At our December meeting I shared a video from the Minnesota State University at Moorhead Planetarium speculating on possible explanations for the Star of Bethlehem. i also referenced a second video from the BBC Sky At Night program on the same topic. They came to different conclusions, see what you think.
The Chicxulub Asteroid
Sixty-six million years ago, the dinosaurs looked up from their world-domination and saw something plunging from the sky. They couldn’t have known it, but their world was over. Here are a few links about current findings and theories of that day:
- The New Yorker magazine, March 29, 2019 – this article discusses the possibility that a paleontologist may have found a large fossil trove from the actual day that the asteroid hit:
- A BBC article that essentially summarizes the New Yorker article
- A Space.com post that discusses the idea that it was an asteroid that struck
- A Harvard Gazette article from February 2021 that instead theorizes a comet from the Oort Cloud smashing into the Earth
- A Livescience.com post that talks about what probably happened in the moments and hours following the impact
- And if you ever wondered how and why cockroaches survived the impact (which of course they did – they were there before it hit, and are still with us), here you go.
April 2022 Meeting
Our April meeting is Thursday, April 7, 6:15PM at the Pearl Library, 2416 Old Brandon Road Pearl, MS 39208. We’ll watch a presentation on mapping the stars of the southern hemisphere.
Chankillo – The Oldest Astronomical Observatory in the Americas
Chankillo is a solar observatory in northern Peru that’s over 2500 years old. It’s now been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There’s a good description of the site and how it may have been used here, including descriptions of the thirteen towers that were integral to it’s purpose.
November meeting
JAA will be meeting tonight at the Pearl Library, 6:15 PM. We’ll be watching a presentation on the creation of galaxies from Case Western Reserve University.
July 2021 Meeting
The Pearl Library is now allowing a maximum of 40 persons in their meeting room, so the Jackson Astronomical Association will hold our public meeting in person this Thursday, July 1, at 6:15 PM. The library is at 2416 Old Brandon Rd, Pearl, MS 39208. Please come join us and bring any questions you’ve been wanting to ask for the last 16 months!