Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine - February 2021

THE CARIBBEAN SKY: FREE SHOW NIGHTLY!
The Sky from Mid-February to Mid-March
by Jim Ulik
“In space there are countless constellations, suns and planets; we see only the suns
because they give light; the planets remain invisible, for they are small and dark.
There are also numberless earths circling around their suns...”
— Giordano Bruno, Despre Infinit Univers Si Lumi (About Infinite Universe and
Worlds), printed in Venice in 1584.
past Earth this period. No worries, there is no chance that they will drift off course
and run aground on Earth. The asteroids, with varying degrees of associations with
the high seas, are:
• Jack London is making its close approach on February 20. He cruised the Pacific
aboard the 55-foot Snark.
• Bob Dylan sailed the 63-foot Bequia schooner Water Pearl. This asteroid passes
close to Earth on February 25th.
• Eric Clapton spent time aboard his 156-foot yacht Va Bene. His namesake makes
a close approach on March 9th.
The discoverer of an asteroid is accorded the privilege of suggesting a name for his/
her discovery. A committee of professional astronomers from around the world
review and approve the proposed name. If one committee member strongly objects to
a name, it is likely to be rejected. Contrary to some recent media reports it is not
possible to buy a minor planet.
FEBRUARY 2021 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 26
Illustration shows a man on earth peering through the universe to what was believed
in the Middle Ages to lie beyond. Camille Flammarion woodcut, 1888.
Giordano Bruno, a Dominican friar, was held in prison for six years during the
Roman Inquisition and interrogated for heresy. The detailed Holy Office transcripts
of Giordano Bruno’s trial were destroyed when Napoleon seized the Vatican Archives
and brought them to Paris. All that remained was a trial summary written in 1598.
He was interrogated not only about his opinions about church doctrine but also
regarding his stances on cosmology. Bruno embraced Copernicus’s heliocentric
model of the solar system. He also argued that the universe was infinite and
contained an infinite number of worlds inhabited by intelligent beings entirely
foreign to us and to the church.* Giordano Bruno was convicted of heresy and
burned at the stake on February 17th, 1600.
“They dispute not in order to find or even to seek Truth, but for victory, and to appear
the more learned and strenuous upholders of a contrary opinion.”
— Giordano Bruno
Three asteroids named after famous men will make a close approach as they sail
Location of three asteroids sailing past Earth near the Moon
over a few days at 2100 hours.**
Tuesday, February 16th
This morning Saturn, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus are lined up low in the east a
few degrees above the horizon. They will only be visible for 15 minutes prior to
sunrise. After tomorrow Venus will disappear as it becomes lost in the Sun’s glare
over the next three months. The only planet visible at night is Mars. This evening the
red planet begins this period entering the constellation Taurus.
—Continued on next page
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