At peak magnitude, seek out the goddess of love planet in a clear blue sky in the west-southwest during daylight hours, being extremely careful to keep eyes diverted from the sun.
Most of us are focused on one simple aspect of the astronomy of the season: the solstice that occurred on December 21. Unless we look closer, the fact escapes us that the darkest mornings of the year begin this Thursday, the 29th.
In response to a study of Norman Rockwell’s ‘Golden Rule,’ on exhibit at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Maegan Warner’s third grade class at Muddy Brook Elementary School wrote a poem, and marched a print of the illustration through the school.
Although moonlight will screen out a view of all but a fraction of the shooting stars in the Geminid meteor shower, “a patient observer may be able to spot 20 or so per hour, even from urban locations,” according to the United States Naval Observatory writer.
“We’ve always been about the needs of individuals, whether they want college or not. We ask what they need to thrive and see their future, not as something abstract, but concrete, now, here.”
-- Ananda Timpane, executive director of Railroad Street Youth Project
Cinching evening darkness, new moon falls on the 29th, followed by evenings enhanced by a waxing crescent moon that sets early leading to long, dark, moonless nights.
Halloween encourages our imaginations and coaxes us to embrace the dark time of year marks the approximate halfway point between the autumnal equinox (September 22) and the winter solstice (December 21).
“Chess combines intellectual and emotional discipline – both of which are desperately needed in this irrational time. At the same time chess requires players to be polite and have decorum.”
-- Gene Kalish, organizer of the Berkshire Hills Chess Club
The Orionid meteor shower, its radiant appearing to be at the upper left of the constellation for which it is named, is forecast to be active from about the 19th through the 22nd, peaking before dawn on the 21st.
Every breakfast and lunch in the Muddy Brook cafeteria is served on single-use plastic or paper and, at the end, it’s all dumped into the trash. While all of it is recyclable, none of it is recycled. Among other items, that’s 37,170 plastic spoons alone headed for the landfill.
On Friday and Saturday, the 7th and 8th, follow a robust crescent moon from midafternoon in the southeast until it completes its arc before midnight in the southwest.
“We should be celebrating the fact that when they get to high school, our students are leading the pack. Teachers do above and beyond. It’s not about a damn test; it’s about the kids.”
--- Southern Berkshire Regional School Committee member Charlie Flynn
In the hour before sunrise during the last week of September and the first week of October, an additional incentive to prompt our waking up to go outdoors in the early morning is the promise of witnessing the ethereal zodiacal light.
Shakespeare & Company’s Education Director Kevin Coleman is a 2016 Tony Award Finalist for Excellence in Theatre Education. “Creativity is our birthright. All art gives us insights into ourselves, keys to our own creativity, and theatre adds a natural experience of cooperation,” he notes.
