Did you enjoy Durin's Day?

We sort of left off on a cliff-hanger last week trying to determine the date of Durin's Day, the Dwarves New Year. Now true, there may not be a lot of Tolkien fans out there, but we are around, and with the third -- and hopefully final -- movie of the Hobbit cycle coming out in December there may be more interest.

If we use the modern calendar the final moon of autumn before winter begins (Dec. 21) is the new moon of Nov. 22. Since Durin's Day is not a fixed day on the calendar but a day that depends on seeing the crescent moon in the sky while the Sun is still in the sky, that would place Durin's day on or about Nov. 23 or 24.

Now, here is the kicker. What if Tolkien was using the ancient Celtic calendar -- after all, he was a professor of Celtic and ancient languages -- that would mean using Celtic notation for figuring the date.

The Celtic calendar did not use the solstice/equinox dates for determining the start of seasons, they used the cross-quarter days for the beginning which placed the seasonal starts between the solstice / equinox dates. That is why we often hear the beginning summer called mid-summer day in some places.

In the Celtic calendar, autumn starts on the cross-quarter day Samhain (what we call Halloween). That would put the last moon of autumn at the new moon of Oct. 23, giving a potential date for Durin's Day at Oct. 26 or 27.

Now, why all the fuss about a fictional date, well, I have often been asked to calculate Durin's Day for the Tolkien fans who are looking for an excuse for a party, and I figure a party is a party.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled.

For this next bit, I want to thank the folks at WPBT2 in Florida who produce the weekly Star Gazers program. This week's program discusses several polygons that can be found in our autumnal-early winter sky.

First, one we are very familiar with, the Summer Triangle. Yes, it is still hanging around, literally. Look west about an hour after local sunset, about halfway up the sky for the three bright stars -- Vega, Altair, and Deneb -- hanging there for all to see.

Next, look right over your head, high in the south for another polygram, this time a square, the Great Square of Pegasus. We have found him before, but lower toward the horizon where he looks more like a giant baseball diamond.

Now being overhead he assumes his destined shape of the square.

Adding one more side, we can discover a pentagon by finding the constellation of Auriga, the Charioteer, by looking northeast at about 7:30 p.m. The very bright star Capella will draw your attention to the five-sided group.

Before looking for our last polygon go back inside and warm yourself up until about 10 p.m., when you can go back outside and look east for the seven bright stars of our last shape, the Winter Hexagon.

Start with Capella in Auriga, head down and slightly left to find Castor and Pollux, then down and slightly right for Procyon. Now, scoot right for very bright Sirius, right again for also bright Rigel, the left foot of Orion then almost straight up and slightly left for Aldebaran in Taurus, the Bull, then back to Capella.

SKYWATCH: First-quarter moon, Saturday, Nov. 29.

NEXT WEEK: More astronomical blathering.