Storytellers Night Sky

One letter that’s getting a lot of attention right now is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet, “delta.” Now in the world of astronomy, the delta star is one of the four brightest stars in a constellation, and this according Bayer designation.

The Moon has two orbital rhythms that vary by about two days: The sidereal rhythm is the time takes the Moon to complete one orbit around Earth; and the synodic rhythm, which is the time it takes for the Moon to catch up with the Sun again.

Consider, Earth orbits the Sun with Venus on one side, and Mars on the other. When these two planets come together in our sky, like they will this week, it’s like a moment in the cycle when the active principle of Mars infuses the love principle of Venus with forces for further realization.

This week begins with an exclamation point, and I don’t mean just the fireworks. There are three exceptional celestial phenomena all piled up on the same day, stirring the imagination and stoking vivid summer dreams.

There’s an eternal love story playing out in the sky this week and month, as the planets Venus and Mars make their once-every-two years close approach to one another, looking west into the evening twilight.

Even though summer officially begins in the northern hemisphere on the day when the Sun comes to its solstice position furthest north of the celestial equator, tradition holds that the pause the Sun takes at this time actually lasts for three days.

This week the ancient constellation of the kneeler, known later as Hercules, sweeps high overhead, bearing a mystery across the sky.

This week, there’s an annular solar eclipse, on Thursday, and the fairy tale of “The White Doe” is perfect for imagining what the eclipse brings.

The Nodes of the Moon are the two points in space where the plane of the Moon’s orbit around the Earth intersects the plane of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun.

At dawn on Wednesday, May 26, the Full Moon will step into the Earth’s shadow, inaugurating this year’s eclipse season.