the sky by using our hand and fingers as a gauge. Saturday night there was a bright crescent moon with the rest of the moon dimly bathed in light reflected from earth. I read that this beautiful earthshine is sometimes called “the old moon in the new moon’s arms”. Donna related a myth concerning the Perseid meteors. St. Lawrence was a martyr who took the church’s money and gave to the poor. He was consequently condemned to death and his life was taken during the time that coincides with the Perseid meteor shower, therefore the meteors are said to be the tears of St. Lawrence.

Through Donna’s scope we viewed craters on the moon’s surface and the planet Venus, which was crescent-shaped in the scope but round to the naked eye. An interesting and fun sight was a satellite moving southeast and entering the Teapot, a formation of stars in Sagittarius - even a satellite knows not to veer toward the nearby scorpion beckoning with its bright stinging tail. The constellation Scorpius has a 1st magnitude giant reddish star, Antares, for its heart. What fun to see the small but pretty circlet of stars that create Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown! A 2nd magnitude star appropriately named Gemma adorns the crown like a diamond.

Our bird watching spirit was gladdened to see Cygnus the Swan flying toward Aquila the Eagle while Delphinus the Dolphin cavorted below them. Those with keen hearing reported Upland Sandpipers and Common Nighthawks flying overhead. Alas, a Common Poorwill’s faint call turned out to be the sound of the tracking motor on Sigrid’s scope!. Looking at the dry lake bed below Crawford’s Ridge made me long for the abundant and unusual waterbirds we saw there from 1985 - 1995 when Soda Lake was really a lake.

Two years ago as we made our way up the ridge we met a pickup, a bus and a truck pulling a trailer loaded with machinery. The men had been working on the ridge in preparation for holding early morning church services there. Terri and Rocky Pease had a guest with them who declared “Nowhere except in West Texas would you have a traffic jam of pickups and trucks on a Saturday night along a dusty caliche road”. This year we encountered no traffic but the amusing quip came to mind.

If you would like better scientific information call Donna Kelly, as I tend to take the “see a shooting star and say money, money, money real fast” approach to sky watching. Let’s all get a field guide to the night sky and be ready for next year. Thank you, Donna, for your work, enthusiasm and patience in hosting your annual Star Party. If you don’t have stars in your eyes when you arrive I promise you will have when you leave.