While I was looking all over the place for those vinyl birdsong records, without any success, what I DID find was this home-made planisphere which must be at least 35+ years old. You can see straight away what a high-end product it is. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that that's the same pair of trousers I was wearing when I assembled it one rainy afternoon in 1877 ! Let's open it up and have a look at the "innards" as we stargazers call them ... notice especially the precision cutting-out, the nifty rectangle of yellowing Perspex which I cut out from one of the eye-holes of my dad's wartime gas-mask and the neat paper fastener which holds it all together, and best of all, the red-inked ecliptic I added as a special feature. On a small, home-made one like this there's only room for the brightest stars .... but its good enough to navigate your way round the sky at any time of year. Here's a more detailed view to show you how to set it for any night and any time ... I've lined up 18h and about the 28th of December .....and on that night it tells you that that there is a triangle of three bright stars towards the West ... Altair below, then Vega a bit higher in the sky, and Deneb higher still... and way over to the north is The Plough, and going from the Plough right past the Pole Star lies the W-shaped Cassiopeia high overhead.. You can also see that the sky is about the same at, say, 16h towards the end of January. Here it is set to a different time of year ... June/July-ish. And at 5am-ish Cassiopeia would be about overhead-sih, Betelgeuse ( Beetlejuice) way down on the Eastern-ish horizon, as is Gemini, and Capella nice and high-ish. Unfortunately it would be much too light-ish at that time of year to see any of them ! But I would know where the beggars were-ish ! Hah ! Many, many years later ( about 1923) (postwar over-optimism) I bought (!) a "real" planisphere. Here it is ... yes, I know all you're looking at is the crate of Scotch whisky at the far right. But that is a mere sideline ... concentrate ! And here it is again set for NOW. Which is about 8am GMT, Tuesday 16th April. Had it been dark, Cetus the Whale would have been visible on the Eastern Horizon, Cygnus the Swan would be almost right overhead.... and so on. But it isn't dark, but we know where they are. As you can see, it is only slightly better than mine. But a lot bigger ... and it has got a few more stars ... and the Milky Way ( Llwybr llaethog) But ..what's this got to do with birds ? Well, if somebody told you that they'd heard a gannet calling overhead one calm and clear midnight which seemed to start at Cygnus and was next heard in the Perseus area you'd be able to find out what direction it was going in. So there .... now you know. And, of course, you'll be quick to think up many other practical reasons for having one. Music ... well, we're conflicted aren't we. We could play something by top Welsh band Llwybr Llaethog, or we could have Tous des Stars by the excellent French band Dolly. Let's have them both eh ? I expect you've worked out which is which, but just in case, this is the Welsh one ... the title means " a life so different" which is what your new Planisphere will make yours ....
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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