Corona Diary Day 14

TILL APRIL 30TH?? + CAN YOU FIND THE NORTH STAR? + SILVER MAN MYSTERY

Till April 30th??

We just got the word that we're out at least until April 30, which to be honest was the earliest date I had in my head that we'd be back when they first sent us home. But it could be even later.

You may be worried about the prom and graduation. Don't worry. Something will get worked out. Maybe it won't be ideal, but it will happen. And just think of the stories you'll be able to tell your kids:

You as an older person: "Quit yer complaining, yah spoiled brats - when I was yer age, we didn't even know if we were gonna have graduation because of the gosh-darned Corona Germ! Why, if you so much as thought about visiting a friend, the governor'd have your butt arrested on the spot. I made the mistake of coughing in public once and everyone just ran the other way. And to top it all off, we had to do schoolwork AND homework at home - imagine that!"

It may also be the case that some of the changes our society is experiencing will become permanent, like so many people working from home. You might be the last generation to remember how things were before the big COVID-19 thing, sort of like when I try to describe to you what it was like to grow up during the tail end of the Cold War.

So remember: don't get upset about things you have no control over. If you do, you'll just be upset and you still won't have any control. The only thing you have control over is you and how you view it. Focus on what's close at hand. Everything will work out.

Can You Find the North Star?

For millennia, Polaris, also known as the North Star, guided mariners and travellers. Even as all the other stars move across the sky (like the Sun and Moon do), Polaris stays where it is: almost exactly to the north. Back then if you didn't know your constellations and especially how to locate Polaris, you'd be hopelessly lost. Can you find it?

Using the Big Dipper to find Polaris.

If not, here's a guide. Note: Polaris is not the brightest star in the sky. One often hears that it is, but that's not true. It isn't particularly bright. The easiest way to find it is to look for the Big Dipper (Ursa Major). The two outer stars of the cup part point toward Polaris. Polaris also forms the tail of the Little Dipper (Ursa Minor), but the Little Dipper can be harder to spot in the bright skies we have at night around here.

The weather tonight should be partly cloudy, so you have a good chance of spotting it. If you ever travel to a remote place to go camping, or end up on a cruise ship out at sea, there are so many stars visible in the sky, that it's actually hard to find some of the familiar constellations. It's really cool. It's as if the whole sky is sparkling with light.

Try to take a picture of the stars. Guess what? Unless you have a camera where you can control the shutter speed, you probably won't get much. It makes you appreciate how good your eyes are.

So why doesn't Polaris move? Why does it stay north? Well, the stars, sun and moon aren't actually going around the Earth, as you know. They move across the sky because we're spinning.

Earth's axis of rotation points toward Polaris. Of course, it's much farther away than it looks in this diagram: 433 light-years, in fact, which is about 2,500,000,000,000,000 miles!

If a friend stands at least 6 feet in front of you while you spin around in place, you would see them spinning across your field of view. That's the position we're in. In fact, your whole field of view would look like it was spinning, The only exception would be if there was something directly above you: it would be the only thing that would appear to stay in place.

If you draw an imaginary line through the axis of rotation of the Earth, it happens to point almost exactly toward Polaris. That's why it appears stationary. With so many stars in the sky, it seems likely that at least one star would be in that position. We're just lucky that it's bright enough to see with all the light that's on at night around here.

The Silver Man Mystery

Play the video at left. The Silver Man seems to balance impossibly on his shovel. How is he able to do that? If you think you know, send me an email. The answer will be in tomorrow's Corona Diary.