i am an unrequited astronomer, pretend patient, gentle adventurer, pedal enthusiast, recovering calligrapher, occasional thespian and unfinished poet living in portland, oregon. contacting me via email is usually a good idea.
8:09 PM: thanking my lucky stars
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i never knew there was thanksgiving folklore associated with the stars! for instance, if it wasn't raining, we could look directly below the moon tonight for fomalhaut, which sky & telescope calls "the Autumn Star, shining at its highest in the south."
but the naval observatory's "the sky this week" has this gem: "As we take time to gather with friends and family to celebrate Thanksgiving, it is interesting to note that there is a star associated with the season. If you go outside at around midnight, a bright golden beacon is located almost directly overhead. Capella is the sixth brightest star in the sky, and it represents a nanny-goat held by Auriga, the Charioteer. The goat owes her special place in the sky to the infant Jove, who broke one of her horns while nursing on her milk. The horn became the fabled Cornucopia, or “Horn of Plenty”, which is still used today as a symbol of our annual national feasting day."
tangentially related: tonight i made soup from one of the pumpkins we grew. yum! we'll make pie with the other one for thanksgiving.