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Videos
Here you'll find a series of videos I've created over many different topics relating to Cultural Astronomy including references. Further exploring why we care about the night sky.
Why is our Moon Called the Moon?
What do you call the moon?
The fact that we call the moon - “the moon” can seem pretty underwhelming compared to other moon names like Titan or Phobos. But, when you look back at the origins of the word moon you’ll see the historical importance of the moon has been woven in to its names across many languages.
March Lunar Eclipse
Tonight you'll be able to see a lunar eclipse if you’re in the right area!
We’re currently in eclipse season where the orbital planes of the Earth and the Moon are intersecting this allows for a lunar eclipse during the full moon (like tonight) and a solar eclipse during the new moon! Eclipse seasons happen roughly every 6 months with the next one in September where those who were not able to see the eclipse tonight may get a chance to see one then!
Daylight Savings Explained
Daylight Savings is this weekend!
You can find versions of daylight savings all throughout history. For example, the Ancient Romans and Egyptians divided the time between sunrise and sunset in to 12 hours. In the summer an hour could be as long as 75 minutes and as short as 45 minutes in the winter. In an agrarian context people often just worked with whatever daylight was provided to them.
During the Industrial Revolution things changed… The increase in use of trains and railways meant that time had to become more standardised across the world leading to the creation of timezones across countries and later a worldwide timezone system.
After this time standardisation a new problem came up which was the varying number of daylight hours throughout the year. In order to maximise the working time in the daylight - daylights savings time was proposed! First adopted by Germany and England during the First World War over 1/3 of all countries have adopted some form of daylight savings since.
What do you think of daylight savings?
Ursa Major: Stories about this Iconic Constellation
In this video I'll be talking about Ursa Major - one of the most iconic constellations when you look at the night sky in the Northern Hemisphere.
For centuries, different cultures have placed folktales on to this pattern of stars including tales about special bears and everyday useful objects like a plough or wagon. Ursa Major is actually Latin for Large Bear!
Practically using the two stars in the big dipper (an asterism part of the constellation) points to the location of Polaris the current north pole star.
This constellation has also been featured in the paintings of Van Gogh and even mentioned in classic literature such as Homer and Shakespeare.
Importance of the Southern Cross
The Southern Cross has been used for thousands of years for navigation. By following the line made by the asterism you will find yourself heading south.
All across the world there are stories about the Southern Cross and it is particularly significant to the Southern Hemisphere where it is visible all year long.
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