Moon, Saturn, and the imaginary far beyond

The Moon will pass 0.44° north or Saturn in the night between August 20 and 21, close enough to occult (hide) the planetas seen by observers in countries from central America southward, most of Europe, and north-western Africa.

Here is the scene as Moon and Saturn come up into view over the south-eastern horizon.

See the end note about enlarging illustrations. Saturn is exaggerated 150 times in size, to show the current attitude of its rings. We have to show it on top of the Moon, which otherwise would hide it. To see it in reality disappear behind the Moon, you have to be farther south.

In this diagram from the “Occultations” section on page 106 of Astronomical Calendar 2024

the circles are Saturn’s Moon-shadow (from within which it cannot be seen) at 10-minute intervals. The lines representing the north and south limits of the occultation track are not exact, because of the Earth’s rotation. The side diagram shows Saturn passing the Moon, as seen from the center of the Earth.

For Britain, it may be possible to witness the occultation. Usually it is easier to see the beginning, as the star or planet seems to move toward the advancing edge of the Moon, This time, it will be very low to the horizon. After about an hour, and higher up, you may be lucky to see Saturn swim out from behind the Moon.

Another starry sphere

Waiting at a bus stop, I saw these stars.

They were twinkling in the breeze. Beyond them was a dull daytime sky.

Ancient people, for whom the cosmos was centered on the Earth, conjected spheres revolving around us to carry the Moon, Sun, and the five other known Wanderers, and, beyond Saturn, the fixed stars, and the crystalline sphere, and the primum mobile that made the others move, and a final but not infinite shell of mere nothingness. And the stars might be holes in a sphere, or candles set in it.

We could imagine a civilization for whom that sphere was a cosmic tree, like Yggdrasil in Norse mythology.

I remembered a famous image, but couldn’t find it until long-distance friend Anthony Barreiro helped. He remembered that it is known as “the Flamarion Engraving.” It shows an intrepid explorer who reaches the edge of the world and the sphere of the stars and peer through it to the mysteries beyond.

The skill needed for this wood engraving is staggerng. Can you imagine cutting each of those black areas, that were to be filled with ink, into a block of wood with a sharp tool?

I had thought the print dated from the Middle Ages or the Renaissance, but it must have been commissioned by Camille Flammarion, prolific writer on astronomy and more. It was used as an illustration in his 1888 book L’atmosphère: météorologie populaire. A colored version was made in the 1970s.

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This weblog maintains its right to be about astronomy or anything under the sun.

ILLUSTRATIONS in these posts are made with precision but have to be inserted in another format. You may be able to enlarge them on your monitor.

One way: right-click, and choose ”View image” or ”Open image in new tab”, then enlarge. Or choose ”Copy image”, then put it on your desktop, then open it. On an iPad or phone, use the finger gesture that enlarges (spreading with two fingers, or tapping and dragging with three fingers). Other methods have been suggested, such as dragging the image to the desktop and opening it in other ways.

Sometimes I make improvements or corrections to a post after publishing it.  If you click on the title, rather than on ‘Read more’, I think you are sure to see the latest version. Or, if you click ‘Refresh’ or press function key 5, you’ll see the latest version.