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Exploring the Cosmos: Walt Whitman's "Learn'd Astronomer" and the Mysteries of Astronomy

Walt Whitman's poem "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" captures a profound yearning for the beauty of the cosmos beyond charts and calculations. The poem contrasts the scholar's analytical approach to astronomy with the awe experienced in silence under the stars. It invites readers to explore celestial phenomena such as diurnal motion, precession, and the dynamics of the Earth's seasons, while encouraging reflection on the breathtaking mysteries that can be lost amid technical explanations. Discover how nature inspires and transcends academic knowledge.

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Exploring the Cosmos: Walt Whitman's "Learn'd Astronomer" and the Mysteries of Astronomy

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  1. Some imagination required!

  2. When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomerby Walt Whitman When I heard the learn'd astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.

  3. Alternate models • geocentric • heliocentric Which model is “true”?

  4. demo

  5. Diurnal motion • Daily motion of all the objects in the sky

  6. Motion of the Earth • Rotation about axis once every 23h56m (sidereal day) • Revolution about sun once every 365.25 days • Precession of axis every 26,000 yr • All are counterclockwise (seen looking down from North Pole)

  7. Precession Takes 26,000 years

  8. What causes seasons? • Northern and Southern hemispheres have opposite seasons • Earth closest to sun in January • Varying distance of sun only changes intensity of light coming to earth by a few percent

  9. Summer Solstice • Sun highest in sky • shortest shadows • Longest day • Most direct sunlight • warmest • Sun is at the northernmost point of the ecliptic Winter Solstice just the opposite!

  10. Equinoxes • Vernal (spring) and autumnal (fall) • Equal hours of daylight & darkness • True everywhere on Earth! • Sun is at the point where ecliptic crosses celestial equator • Length of day changing fastest

  11. analema

  12. Waxing crescent What phase is the moon in today?

  13. animation

  14. Eclipses • Caused by shadows of earth & moon • Don’t occur every month because of 5° inclination of moon’s orbit

  15. Web sites Astronomy Picture of the Day http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html Comins & Kaufmann (textbook) http://whfreeman.com/dtu6e others space.com astronomydaily.com skyandtelescope.com

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