Next message: George Huxtable: "Re: Mirrored Artificial Horizon"
>From: Blackwood <>
>Reply-To: Navigation Mailing List <>
>To:
>Subject: Constellation names
>Date: Sun, 2 Nov
>
>George,
>
>"The Stars: A New Way To See Them," Houghton Mifflin Company, c1952,
>was given to me 25 years ago by friends, American circumnavigators/sailing
>writers Skip and Linda Dashew, to help me get started in celestial
>navigation.
>
>Highly complimentary back cover reviews quote Albert Einstein,
>"Navy News," Hayden Planetarium, US Power Squadron, various international
>astronomical societies, etc.
>
>Hans Augusto Rey was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1898. As a child, he spent
>much of his free time in that city's famous Hagenbeck Zoo drawing animals.
>After
>serving in the army during the Weltkrieg, he studied philology and natural
>science
>at the University of Hamburg. He moved to Montmartre for four years and
>escaped
>from Paris in 1940 to the US.
>
>Sharon
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "George Huxtable" <>
>To: <>
>Sent: November 02 Subject: Constellation names
>
>
>Sharon Blackwood wrote-
>
> >The names you mentioned are the commonly accepted "Rey's" method.
> >(H. A. Rey "The Stars: A New Way To See Them") The book, for children
> >and adults, tries to depict more identifiable names for the
>constellations.
> >
> >The Starry Night software also allows users to choose the "Rey"
>constellations
> >as well as Astronomical and Zodiac.
> >
> >I find the "Rey" method confusing, but many people swear by it -
> >especially for teaching children.
>
>==========
>
>Thank you, Sharon, for a really useful comment.
>
>When you say "commonly accepted", and "many people swear by it", it would
>be interesting to know what point-of-view your are referring to. Is it from
>a US background, or where? From your mailing, I can only guess, from its
>timezone.
>
>It would also be of interest to learn, in rough terms, how recently this
>method was introduced and how widespread it has become. I have a niece who
>is a teacher and will ask her if that method is used in the UK.
>
>I've spoken about this matter with my brother-in-law Peter, who teaches
>juniors in New Zealand. He tells me that the constellation names he uses
>there haven't changed since he was a child. Many of them are invisible and
>unfamiliar to us Northerners, of course.
>
>We expect to see, and to recognise, our circumpolar stars any way up, but
>for those constellations nearer the equator, such as Orion, their
>orientation doesn't alter much. Being on the Equator, Orion is just as
>visible from New Zealand, and Peter explains an additional problem for them
>there. Seen from the South, Orion is always upside-down, and Peter points
>out that it's hard to respect, as a great warrior, someone who is always
>standing on his head. As a private arrangement between him and his class,
>then, they have renamed Orion "the Shopping-Trolley".
>
>George
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