History in making ... or current events?

A little history was commemorated recently, but unless you were paying attention you may have missed it. Oct. 4, 2007, was the 50th anniversary of the launch by the Soviet Union of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.

I guess it is a sign of advancing age when there are events such as this remembered as history, but I remember the launching of Sputnik. It is one of the events that sent me off on a study of “outer space.”

I remember the next morning on the television program Today when the host, Dave Garroway, was interrupted by a beach ball-sized object passing just over his head, beeping as it went. I remember listening to a shortwave radio which was tuned in to the beeps emitted by Sputnik.

The local newspaper carried information each day about the times Sputnik would be passing overhead. At the appointed time I would find myself outside watching as it passed, a small, bright dot against the darkness of space and the brightness of the stars.

A little more than a year previous, the Andrea Doria passenger liner sank. It was just two days after my ninth birthday. I remember watching it by yet another recent innovation, live television. I recall watching the Today program as they had helicopters out televising the event as it happened. I remember watching as the ship turned on its side and sank into the ocean. Strange thing, history -- only then it was current events.

All of which has nothing to do with astronomy, except there are several other historical and astronomical events I recall, again as current events. Includ-ing watching the fledgling NASA at-tempt to launch its own Earth satellites. My father would rouse me at 5 a.m. only to see the rocket explode on the launch pad. I always asked dad to wake me up in time to see a launch. I guess I was a space case even then.

I watched the (successful) launches of the other Vanguard series satellites and the Echo I balloon satellite, later viewing them as they passed overhead in the night sky. I still get a thrill watching a satellite pass overhead, especially the International Space Station or the space shuttle. I recall watching them recently flying in tandem just after they had separated. Two bright dots crossing the sky silently.

I recall sitting on the front porch of my grandparents home, about a block away from our own. In the summer evenings we would sit out there and talk until I knew it was time for a satellite to pass over. Then we would all go out into the yard and watch the small bright dot as it traversed the heavens. Strange thing, history, or was it current events?

SKY WATCH:

Full Moon, Oct. 25, after which not much will be viewable in the early evening hours for a week or so. This particular full moon is what is traditionally called the Hunter's Moon. It is the first full moon after the Harvest Moon which was last month.

It will be the closest full moon of the year and since the ecliptic (the path of the sun through the sky) is inclined very close to the horizon, the moon will ride low to the horizon for two evenings, Oct. 25 and 26.

In the early morning hours of Sunday, Oct. 28, look for the Moon very near the Pleiades star cluster. The moon will be near Mars the next morning.

Next time:

More astronomical blatherings.