Constellations and Asterisms!
July 2026!
In last week's weekly edition of the "Special Page", the theme was "Dog Days Of Summer." The period of time from July 3 until August 11 was given that moniker by the ancient Greeks. Those early Greek Skywatchers noted that the "Dog Star" (Sirius), on July 3, started rising just a few minutes before the Sun and continued on this path until August 11. They then theorized that the added heat from Sirius plus the heat from the sun was the reason of it being hotter than normal, thus we have "Dog Days Of Summer."
The "Dog Star" (Sirius") is the brightest star in the nighttime sky and is one of 8 main stars that make up the constellation "Canis Major." or "the greater dog." "Canis Major" is one of 88 constellations that are officially recognized by the "International Astronomical Union (IAU). These constellations map out the entire night sky into specific regions offically established in 1922 and standardized in 1930. All of the constellations have been given Latin names. Some are visible year-around, i.e. "Ursa Major" containing the asterism, "The Big Dipper." Others like "Canis Major", containing Sirius, are not visible year-around. The 12 Zodiac Constellations (actually they are 13) tend to follow each other on a monthly basis starting on the horizon, slowly moving higher each night until it reaches its peak, then slowing moving back to the horizon until the sun becomes between it and the Earth. Only about half of the Zodiac Constellations are visible on any given night.
Why the lead-in of the first two paragraphs and information that was used in last week's Special Page? Well, when researching and thinking about "Canis Major", I never realized that Ancient Roman and Greek Skywatchers had looked into the night sky and mapped out a big part of the sky, Northern and Southern Hemispheres, with groups of stars and called them constellations. For instance, how could ancient people without our modern equipment look at 8 stars in the night sky and visualize a dog. All of us have looked at cloud formations and then visualized a person, place, or thing. Below is the 8 star pattern of "Canis Major." Ha, do you see a dog?
To see the dog look at the last picture of this page. I am just amazed that those ancient skywatching astronomers, were able to map out the entire night sky with constellations. Whatever they were drinking or smoking must have been some good stuff, after all, it can get cold watching the night sky.
If you have not looked at the "Soldier" section of the Rockport/Echols Web Site of late, please give it another try. I have recently updated the entire Navy section and a lot of the "Cold War" section. Click on the following link to view the "Soldier" section. Thanks.
Our VeteransClick on following link to e-mail
me.
J. R. Durham.
I have also completly updated the "Class of 1947" page and some other classes of
the 1940 era. Click on the following link to view the 1947 Class. After viewing
the 1947 Class page, just back up and click on any of the boxes for another class.
Again, thanks for looking. Click on following link to view 1947 RHS Class.
Class of 1947.
Wishing you the best for the year, 2026..
see you.....
jerry
