Water Jar Asterism in Aquarius Rises in Southwest in Northern November

Summary: The four star Water Jar asterism in Aquarius the Water Bearer constellation rises in the southwest in the Northern Hemisphere's November.

Water Jar asterism in Aquarius the Water Bearer constellation, depicted by Sidney Hall in Urania’s Mirror (1825), a set of 32 astronomical star chart cards: U.S. Library of Congress, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The four star Water Jar asterism in Aquarius the Water Bearer constellation rises in the southwest in the late autumn skies of November in the Northern Hemisphere.

The southern celestial hemisphere primarily claims Aquarius the Water Bearer. The constellation’s iceberg-like location slips slightly north over the celestial equator but largely stretches southward across the celestial sphere, the imaginary sphere projected outward from Earth.

The four star Water Jar asterism in Aquarius the Water Bearer constellation lies near asterisms in two northern neighbors. The Great Square of Pegasus perches above the Water Jar asterism, to the northeast. The Circlet of Pisces resides to the side, to the east-northeast.

Aquarius the Water Bearer’s Water Jar asterism occupies the constellation’s upper reaches. The four star Water Jar asterism straddles the celestial equator, the imaginary great circle projected outward from Earth’s equator onto the imaginary, Earth-centered celestial sphere.

The Water Jar asterism is often described as a y-shaped quartet centering on Zeta Aquarii. Other configurations exist. The official constellation chart for Aquarius released by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), in collaboration with Sky & Telescope magazine, presents the asterism with a four-angled, kite-shaped outline that fans eastward from Alpha Aquarii, usually depicted as marking the Water Bearer’s shoulder and that excludes Eta Aquarii.

In the y-shaped quartet, Gamma Aquarii (γ Aquarii; Gamma Aqr; γ Aqr) marks the asterism’s southernmost point. The fourth magnitude binary star system anchors the y-shaped configuration’s tail. Gamma Aquarii shines as the y-shaped asterism’s second brightest star.

Gamma Aquarii’s traditional name is Sadachbia, which derives from an Arabic phrase meaning “luck of the tents” (Arabic: sa’d al-‘axbiyah). Arab astronomy groups Gamma Aquarii and the y-shaped configuration’s other three stars as components of “the tent” (Arabic: al Aḣbiyah).

Pi Aquarii (π Aqr; π Aquarii) perches slightly northeast of Gamma Aquarii. The fifth magnitude star marks the Water Jar asterism’s northernmost point. Pi Aquarii anchors the y-shaped configuration’s western branch. Pi Aquarii is the dimmest star in the Water Jar asterism. Pi Aquarii’s location north of the celestial equator qualifies its classification as a Northern Hemisphere star.

Pi Aquarii’s traditional name, Seat, has an uncertain origin. American astronomer and star lore enthusiast Richard Hinckley Allen (Aug. 4, 1838-Jan. 14, 1908) credits Dutch scholar Hugo Grotius (April 10, 1583-Aug. 28, 1645) with first usage of the traditional name.

Zeta Aquarii (ζ Aquarii; ζ Aqr) lies slightly southeast of Pi Aquarii. The fourth magnitude double star system marks the y-shaped asterism’s fork, where the tail divides into two branches. Zeta Aquarii shines as the asterism’s brightest star.

Zeta Aquarii’s traditional name is Sadaltager, or, alternatively, Altager. The traditional name derives from an Arabic phrase meaning “luck of the merchant” (Arabic: sa’d al-tjir). In 1895, English amateur astronomer Edward Ball Knobel (Oct. 21, 1841-July 25, 1930) reported the appearance of another traditional name in a 17th century star catalogue, al-Durrat al-muḍiyya fī al-ʻamāl al-shamsiyya (“Pearls of Brilliance Upon the Solar Operations”), by Muhammad al-Aksasi al-Muwaqqit, Egyptian astronomer and sheikh of Al-Azhar Mosque at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt. The al Achsasi catalogue identifies Zeta Aquarii as Akhir al Achbiya (“last of the tents”).

University of Illinois Emeritus Professor of Astronomy James B. “Jim” Kaler notes that Zeta Aquarii rates as a Northern Hemisphere, as of Nov. 21, 2003. The precessional cycle of approximately 26,000 years which changes the pole star and stellar positions is responsible for Zeta Aquarii’s transit across the celestial equator into the celestial northern hemisphere.

Eta Aquarii (η Aqr; η Aquarii) resides east of Zeta Aquarii. The fifth magnitude white subgiant-dwarf marks the y-shaped asterism’s eastern arm or branch. Eta Aquarii is the third brightest star in the Water Jar asterism.

American astronomer James B. “Jim” Kaler notes that Eta Aquarii is slated for precession-driven transit into the celestial northern hemisphere around Oct. 1, 2022.

The takeaway for the four star Water Jar asterism in Aquarius the Water Bearer is that the Southern Hemisphere constellation rises in the southwest in the late autumn skies of November in the Northern Hemisphere.

Water Jar asterism, in kite-shaped configuration with addition of Alpha Aquarii and deletion of Eta Aquarii, and other stars in Aquarius the Water Bearer constellation: International Astronomical Union and Sky & Telescope, CC BY 4.0 International, via International Astronomical Union (IAU)

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Water Jar asterism in Aquarius the Water Bearer constellation, depicted by Sidney Hall in Urania’s Mirror (1825), a set of 32 astronomical star chart cards: U.S. Library of Congress, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sidney_Hall_-_Urania's_Mirror_-_Aquarius,_Piscis_Australis_&_Ballon_Aerostatique.jpg;
No known restrictions on publication in the U.S., via Library of Congress (LOC) Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) @ https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002695517/

Water Jar asterism, in kite-shaped configuration with addition of Alpha Aquarii and deletion of Eta Aquarii, and other stars in Aquarius the Water Bearer constellation: International Astronomical Union and Sky & Telescope, CC BY 4.0 International, via International Astronomical Union (IAU) @ https://www.iau.org/public/images/detail/aqr/; (contellation charts and tables main page URL) @ https://www.iau.org/public/themes/constellations/

For further information:

Allen, R.H. (Richard Hinckley). Star-Names and Their Meanings. New York NY: Leipzig, Germany; London, England; Paris, France: Stechert, 1899.
Available @ https://archive.org/stream/starnamesandthe00allegoog

“Aquarius Constellation.” Constellation Guide > Constellation List.
Available @ http://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/aquarius-constellation/

“Aratus Solensis. Hug. Grotii Syntagma Arataeorum. Leiden, 1600.” Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering & Technology > The Golden Age of the Celestial Atlas.
Available @ http://stars.lindahall.org/gro.htm

Barentine, John C. Uncharted Constellations: Asterisms, Single-Source and Rebrands. Springer Praxis Books in Popular Astronomy. Cham, Switzerland; Heidelberg, Germany; New York NY; Dordrecht, The Netherlands; London, UK: Springer International Publishing, 2016.

“The Hipparcos Space Astrometry Mission.” European Space Agency’s Cosmos Portal > Science Missions > Completed.
Available @ http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/hipparcos

Jamieson, Alexander. A Celestial Atlas: Comprising a Systematic Display of the Heavens in a Series of Thirty Maps Illustrated by Scientific Description of Their Contents and Accompanied by Catalogues of the Stars and Astronomical Exercises. London, England: G. & W.B. Whittaker, 1822.
Available via U.S. Naval Observatory Library @ http://aa.usno.navy.mil/library/

Kaler, James B. The Ever-Changing Sky: A Guide to the Celestial Sphere. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Kaler, James B. (Jim). “Aquarius.” University of Illinois Astronomy Department > Star of the Week.
Available @ http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/aqr-t.html

Kaler, James B. (Jim). “Aquarius North.” University of Illinois Astronomy Department > Star of the Week.
Available @ http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/aqr-n-p.html

Kaler, James B. (Jim). “Eta Aqr (Eta Aquarii).” University of Illinois Astronomy Department > Star of the Week.
Available @ http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/etaaqr.html

Kaler, James B. (Jim). “Sadachbia (Gamma Aquarii).” University of Illinois Astronomy Department > Star of the Week.
Available @ http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/sadachbia.html

Kaler, James B. (Jim). “Seat (Pi Aquarii).” University of Illinois Astronomy Department > Star of the Week.
Available @ http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/seat.html

Kaler, James B. (Jim). “Zeta Aqr (Zeta Aquarii).” University of Illinois Astronomy Department > Star of the Week.
Available @ http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/zetaaqr.html

Knobel, E.B. (Edward Ball). “On a Catalogue of Stars in the Calendarium of Mohammad Al Achsasi Al Mouakket.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS), vol. 55, issue 8 (June 1895): 429-438. DOI: 10.1093/mnras/55.8.429
Available @ http://mnras.oxfordjournals.org/content/55/8/429

Kronberg, Christine. “Aquarius.” The Munich Archive Astromaps > Table of Constellations.
Available @ http://maps.seds.org/Stars_en/Fig/aquarius.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Norma Nilotica Asterism in Constellation Aquarius Honors Nile Flooding.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/10/norma-nilotica-asterism-in.html

McClure, Bruce. “Aquarius? Here’s Your Constellation.” EarthSky > Constellations. Oct. 5, 2016.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/constellations/aquarius-heres-your-constellation

Plotner, Tammy. “The Aquarius Constellation.” Universe Today > Astronomy Constellation Guide to Space. Dec. 2, 2016.
Available @ http://www.universetoday.com/19523/aquarius/

Powell, Richard. “The Brightest Stars.” An Atlas of the Universe > Stars.
Available @ http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/stars.html

Prince, C. (Charles) Leeson. A Literal Translation of the Astronomy and Meteorology of Aratus, With Some Bibliogrpahical Remarks. Lewes, England: Farncombe and Co., 1895.

Ridpath, Ian. “Aquarius the Water Carrier.” Ian Ridpath > Star Tales.
Available @ http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/aquarius.htm

Zimmerman, Kim Ann. “Aquarius Constellation: Facts About the Water Bearer.” Space.com > Science & Astronomy. June 10, 2013.
Available @ http://www.space.com/21511-aquarius-constellation-facts-about-the-water-bearer.html

Metropolitan Opera’s Gallery Met Short for Roméo et Juliette

Summary: The Metropolitan Opera’s Gallery Met Short for Roméo et Juliette is sixth in a series linking visual artists with current season operas.

Alexandra Marzella as Juliette, costumed by Marc Jacobs, in the Metropolitan Opera's Gallery Met Short of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette by Rachel Feinstein: Marc Jacobs @marcjacobsintl, via Facebook Jan. 24, 2017

The Metropolitan Opera’s Gallery Met Short for Roméo et Juliette by 19th century composer Charles Gounod is sixth in a series of short films produced by Gallery Met director Dodie Kazanjian with the aim of linking original visual artworks with current season operas.

Rachel Feinstein debuts as Gallery Met Shorts’ sixth visual artist with her original visual artwork treating Roméo et Juliette by French composer Charles-François Gounod (June 17, 1818-Oct. 18, 1893). She was born May 25, 1971, in Fort Defiance, Apache County, northeastern Arizona. She is known for her fanciful sculptures and for her fashion sense.

Feinstein’s short film has a run time of 2 minutes 31 seconds. Five vignettes capture the drama of the opera’s five acts. The Gallery Met Short excerpts the opening music for the opera’s second act from Metropolitan Opera’s Dec. 15, 2007, performance of Roméo et Juliette.

New York-based models Alexandra Marzella and Michael Bailey-Gates appear as Juliette and Roméo in the Roméo et Juliette Gallery Met Short. Juliette's costumes are by American fashion designer Marc Jacobs (born April 9, 1963).

The Gallery Met Short for Roméo et Juliette debuted during the 2016-2017 Met Opera season. Feinstein’s original visual artwork was first seen during the Live in HD broadcast of Metropolitan Opera’s Jan. 21, 2017, matinee performance.

Feinstein’s short film finds relevance to Met Opera’s current season. The Metropolitan Opera presents Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette as the last of the 26 productions performed for the 2017-2018 Met Opera season. Six performances are scheduled.

Opening night is Monday, April 23, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. EDT (Eastern Daylight Time). April’s second performance takes place Friday, April 27, at 8 p.m.

Four performances are scheduled for May. Performances at 7:30 p.m. take place Tuesday, May 1, and Wednesday, May 9. Saturday, May 5’s performance is at 1 p.m. Roméo et Juliette’s final performance, Saturday, May 12, at 1 p.m. closes the 2017-2018 Met Opera season.

In addition to Rachel Feinstein’s Roméo et Juliette, another Gallery Met Short pertains to the 2017-2018 Met Opera season. Seattle-born visual artist Thomas John “T.J.” Wilcox’s original visual artwork on The Tales of Hoffmann debuted Jan. 31, 2015, as third in the Gallery Met Short series. The 2017-2018 Met Opera season revisits Les Contes d’Hoffmann by German-born French composer Jacques Offenbach (June 20, 1819-Oct. 5, 1880), with nine performances between Tuesday, Sept. 26, and Saturday, Oct. 28.

Dodie Kazanjian conceived the Gallery Met Short series as an expansion of the connection between Metropolitan Opera House’s Arnold and Marie Schwartz Gallery Met and Met Opera season productions. Located in the Metropolitan Opera’s south lobby, Gallery Met celebrates the opera house’s storied relationships with such major visual artists as Russian-French artist Marc Chagall (July 7, 1887-March 28, 1985) and English painter and stage designer David Hockney (born July 9, 1937).

She explains to Broadway World’s Opera News Desk: “The idea was to connect contemporary art and artists more directly with what happens onstage at the Metropolitan Opera.”

Kazanjian launches the Gallery Met Short series with original artwork by Italian satirical sculptor Maurizio Cattelan (born Sept. 21, 1960) and Italian photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari. Their treatment of the Act I finale of Macbeth by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901) was originally seen during the Live in HD broadcast of Oct. 11, 2014.

The takeaway for the Metropolitan Opera’s Gallery Met Short for Roméo et Juliette is that the sixth short film in a series produced by Gallery Met director Dodie Kazanjian links Arizona-born sculptor Rachel Feinstein’s original artwork with 19th century French composer Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. Gounod’s Shakespeare-based, romantic tragedy is presented in April and May 2018 as the last of the 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s 26 productions.

American artist and baroque, fantasy-inspired sculptor Rachel Feinstein (born May 25, 1971) and her husband, American painter John Currin (born 1962), model Fall 2015 Campaign by American fashion designer Marc Jacobs (born April 9, 1963), as photographed by British fashion designer David Sims (born Dec. 30, 1966): Marc Jacobs, via Facebook July 6, 2015

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Alexandra Marzella as Juliette, costumed by Marc Jacobs, in the Metropolitan Opera's Gallery Met Short of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette by Rachel Feinstein: Marc Jacobs @marcjacobsintl via Facebook Jan. 24, 2017, @ https://www.facebook.com/marcjacobsintl/videos/1573087612706773/

American artist and baroque, fantasy-inspired sculptor Rachel Feinstein (born May 25, 1971) and her husband, American painter John Currin (born 1962), model Fall 2015 Campaign by American fashion designer Marc Jacobs (born April 9, 1963), as photographed by British fashion designer David Sims (born Dec. 30, 1966): Marc Jacobs, via Facebook July 6, 2015, @ https://www.facebook.com/marcjacobsintl/posts/1128809357134603/; via Facebook July 6, 2015, @ https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1128809357134603&set=a.1125647417450797; via Facebook July 6, 2015, @ https://www.facebook.com/marcjacobsintl/photos/rachel-feinstein-and-john-currin-marc-jacobs-fall-15-campaign-photographed-by-da/1128809357134603/

For further information:

“Gallery Met Shorts.” The Metropolitan Opera > Exhibitions.
Available @ http://www.metopera.org/Visit/Exhibitions/Gallery-Met-Shorts/

Marc Jacobs @marcjacobs. “Watch artist Rachel Feinstein’s new short film, Roméo et Juliette, featuring Marc Jacobs.” Twitter. Jan. 24, 2017.
Available @ https://twitter.com/marcjacobs/status/823940827617652736

Marc Jacobs @marcjacobsintl. "Watch artist Rachel Feinstein's new short film, Roméo et Juliette, featuring Marc Jacobs." Facebook. Jan. 24, 2017.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/marcjacobsintl/videos/1573087612706773/

Marriner, Derdriu. “2017-2018 Met Opera Season Opens Sept. 25 With Bellini’s Norma.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Sept. 18, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/09/2017-2018-met-opera-season-opens-sept.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Metropolitan Opera’s Gallery Met Short for The Tales of Hoffmann.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Sept. 11, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/09/metropolitan-operas-gallery-met-short.html

Metropolitan Opera. “Gallery Met Shorts: Macbeth.” YouTube. Oct. 3, 2014.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S_i-4yVm-w

Metropolitan Opera. “Gallery Met Shorts: Roméo et Juliette.” YouTube. Jan. 21, 2017.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCw-p6qY7H4

Opera News Desk. “The Met’s Gallery Met Shorts Series to Launch 10/11 With Macbeth.” Broadway World > Broadway World Opera. Oct. 3, 2014.
Available @ http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwopera/article/The-Mets-Gallery-Met-Shorts-Series-to-Launch-1011-with-MACBETH-20141003

Wisniewski, John. "'Folly,' a powdered-aluminum sculpture of a flying ship moored high in a tree by American artist Rachel Feinstein, Madison Square Park, New York City." Flickr. May 16, 2014.
Available via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/johngonefishing/14220365133/

Courtyard and Indoor Americanized Purple Loosestrife Gardens

Summary: Courtyard and indoor Americanized purple loosestrife gardens repress and research European wand loosestrife, Indian toothcup and purple loosestrife.

Non-native purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) now dominates Cooper Marsh Conservation Area, near Cornwall, southeastern Ontario, east central Canada; Friday, July 31, 2009, 16:37: Saffron Blaze, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

The aquaria, confined ponds and contained pools in Americanized purple loosestrife gardens allow appreciation of an aquatic herbaceous perennial that advances through North American waterways in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Multiple reproduction modes, viral disease transmission and waterlogging tolerances build canal, marsh, river and wetland colonies of purple loosestrife in Canada, Mexico and the United States. Federal and provincial legislation in Canada and state legislation in the United States condemn purple loosestrife's carrying cucumber mosaic virus, clogging waterways and crowding native vegetation. Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio and Oregon disparage purple loosestrife.

Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming and Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan likewise exclude it.

Hairless, oval, 0.12- to 0.24-inch- (3- to 6-millimeter-) long, 0.08- to 0.12-inch- (2- to 3-millimeter-) wide cotyledons function as embryonic leaves for purple loosestrife's seedling stage.

The perennial native to Europe grows lance-shaped, mature, opposite-arranged or three-whorled, somewhat hairy, stalkless, 1.18- to 3.94-inch- (3- to 10-centimeter-) long foliage with heart-shaped, wide bases. The aquatic herb sometimes has alternate arrangements for leaves within 3.94- to 39.37-inch- (10- to 100-centimeter-) long inflorescences, called racemes, with same-sized stalklets off central stalks. Purple loosestrife, scientifically named Lythrum salicaria (blood willow-like), only includes whorled arrangements of perfect, pink-purple, regular flowers 0.59 to 0.79 inches (15 to 20 millimeters) across.

Every flower in June- to November-blooming Americanized purple loosestrife gardens joins one pistil, four to eight each of petals and sepals and eight to 16 stamens.

Purple loosestrife, nicknamed purple lythrum, rainbow weed and spiked loosestrife, knows 8- 10-, 12-nerved green sepals and 0.28- to 0.39- inch- (7- to 10-millimeter-) long petals.

The flowering herb in the Lythraceae family of loosestrife herbs, shrubs and trees lifts branched, soft-haired, square, 19.68- to 94.49-inch- (50- to 240-centimeter-) tall stems upward. Its sturdy stems manage effective circulation of dissolved hormones and photosynthetic products because its extensive, oxygen-rich, spongy tissue-covered, submerged root system moves dissolved soil nutrients upward. They nourish fruiting stages of dry, explosive, multi-seeded, 0.16- to 0.24-inch- (4- to 6-millimeter-) long, 0.06-inch- (1.5-millimeter-) wide fruits called capsules during expected 22-year life cycles.

Purple loosestrife, described by Råsholt-born Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778), offers 900 to 1,000 capsules per plant in Americanized purple loosestrife gardens.

Water and wind sometimes and wildlife always provide the main dispersal means for brown to black, buoyant, lightweight, 0.008- to 0.158-inch- (0.2- to 0.4-millimeter-) long seeds.

The germination of 83 to 130 seeds per capsule, and of 2.7 million seeds per plant, per year quickens at 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius). It remains likely for 20-year viable seeds down through temperatures of 57.2 degrees Fahrenheit (14 degrees Celsius) in the top 0.79 inches (2 centimeters) of soil. Its endproduct stresses native swamp loosestrife differentiated by 1.97- to 5.91-inch- (5- to 15-centimeter-) long whorled leaves and 0.39- to 0.59-inch- (10- to 15-millimeter-) long petals.

Aquaria, confined ponds and contained pools tether weed-designated European wand and purple loosestrifes and weedy Indian toothcup to minimum growth-friendly conditions in Americanized purple loosestrife gardens.

purple loosestrife's flowers and leaves: Leslie J. Mehrhoff, University of Connecticut, Bugwood.org, CC BY 3.0 United States, via Forestry Images

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Non-native purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) now dominates Cooper Marsh Conservation Area, near Cornwall, southeastern Ontario, east central Canada; Friday, July 31, 2009, 16:37: Saffron Blaze, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cooper_Marsh_-_Purple-loosestrife.jpg

purple loosestrife's flowers and leaves: Leslie J. Mehrhoff, University of Connecticut, Bugwood.org, CC BY 3.0 United States, via Forestry Images @ http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=5479711

For further information:

Dickinson, Richard; and Royer, France. 2014. Weeds of North America. Chicago IL; London, England: The University of Chicago Press.

Linnaeus, Carl. 1753. "1. Lythrum salicaria." Species Plantarum, vol. I: 446. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/358465

"Lythrum salicaria L." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/19200254

Modzelevich, Martha. "Lythrum salicaria, Purple Loosestrife, Purple Lythrum, Rainbow Weed, Spiked Loosestrife," Hebrew: שנית גדולה." Flowers in Israel.
Available @ http://www.flowersinisrael.com/lythrumsalicaria_page.htm

Weakley, Alan S.; Ludwig, J. Christopher; and Townsend, John F. 2012. Flora of Virginia. Edited by Bland Crowder. Fort Worth TX: BRIT Press, Botanical Research Institute of Texas.

Thanksgiving Turkey Tail Mushrooms Fight Cancers and Contaminants

Summary: Thanksgiving turkey tail mushrooms supply thanksgivers with casseroles, salads, soups and teas and woodlands with pollution-reducing nutrient recycling.

turkey tails mushrooms (Trametes versicolor); Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, Lincoln County, Central Coast region, Oregon; Tuesday, May 6, 2003, 10:07:46: Ron Exeter/Bureau of Land Management Oregon and Washington (BLMOregon), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Thanksgiving turkey tail mushrooms, a fungal species native to North America, assume high profiles continent-wide in time for Thanksgiving celebrations in Anglophone-loving areas of Mexico, in Canada and in the United States.

The Thanksgiving fruiting body bears its common name because of its special prominence in late November's woodlands and because of its turkey tail-like colors and shapes. It can be considered drinkable as a tea complemented by flavorful, non-mushroom-smelling ingredients and edible as a fresh snack or in a casserole, sauce and soup. Collaborative research at Bastyr University in Kenmore, Washington and the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and traditional medicine in China and Japan describe human health benefits.

Bract-like, fungal Thanksgiving turkey tail mushrooms encourage back-to-nature lifestyles as emanators of blue and green fabric and wool dyes and extractors of environmental pathogens and pollutants.

Thanksgiving turkey tail mushrooms flourish year-round as rosettes basally clustered on branches, logs and stumps in hardwood forests and open woodlands and sometimes in coniferous stands.

The polypore group member grabs chemical pollutants and heavy metals from air, soil and water and Escherichia coli bacteria and poisonous mercury ions from woodland waters. It hinders proliferation of anthracenes, candida albicans, chromated copper arsenate, cryptococcus neoformans, dimethyl phosphonate, dioxin, listeria monocytogenes, organophosphates, pentachlorophenols, pseudomonas aeruginosa, staphylococcus aureus and streptococcus pneumoniae. Its ecofriendliness, as kawaratake in Japanese, Trametes versicolor (thin-sectioned, several-colored) scientifically and yun zhi in Chinese, includes recycling food chain and web nutrients from decaying wood.

Thanksgiving mushrooms, described by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778) and Kentucky-born mycologist Curtis Gates Lloyd (July 17, 1859-Nov. 11, 1926), jumpstart immunity.

Polysaccharide-K keeps immunity strong in patients with cervical, colorectal, liver, prostate and stomach cancers, hepatatis B and C, leukemia, malaria and non-small- and small-cell lung carcinomas.

Phase I Clinical Trial of Trametes versicolor Women with Breast Cancer, in the 2012-published International Scholarly Research Notices (ISRN) Oncology journal, lists breast cancer recovery properties. Carolyn Torkelson, Juliette Gay, Mark Martzen, Amy Putiri, Imasa Sasagawa, Leanna Standish, Erin Sweet and Cynthia Wenner mention polysaccharide-K mobilizing natural killer cells against cancerous cells. The two researchers in Minneapolis and six in Kenmore note breast cancer recovery-enhancing killer cell count increases from daily 0.32-ounce (9-gram) Thanksgiving turkey tail mushroom preparations.

Health and Ministry approval and Kureha company patents offer similar optimism despite polysaccharide-K's assorted sugars and attached proteins obstructing standard drug-making's active principal ingredient (API) identification.

Turkey tail mushrooms present three to eight, and related species one to three, gray-white, spore-emitting, unbruised pores, with 0.12-inch- (3-millimeter-) deep tubes per 0.04 inch (millimeter).

The flexible, thin mushroom's 0.12-inch- (3-millimeter-) thick, 3.93-inch- (10-centimeter-) across cap qualifies as circular, kidney-shaped or triangular, with contrasting blue-, buff, cinnamon-, green-, maroon-, orange-colored rings. It retains algae with age, cobwebby, compacted cells called mycelia, contrastingly fuzzy, velvety textural rings and fungus moths (Nemaxera betulinella) and Platypezid fly maggots (Polyprivora picta). Gray-white caps, inflexible shapes, one-colored textural rings and poreless, smooth surfaces respectively separate out otherwise similar-looking Trametes hirsuta, T. ochracea, T. pubescens and Stereum ostrea mushrooms.

Thanksgiving turkey tail mushrooms treat thanksgivers to casseroles, sauces, soups and, when spices tether indistinctive odors and mushroomy tastes, teas and woodlands to pollution-reducing nutrient recycling.

turkey tails; Nescopek State Park, Luzerne County, northeastern Pennsylvania; Saturday, March 23, 2013, 16:12: Nicolas A. Tonelli (Nicholas_T), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

turkey tails mushrooms (Trametes versicolor); Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, Lincoln County, Central Coast region, Oregon; Tuesday, May 6, 2003, 10:07:46: Ron Exeter/Bureau of Land Management Oregon and Washington (BLMOregon), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/blmoregon/15491377948/

turkey tails; Nescopek State Park, Luzerne County, northeastern Pennsylvania; Saturday, March 23, 2013, 16:12: Nicholas_T, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/nicholas_t/8585845387/;
Nicholas A. Tonelli from Northeast Pennsylvania, USA, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Turkey_Tails_(8585845387).jpg

For further information:

"Boletus versicolor L." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/100387485

Kuo, Michael. March 2005. "Trametes versicolor: The Turkey Tail." Mushroom Expert.
Available @ http://www.mushroomexpert.com/trametes_versicolor.html

Linnaeus, Carl. 1753. "4. Boletus versicolor." Species Plantarum, vol II: 1176. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/359197#page/618/mode/1up

Lloyd, Curtis Gates. May 1921. "Trametes Versicolor From Prof. Marcial R. Espinosa, Chile (Fig. 1927)." Mycological Notes (Cincinnati), no. 65: 1045.
Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiug.30112018144953?urlappend=%3Bseq=407

Marriner, Derdriu. Feb. 25, 2017. "Garden Hobbies Growing Mushrooms: Kit Or Spawn? With Substrate Or Not?" Earth and Space News Blog. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/02/garden-hobbies-growing-mushrooms-kit-or.html

O'Reilly, Pat, "Trametes versicolor (L.) Pilát - Turkeytail." First Nature > Fungi.
Available @ http://www.first-nature.com/fungi/trametes-versicolor.php

Stamets, Paul. 5 June 2012. Updated 26 October 2012. "Turkey Tail Mushrooms Help Immune System Fight Cancer."
Available @ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-stamets/mushrooms-cancer_b_1560691.html

"Terrific Turkey Tails (Trametes versicolor)."
Available @ http://www.iowamushroom.org/featured_mushrooms/Trametes_versicolor

Torkelson, Carolyn J.; Sweet, Erin; Martzen, Mark R.; et al. 2012. Phase I Clinical Trial of Trametes versicolor Women with Breast Cancer. ISRN Oncology Journal, Vol. 2012, Article ID 251632, 7 pages. doi:10.5402/2012/251632.
Available @ https://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn/2012/251632/

"Trametes versicolor." November 1920. Mycological Notes: Plates for No. 65, plate 177, fig. 1927.
Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiug.30112018144953?urlappend=%3Bseq=366

"Trametes versicolor (L.) Lloyd." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/100405693

"Turkey Tail, a Powerful Medicinal Mushroom." Eat the Planet: Exploring Earth's Forgotten Edibles.
Available @ http://eattheplanet.org/turkey-tail-a-powerfull-medicinal-mushroom/

Caravaggio Nativity Art Theft: A Facsimile Until the Original's Return

Summary: A digitally printed, high-quality facsimile temporarily marks the place of the Caravaggio Nativity art theft casualty Oct. 18, 1969, in Palermo, Sicily.

photo of British artist Adam Lowe by Alessandro Gaja: The Telegraph @Telegraph, via Twitter Dec. 11, 2015

A Caravaggio Nativity with Saints Lawrence and Francis adorns the altar of the Oratory of Saint Lawrence in Palermo, Sicily, since almost two months after the 46th anniversary of the original's theft. The facsimile brings back an almost authentic-looking equivalent of the original oil on canvas borne away during a single, sinister, star-crossed, stormy night Oct. 18, 1969. It communicates commitments by local and national governments, private businesses and public agencies to Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (Sept 29, 1571-July 18 1610), the people's painter. Two years after its debut it draws no art crime-related police force or recovery organization to discover the whereabouts of the companion painting to Messina's Caravaggio.

Repositories of great artworks express loss differently, with the exiled Caravaggio Nativity's facsimile emulating the extracted Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art objects' and pieces' place markers.

The facsimile finds itself above the chapel altarpiece in the Oratorio di San Lorenzo amid stucco decorations sculpted by Giacomo Serpotta (March 10, 1652-Feb. 27, 1732). Analyses of brushstrokes, complete- and partial-view photographs and paintings in Rome's Chiesa di San Luigi dei Francesi (Church of Saint Louis of the French) guide it.

All Caravaggio paintings have quick, thick brushstrokes that head perpendicularly across human figures to dark backgrounds and that hasten from the painter's mind palace without mock-ups. The Nativity canvas in Palermo and the three Saint Matthew canvases in Rome invoke contemporaneous completion dates and involve their ideator's hallmark exclusive, red-dominated color palette.

One color slide by Enzo Brai of Arzachena, Sardinia, from 1968 and three black-and-whites from 1951 jump-started the facsimile of the Caravaggio Nativity art theft casualty.

Stucco master Giacomo Serpotta's sculptures surround Caravaggio's Nativity in Oratorio di San Lorenzo: Musei Italiani, via Facebook Nov. 20, 2013

Black-and-whites from Rome's Restoration Institute archives and the 4- by 5-inch (10.16- by 12.7-centimeter) photograph from the Brai slide keep the Caravaggio Nativity's only image-preserved testament.

Adam Lowe, fine art degree-holder from the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford, England, United Kingdom, leads Factum Arte of Madrid, Spain, and Rome, as founder. He mentioned the extremes of dark and of "gauzy luminosity," called chiaroscuro, in the Caravaggio Nativity as manifest through digital printing and non-maintainable through "ordinary" photography. He noted fine-toning colors from 6 gigabytes of data each from the three Saint Matthew canvases so that "we have exact color matching" for Caravaggio reds. His company obtained the Sky television commission for the facsimile since "Losing it [Caravaggio Nativity art theft casualty] throws off the entire scheme of the chapel."

Producing a facsimile "that will look very similar to the original" as "it would appear if the painting was still in the oratory" prompted the commission. Roberto Pisoni, head of Sky Arte HD, further qualifies the facsimile as quickening interest in the late 16th-century oratory "because it really is a wonderful place."

Two years after its installation Dec. 12, 2015, and 48 years after its original's theft, the facsimile remains a crowd-pleaser in a regularly open, restored oratory. Sergio Mattarella, 12th President of Italy since Feb. 3, 2015, sees it vicariously empowering multitudes and stresses "the importance of an object" in its proper place. He treasures the Caravaggio Nativity art theft casualty's facsimile as transitional to the long-awaited "morning, rolled up outside the chapel, the original painting will be left."

Sky Arte HD's digital reconstruction of Caravaggio's stolen Nativity: Factum Arte, via Instagram Aug. 21, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

photo of British artist Adam Lowe by Alessandro Gaja: The Telegraph @Telegraph, via Twitter Dec. 10, 2015, @ https://twitter.com/Telegraph/status/675206110480048128

empty frame of Nativity with Saint Francis and Saint Lawrence (Natività con i Santi Lorenzo e Francesco d'Assisi) at Oratorio di San Lorenzo (Oratory of Saint Lawrence) in Palermo, Sicily: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oratorio_di_San_Lorenzo.JPG

Stucco master Giacomo Serpotta's sculptures surround Caravaggio's Nativity in Oratorio di San Lorenzo: Musei Italiani, via Facebook Nov. 20, 2013, @ https://www.facebook.com/MuseoItalia/posts/555755591172994/; via Facebook Nov. 20, 2013, @ https://www.facebook.com/MuseoItalia/photos/a.555755571172996.1073742059.128222747259616/555755591172994/

"A #SkyArteFestival è il momento di "Operazione Caravaggio" sulla riproduzione dell'opera "La Natività" di #Caravaggio trafugata a Palermo.": Sky Arte HD @SkyArteHD, via Twitter May 7, 2017, @ https://twitter.com/SkyArteHD/status/861169415454326785

Sky Arte HD's digital reconstruction of Caravaggio's stolen Nativity: Factum Arte, via Instagram Aug. 21, 2016, @ https://www.instagram.com/p/BJXxk_GAhie/

For further information:

Factum Arte @FactumArte. 11 December 2015. "The re-creation of Caravaggio's Nativity realized by Factum Arte will be officially unveiled tomorrow in Palermo!" Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/FactumArte/status/675242763496120320

Kirchgaessner, Stephanie. 10 December 2015. "'Restitution of a Lost Beauty': Caravaggio Nativity Replica Brought to Palermo." The Guardian > Arts > Art & Design > Art Theft.
Available @ https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/dec/10/restitution-lost-beauty-stolen-caravaggio-nativity-replica-brought-palermo

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 November 2017. "Caravaggio Nativity Art Theft: Destruction by Fire, Heroin, Pigs, Rats." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/11/caravaggio-nativity-art-theft.html

Neuendorf, Henri. 11 December 2015. "Caravaggio Masterpiece Stolen in Notorious Mafia Heist Replaced with Replica." Artnet News > Art World > Art and Law.
Available @ https://news.artnet.com/art-world/stolen-caravaggio-replaced-replica-391166

Repubblica TV. "Palermo, il Ritorno del Caravaggio 2.0." video.repubblica.it. Dec. 12, 2015.
Available @ http://video.repubblica.it/edizione/palermo/palermo-il-ritorno-del-caravaggio-20-cosi-e-nato-il-clone-della-nativita-sparita/221886/221093

ru-tamaki @moon8520tw 28 Mar 2016. "Caravaggio's stolen Nativity with St Francis and St Lawrence masterpiece reconstructed." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/moon8520tw/status/714663217407123460

Schütze, Sebastian. 2017. Caravaggio: Complete Works. Cologne, Germany: Taschen.

Sky Arte (skyarte). 21 August 2016. "Il progetto di 'ri – materializzazione' della Natività di Caravaggio realizzato degli esperti della Factum Arte di Madrid: alle 21.10 su Sky Arte HD ricreiamo l’opera di Caravaggio rubata nel 1969." Instagram.
Available @ https://www.instagram.com/p/BJXxk_GAhie/

Sky Arte HD @SkyArteHD. 7 May 2017. "A #SkyArteFestival è il momento di "Operazione Caravaggio" sulla riproduzione dell'opera "La Natività" di #Caravaggio trafugata a Palermo." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/SkyArteHD/status/861169415454326785

Squires, Nick. "How a Long-Lost Caravaggio Masterpiece Was Recreated, Nearly 50 Years After It Was Stolen." The Telegraph > News > World News > Europe > Italy. Dec. 10, 2015.
Available @ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/12044479/How-a-long-lost-Caravaggio-masterpiece-was-recreated-nearly-50-years-after-it-was-stolen.html

The Telegraph @Telegraph. "How a long-lost Caravaggio masterpiece was recreated, nearly 50 years after it was stolen." Twitter. Dec. 10, 2015.
Available @ https://twitter.com/Telegraph/status/675206110480048128

"Theft of Caravaggio's Nativity with San Lorenzo and San Francesco." Federal Bureau of Investigation > What We Investigate > Violent Crime > Art Theft > FBI Top Ten Art Crimes Art Crime Team.
Available @ https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/art-theft/fbi-top-ten-art-crimes/nativity-with-san-lorenzo-and-san-francesco

Eight Phase Moon Cycle Is Natural Navigation Aid for Finding Direction

Summary: The eight phase moon cycle serves as a natural navigation aid for finding direction on the moon’s parent body, Earth.

Rising full moon marks east over Rio Arriba Couny, northwestern New Mexico, Tuesday, March 26, 2013, 19:19:28: Mike Lewinsky (ikewinski), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

The eight phase moon cycle, which repeats monthly from Earth’s perspective, serves as a natural navigation aid for finding direction on Earth as the lunar parent body.

Natural navigator Tristan Gooley promotes accurate determination of direction by way of nature’s clues. One of the natural navigation aids identified by Gooley is the 360-degree, eight phase moon cycle.

The new moon signals the beginning of the monthly lunar cycle. The moon then successively phases from newness to waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full, waning gibbous, last (or third) quarter and waning crescent. New, first quarter, full and last quarter compose the cycle’s four principal phases. Waning crescent, waxing gibbous, waning gibbous and waning crescent represent four intermediate phases, which transition between two principal phases.

Each phase distinctively illuminates the lunar surface. After the new moon, increasing illumination, with less than half for waxing crescent, 50 percent for first quarter and more than one-half for waxing gibbous, culminates in complete illumination in the full moon. After fullness, illumination decreases, measuring more than half for waning gibbous, 50 percent for last quarter and less than one-half for waning crescent.

The geometric appearance of each phase’s illumination also is distinctive. In the Northern Hemisphere, the right side of the lunar surface is lit during post-new moon phases of waxing crescent, first quarter and waxing gibbous. At northern latitudes, the left side is illuminated during post-full moon phases of waning gibbous, last quarter and waning crescent.

The eight phase cycle begins in mid-November 2017 with onset of the moon’s new phase. Newness happens Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017, at 11:42 Coordinated Universal Time, the world’s official time standard. The event takes place at 6:42 a.m., according to Eastern Standard Time (EST), the time zone for the United States’ national capital of Washington DC.

The new moon is an invisible moon. Located in the same direction in the sky as the sun, the moon faces Earth with its unilluminated side. Its illuminated side faces away from Earth and toward the sun.

Although invisible, the new moon reveals direction by way of the sun. At midday, the instant of the sun’s highest position in the sky, the new moon and the sun reside due south in northern latitudes. In their duet during the moon’s new phase, the invisible moon and the glaringly visible sun perch close to east at sunrise and close to west at sunset.

The first quarter phase happens Sunday, Nov. 26, 2017, at 17:03 UTC (12:03 p.m. EST). The first quarter moon trails the sun by 90 degrees, one-quarter of a complete cycle of 360 degrees. Sunset occurs in the west, which marks 270 degrees in the complete, north-east-south-west cycle of 360 degrees. Behind by a distance of 90 degrees, the first quarter moon signals due south, at 180 degrees.

The full moon phase takes place Sunday, Dec. 3, 2017, at 15:47 UTC (10:47 a.m. EST). The full moon’s position opposite the sun means the duet of moonrise with sunset and moonset with sunrise. As the sun sets in the west, the full moon rises in the east. At midnight, the invisible sun is due north, so the visible, full moon approximately marks due south.

The last quarter phase happens Sunday, Dec. 10, 2017, at 07:51 UTC (2:51 a.m. EST). The last quarter moon is at 270 degrees, three-fourths of the way through the 360-degree cycle. With the sun at 180 degrees, the last quarter phase is described as so far behind that it actually also may be viewed as 90 degrees ahead of the sun. At sunset, with the sun marking west, the last quarter moon, positioned 90 degrees ahead, indicates due north.

The takeaway for the eight phase moon cycle as a natural navigation aid for finding direction is that Earth’s moon provides not only decorative lighting but also practical guidance to moongazers.

360-degree, eight phase lunar cycle: NASA, Public Domain, via NASA Space Place

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Rising full moon marks east over Rio Arriba Couny, northwestern New Mexico, Tuesday, March 26, 2013, 19:19:28: Mike Lewinsky (ikewinski), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/ikewinski/8594980399

360-degree, eight phase lunar cycle: NASA, Public Domain, via NASA Space Place @ http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/review/dr-marc-earth/moon-phases.html

For further information:

“2017 Phases of the Moon.” U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department > Phases of the Moon.
Available @ http://aa.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/aa_phases.pl?year=2017&month=1&day=1&nump=50&format=p

“Event in UTC on Saturday, November 18, 2017 at 11:42:00 a.m.” Time And Date > Time Zones > World Clock > Event Time Announcer.
Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20171118T1142&p1=1440

Gooley, Tristan. The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs: Use Outdoor Clues to Find Your Way, Predict the Weather, Locate Water, Track Animals -- and Other Forgotten Skills. New York NY: The Experiment, 2015.

Gooley, Tristan. The Natural Navigator: The Rediscovered Art of Letting Nature Be Your Guide. New York NY: The Experiment, 2012.

Gooley, Tristan. The Natural Navigator: A Watchful Explorer’s Guide to a Nearly Forgotten Skill. New York NY: The Experiment, 2011.

“Phases of the Moon and Percent of the Moon Illuminated.” U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department > FAQ > Phenomena of the Sun and Moon.
Available @ http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/moon_phases.php