John's Page
COLUMBUS AND THE MISTAKEN POLE STAR
In the ship's log kept by Columbus on his first voyge of discovery in 1492
Columbus mistakenly sighted Beta Cepheus thinking it was the polestar Polaris. Columbus entered in his log a position of 42 degrees north latitude rather then the actual latititde where he was of 21 degrees north latitude.
I became curious and went outside to look at Beta Cepheus to see if I could understand how this may have happened. Beta is located some 19 degrees above the pole star in the Fall evening sky. No pattern exist that mimics the clues a modern amateur astronomer would use to find the pole star in the absence of the big dipper's pointer star.
My conclusion after studying the situation in the real sky was that Columbus was a rather poor navigator, lacking knowledge of the constellations we modern amateur astronmers take granted. No wonder Columbus became lost and found America!
Comet Holmes 7/P
by John Gilkison
Comet Homes has put on quite a show since the Middle of October for amateur astronomers world wide. The comet reported to be at 9th magnitude in early October put on a burst of brightening by a factor of a million.The first night I heard about it I took out my 11x 80 mm binoculars and scanned Perseus. I could not locate the comet, but remember being confused about the location of the two reference stars, Alpha and Delta Perseus. The next night I pointed out to my wife with a laser pointer the apparent star that I thought was Comet Holmes. Then we went to the 13 inch telescope and sure enough it was the comet. Fun stuff, this there is a new star there astronomy. The very next night after this I returned to the 11x80 mm binoculars and Comet holmes was now sporting a visible disk even at 11 power. The comet had grown in apparent size rapidly over the three days of my observations. If you have not seen 17/P observe it soon.
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| Tri-planitary conjunture - December 2006 |
Comet Q4 |