Astronomy

Astronomy

September 25-27, 2011

We were studying about astronomy in science and so that took us out to the “Long Bridge” with our telescope in tow to see what we could see!

 

We set up the telescope and started to look around at the brightest stars.

I pointed out different constellations using my awesome iPhone app called Star Chart. This little app has GPS and you hold it up to the sky where ever you are and it aligns itself with the stars in the sky and tells you what you are looking at. We saw Virgo’s feet as they went down with the sun. We spotted Hercules and Draco and many others.

 

But the coolest was when Austin found Jupiter! We thought it was just a bright “star” in the sky but using the app we discovered it was really Jupiter.  Not only did he spot the planet but also four of it’s moons using the telescope. We were all excited!

 

Once we got the telescope set we told the littles not to touch it so they had to get on their knees to look.

We spent  three days and evenings going to the bridge to look up in the sky. We are in awe of God’s creation.

 

We even went to see a sun rise. I was snapping away at the beauty of it with the camera and did not realize that I had taken a picture of the huge sun spot, called Sunspot 1302, that was causing all our solar winds and high fire dangers. The three dots almost center of the bottom half is the sun spots. This was really cool because we had studied about sun spots as well, in science.


Anna broke her arm on the 26th, she was not feeling to great but she said she wanted to go sit at the bridge and watch the sunset anyway.

The boys run down the bank towards the water to investigate as we waited for the sun to get low in the sky.

The sun began to set, the gold shimmering off the waters reflecting the brightness of the sun reminds me that like the waters, we too are to be a reflection of the SON. We may not be as perfect as a mirror, having many things causing waves in our lives, but we can still reflect the beauty of the SON to a degree that will make others yearn to reflect HIM as well.

And with the sun having set, the sky became a canvas that God painted with pink wispy clouds against a purple horizon. It was a blessing to be able to watch the sun rise and set and the stars come out and shine and to think God made all of these things in one day.

Gen 1:14  And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
Gen 1:15  And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
Gen 1:16  And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

THE END