Lightshow Today at the Tombs of East Carbane

Today is the autumnal equinox— a day when the hours of the day are equal to the hours of the night. Thousands of years ago, ancient man kept track of these events by building tombs that contained large stones carved with solar symbols. This morning, in Cairn T, a megalithic tomb in Loughcrew, Ireland ( above left), the backstone of its chamber was illuminated by a beam of light at sunrise. The sun light shaped by the stones at the entrance, traveled down the passage and descended to the backstone while moving from left to the right illuminating the symbols (petroglyphs) carved into the stone. Right, is a painting of what the backstone at Cairn T looks like today as the sun moves across its surface.

The Moon is Shapeshifting

Have you noticed the shape of the moon during the past few evenings? If you look to the east around sunset, you will see it rising. By tomorrow night, it will be a full moon. When I was a kid, my grandfather used to have me guess what the moon's shape would be a week after a full moon. Do you think you could do that? If so, make a little sketch of it and check the sky out to see if you are right.
Just a note about Venus:
Did you notice that you can see Venus shortly after sunset—even before any stars are visible?
This is the case because Venus is so bright compared to the stars that it's impossible to see the stars until the sky is really dark. You may have noticed when you go out into the countryside that there seem to be more stars in the sky than when you look at the city sky. Any ideas of why that is? I look forward to your comments.

Looking for Venus

The next couple of weeks will be exciting...I expect Venus to be visible in the night sky. I plan to look to the west—around where the sun sets, and figure it will be close to the horizon a couple of hours after sunset. I hope to get away from the city soon and out into the countryside where the lights don't bother me. I find it so much more fun looking at the sky when there are no city lights to mess up my view.
Venus is very bright, probably the brightest object you'll ever see in the heavens. Some of my ancestors called it the evening star because it was often seen in the early evening. We now know that it is not a star, but a planet.
If anyone is out looking at the sky in the next weeks, let me know when and where you spot it .
more later...