The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1954-01-09
Astronomer Tells OF Consultations
Described As aHunting In The Sky.
OF Stars Seen From Key Vest NotO
By J. p. eAILLon

Al THIS Time Wueu men TAKE bl
the woods In search of wild game.
LET us turn our eyes to the sky
and look for that epic hunting
scene immortalized by the great
hunter Orion forever poised to slay
the wild bull, Taurus.
The Greeks and Romans, pro-
baby the Egyptians before them,
had selected the most brilliant con-
Istellations of the winter sky to sym
lbolize the sport that has such an
appeal to man. To them IT repre-
scented the courage and skill Of
man against the strength of fero-
Icious animals and has little in COM
mon with today's hunting, the ruth
less and needless slaughter Of de-
Ifenseless animals.
You may observe Orion now
from sunset to sunrise. Early in
the evening, still bathed in the eve
ming twilight, the great hunter
Lying on his right side is slowly
rising in the East and at the rate
of Is degrees per hour begins his
walk across the sky; one hour be-
fore midnight he will cross the
meridian, standing straight up, his
head almost above our heads do
Iminating the Southern sky. Then
slowly Orion begins his downward
motion to set in the West, and lie
on his left side shortly before
dawn.
The sky bull, Taurus, precedes
Orion, it is easily identified by its
cleaning eye, the red star Aide
baran and by the small star clus-
ter, Pleiades, marking its heart,
lat this time, the most brilliant OBJ
ject in the sky, the planet Jupiter,
in its wandering around the sun
happens to be located exactly be.
tween the two horns of Taurus,
adding its beauty to this specta.
cular stellar group.
No hunting scene would be com.
lplete without dogs, so Orion is fol.
lowed by his two dogs, CAMS Ma.
jor, he great dog, and CAMS Min.
or, the lesser dog; they rise after
their master and are easily located
by their main stars, the brilliant
Sirius and the white Procyon.
Not only was Orion the brave
and fearless hunter, but also by
Tits position in the sky, ii would
then, as well as today, give the
month of the year and also the
exact time during the night. The
upper star of Orion's belt is now
located on the Celestial Equator
and is most valuable to naviga-
TORS; when that star is exactly ov-
ierhead Tin the Zenith) the ship is
crossing the Equator. Also a line
drawn from the point Of the sword
Through the heat of Orion points to
| the North.
Our ancestors conception of the
sky was quite childish it is true,
but how human and refreshing.
The main activities of human life,
the epic stories of the mythology;
heroes and villains, powerful gods,
fair ladies rescued by gallant
knights; peaceful as well as Zero.
lcious animals, all had their place
lin their heavens.
Modern astronomy brings us an
entirely different picture. Orion is
inc longer bright picture of the
mighty hunter but an agglomera.
ltion of stars whose distances to us
wary greatly. For example, Rigel
at orion's left knee is about SIC
light years from us and around
Itwenty-one thousand times as
bright as our sun, while, Sirius in
CAMS Major, the most brilliant
star in our Northern Sky is only
Sbs light years away. The red giant
Betelgeuse marking Orion's right
shoulder Is much larger yet about
three hundred million miles in dia-
| meter. The nebula in the hunters
belt is almost perfect vacuum
while Sirius's companion, a white
dwarf, is so dense that a baseball
there would weigh many tons.
Hunting for our ancestors was
necessity, their very existence de-
pended on their strength, courage
and skill. Today the security Of
civilization has made that type Of
hunting unnecessary, obsolete. The
development of mans intelligence
demands of him another type OF
huntig, a type just as vital to
him as the destruction of wild ami.
mails was to his ancestors; the
hunting for knowledge, for more
knowledge.
Astronomy offers the widest
hunting field, and the sky is truly
the limit. Especially here in Key
West, not only are all the stars Of
the northern hemisphere visible but
also more stars from the southern