Today, Father Time has logged sixty revolutions around the sun for me, 21915 sunrises and 742 full moons. I wish to dedicate this post to someone very special, someone who has been an enormous inspiration and source of support for me. They know who they are and, for the time being, they will remain anonymous. Although my parents supported me with my father inspiring me to pursue astronomy, always urging me to continue on and never give up, instilling in me the idea that it’s never too late to realize your dreams, it is not he or my mother to whom I wish to dedicate this blog post; I’m dedicating it to that special person, a person who is in my heart and has been an enormous source of inspiration and support.
I have made a lifetime of studying astronomy and the natural universe. To my parents, I thank them for my life, for the inspiration and the nurturing without which I would not be who I am today; my father is gone over 41 years and his memory is still fresh as is his wisdom and sage advice; I can still hear his voice as if he were here; my mother is still here at 91 years of age and I don’t know how much more time we have left with her. Now, it is through my pursuit of astronomy that I have met the person to whom I am dedicating this post.
On this day in 1955, the waxing crescent moon was just to the north of Kaus Borealis, the “top” or northern-most star in the familiar teapot that is Sagittarius, Venus was following the sun as it was setting and Saturn was just to the east of Venus, flanked by the red supergiant star Antares, the heart of Scorpius, the scorpion, all with the moon further to the east along the ecliptic.
Tonight, 60 years later, not much has changed! The moon, one day past first quarter, is in Capricorn, one constellation to the east along the ecliptic relative to its position 60 years ago on the same date. Amazingly, Saturn, with an orbital period of 30 years, having completed barely 2 orbits around the sun during the intervening 60 years since I was born, is very close to the position it was in on that night 60 years ago!
I am still healthy and with the sunrise tomorrow, it will be 21916 sunrises for me. I don’t know how many more sunrises I have left but I hope the gods continue to smile on me. I thank the stars, my parents, my teachers and mentors, my professors and my advisor, my friends, my 2 brothers and all those who have guided me through the years and, most especially, that very special person!
Ad astra per aspera!
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A quick, interactive web-based version of Stellarium is available here Tonight's Sky. When you launch the application, it defaults to north-facing and your location (on mobile and desktop).
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