Night Ops Telemeter ◭ Astronomical News

The return of an old favorite to make sense of those dark times.

Greetings Wndsn Aficionados!

This year comes to a close, and an exciting astronomical one at that. And of course, we got a tool for that.

Thank you all for joining along for the ride in these exceptional and trying times. We’ve heard how our work has created a break from the events on the ground and allowed a sense of engagement and play in concepts and conditions that are more eternal. Maybe we can make it into a general theme to not get caught up too much in the momentary and instead focus on the beauty of the natural world. Or more simply, “keep calm and do trig.”

New in Stock: The Night Ops Telemeter on the Occasion of the “Great Jupiter-Saturn Conjunction”

Over the course of the last couple of weeks, we have been observing and measuring the angular separation between Jupiter and Saturn until today, where they are almost impossible to discern from each other and look like they are in the same spot. While the “Great Jupiter-Saturn Conjunction” occurs every twenty years, this one is truly special.

As you may have heard, the last time this exciting event happened was in 1623, and today it will be the closest observable event since 1226. The earth will not experience this view again until March 15, 2080.

To facilitate further such observations, we are re-releasing an old classic: a simple, one-sided Telemeter engraved on transparent acrylic, made with a special slot to accommodate a 2" mini chemlight (included as long as stock lasts) for lateral illumination of the scale marks. The Night Ops Telemeter features a maximized set of scales with 7.5° x 7.5 x 500 units and introduces our new single-line font for 2021. With the transparent acrylic and a special engraving technique, we make use of the refraction property of the material which allows reading the scales against a light background where they appear dark as well as in the dark, where they appear light -- thus providing contrast in most conditions.

In stock now, get this optimized piece of equipment to keep you measuring and adventuring in the rarest of nights.

And best wishes to all, may everyone have a clear view of tonight’s sky.

Shipping

As the international postal system continues to be severely affected by the impact of Corona, check this page often to see who's back online.

That’s it from Wndsn for this year. Stay safe, healthy, and see you early next year. Want to stay in immediate touch? Join the Wndsn Expedition Team Telegram Chat.

--Alexander Becker

Winter Solstice 2020

As if today’s astronomical event was not exciting enough, we also have the solstice. Here is an excerpt from the GQT4 discussing the ecliptic, presented here in celebration of the start of the coming of the light.

“The Sun describes two different apparent paths in the sky:

1. As the Earth rotates around its own axis, the fixed stars and the Sun in front of them appear to rotate from east to west around the Earth over the course of a day. This leads to the apparent daily motion of the Sun relative to the horizon, the diurnal arc.
2. The path of the apparent annual motion of the Sun relative to the fixed stars is called the ecliptic.

The ecliptic is the plane on which the Sun and (approximately) the planets lie. The ecliptic is a great circle on the celestial sphere, which is tilted in relation to the celestial equator by ~23.44°. Its orientation towards our horizon changes with the daily rotation.

While the ecliptic (plane) is determined by the (annual) orbit of the Earth around the Sun, the equatorial plane is determined by the (daily) rotation of the Earth around its own axis.

The angle at which both planes are tilted towards each other is called the obliquity of the ecliptic. The ecliptic intersects the celestial equator at two opposite points, the Sun’s locations at the equinoxes.

This occurs twice each year, around March 20th and September 23rd. In other words, it is the moment at which the center of the visible Sun is directly above the equator. The ecliptic is tilted towards the celestial equator, so that one half of it is in the northern hemisphere and the other half is in the southern hemisphere. The Sun reaches the northernmost point of the ecliptic at the solstice in June and its southernmost point at the solstice in December.”

The graphic shows the Quadrant with equal hours for the December solstice. The knot marks the midday point from which the hours since sunrise or until sunset are counted on the hour lines.

The definition of the solstice is when the Earth’s tilt is at one of its extremes. For the June solstice the tilt (declination) is at 23.44° and for the December solstice, the tilt is at -23.44°.

The term solstice comes from Latin, “the Sun stands still.” On the day of a solstice, after the maximum declination is reached, the path of the Sun then reverses. On the December solstice, for an observer on the northern hemisphere, that day has the lowest Sun altitude whereas for the observer in the southern hemisphere, it is reversed and the Sun is at its highest altitude. In order to name the solstices correctly for both hemispheres, we refer to them as the June or December solstice since winter solstice is in December if you are in the northern hemisphere and in June if you are in the southern hemisphere. Winter solstice is the day that has the least sunlight of the year, and therefore the longest night and vice versa.

As always, you can use Tycho to play with the declination values to see how they affect maximum Sun altitudes.

New products will be announced first in this newsletter; please stay tuned for more. Please note that due to high demand, some designs may be out of stock fast. See what's in stock in the New Arrivals stream.

Watch this space, and never stop exploring!

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Happy exploring! (And always feel free to contact us at info@wndsn.com.)