Where the Sun Sets

8/28/05 – 9/3/05

By C. Zaitz

Brains are funny things. When I look at the moon, my mind often flies into space and I imagine being on the moon looking back at earth. Does that ever happen to you? I can remember the first time I noticed my funny brain. My parents bought me a telescope when I was young, and my father and I went out one night and found the Andromeda Galaxy. This galaxy is over 2 million light years from us and can barely be seen by the naked eye. Through my small telescope it looked like a tiny oval smudge. It was the opposite of impressive, but my young mind was flabbergasted. My father told me that the little smudge was another, larger Milky Way, and that the Andromeda was one of an inconceivable number of other galaxies, like a snowflake in a blizzard. In my mind’s eye, I could imagine I was floating in the Andromeda Galaxy looking back and seeing the earth. I could even imagine the motions of all the planets and their moons, as if they were an orchestra playing and I was in the mezzanine watching.

Ever since, I’ve been able to see things as if I were in a celestial mezzanine. For example, most of us are noticing that the days are getting shorter. Some of us even notice that the sun is setting and rising in a different place compared to a month ago. But my brain translates these facts into a view of the earth traveling around the sun, tipped at a 23.5 degree angle, spinning all the while, as if I were some space-dust breathing creature lurking at the outer edges of the solar system, spying on the distant earth. I see the tipped earth and I notice that it is heading to the neutral zone- the place in its orbit where neither the northern nor the southern half of the earth is leaning toward the sun- the Autumn Equinox. It is the time of year when the days and nights are equal in length and the sun will rise due east and set due west. There are only two days of the year when this happens; the other is the Spring Equinox. It is around these two days that you will notice the change in the length of daylight and position of sunrise/sunset the most.

What we see in our two-dimensional commute from work is the sun in our eyes, when last month it wasn’t. If your brain isn’t wired to flip into orbit at the least provocation, it’s easier to understand why the sunset is moving by using the Ensign Planetarium’s simulating equipment. You can watch the sun setting further to the south day after day as we speed up time and go into the future. You don’t need to come to the Planetarium to see these phenomena, but you are always welcome to visit us! Check out our website for the new Fall/Winter schedule. For a great explanation of dimensional thinking, go to this website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/dimensions.html. Beware- you might end up thinking in 10-D!

If you’re watching the real sky, look for Mars as it rises before midnight and glows pale peach in the late evening. Don’t be fooled by the spurious emails going around the internet about Mars being as big as the full moon in August. Mars made its closest approach back in 2003, it will never appear as large as the full moon, but this year it will be as bright as it will get around Halloween. You can see it any clear night, however- it’s always worth a look. Maybe you will imagine yourself on Mars looking back at earth! I’m waving to you.

Until next week, my friends, enjoy the view!