When was the final time you contemplated the marvelous issues with out quantity that God has executed on this universe? Are you aware the place to seek out the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the south? These are constellations, in spite of everything—issues within the sky that in precept anybody can see for themselves.
In The Discarded Picture, based mostly on his literature lectures at Oxford and Cambridge, C. S. Lewis insisted that to know how the universe appeared to medieval and Renaissance authors, we “should exit on a starry evening and stroll about for half an hour attempting to see the skies when it comes to the previous cosmology.” Listed here are some workout routines, particular issues you are able to do to make your self extra conscious of the celebs overhead.
Be taught to see the sky. Go outdoors each evening at about the identical time and maintain a diary of what you see. Discover a good place to have a look at the celebs. You will need to go outdoors; you can not actually see the sky via a window (as all prisoners know), so why imprison your self indoors at evening? The place the place you observe must be darkish, away from metropolis lights; it must be open, away from bushes and tall buildings; it must be straightforward to get to.
Is the Moon seen? The place is it positioned? Is it in a distinct place, or a distinct form, from final evening? In the event you can’t see it within the nighttime sky, search for it within the daytime!
The place is the brightest star you see within the sky? Describe its place when it comes to cardinal course (north, south, east, and west) and approximate peak above the horizon. Utilizing your fist, at arm’s size, as a typical measure, determine what number of fists above the horizon the star is.
Can you discover the Huge Dipper or Cassiopeia—5 stars within the form of a giant W? All year long, one or the opposite is all the time simply seen within the northern a part of the sky. (In the event you reside too far south of the equator to see them, search for the Southern Cross.) The place are they positioned? How massive throughout are they when it comes to your commonplace measure of fist at arm’s size?
Are you able to see any stars which have a colour aside from silvery-white? If that’s the case, the place are they positioned? Can you discover any clusters of stars, all bunched shut to one another like slightly cloud of sunshine—till you look extra intently?
You probably have a transparent horizon to the east, discover a vibrant star (or the Moon) close to the horizon and watch it rise. Discover the celebs which are seen if you begin gazing and the place they’re if you lastly go indoors, half an hour later at the least. You probably have a transparent horizon to the west, watch some star (or the Moon) because it units.
Think about you’re an historical Chaldean shepherd out at evening together with your sheep, gazing up on the stars. What do you suppose you’d make of them? Think about you’re a medieval scholar, residing at a time when the generally accepted view of the universe describes the sky as a set orb of stars overhead and the planets as connected to clear rotating spheres between these stars and us. Do you are feeling a way of up and down? A way of absolute smallness in comparison with the universe?
That is an act of prayer we’re speaking about, so deal with it as such.
—Excerpted from A Jesuit’s Information to the Stars by Man J. Consolmagno, SJ