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Wednesday, September 1, 2021 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
RSD passes Stars over Sisters
resolution
against
mandates
By Paola Mendoza
Correspondent
REDMOND (AP) 4
Despite COVID-19 surging
locally, Redmond School
Distict9s board has passed a
resolution protesting statewide
mandates that require masks
in schools and vaccines for all
teachers, staff, and volunteers.
The resolution that passed
on a 3-2 vote in Redmond on
August 25 says the 7,500-stu-
dent district will fight to
regain local control of deci-
sions around mask-wearing
and vaccines in its schools.
The resolution specifies that
the board supports the district
using medical and religious
exemptions to avoid the man-
dates and includes the possi-
bility of legal action against
Democratic Gov. Kate Brown.
Board members said dur-
ing debate over the resolution
that the district will follow
Brown9s mask and vaccine
mandates while they pursue
legal challenges.
Two board members voted
against the resolution because
it did not specifically include
language that said that. An
amendment to add that lan-
guage failed by a 3-2 vote.
One board member who
voted against the resolution
pointed out that COVID-19
is surging in Central Oregon
and only 57 percent of eligible
residents in Redmond are fully
vaccinated.
Brown said Wednesday
she is deploying hundreds of
<medical crisis teams99 from
a staffing agency to hospi-
tals besieged by COVID-19
patients, including hospitals in
Redmond and Bend.
By late summer and early
fall, a few of the <water=
constellations begin to mate-
rialize in the southeast at
nightfall. First to arrive on
the scene are Capricornus
the Sea Goat, Delphinus the
Dolphin, and Aquarius the
Water Carrier. The small-
est of the three is Delphinus,
our featured constellation for
September.
Although the size of the
celestial dolphin is quite
modest, four relatively bright
stars form an easily recog-
nizable shape resembling a
flattened diamond, which
outlines the main body of
the aquatic mammal. A fifth
star, Epsilon Delphini, marks
the tail. Look for Delphinus
about 11 degrees east of the
bright star Altair in Aquila.
Shining at magnitude 3.6,
Rotanev is the brightest star
in Delphinus, which lies at a
distance of 101 light-years. It
was discovered to be a binary
star in 1873 by American
astronomer S. W. Burnham.
Both stellar components are
white in color, one classified
a giant, the other a subgiant.
The system is estimated to be
about 1.8 billion years old.
The star Gamma Delphini,
which represents the nose of
the dolphin, is regarded by
many observers to be one
of the finest double stars in
the heavens. First noted by
astronomer F.G.W. Struve in
1830, the pair is separated by
8.9 seconds-of-arc and lies at
a distance of about 115 light-
years. Color estimates for
this pair has ranged from red-
dish-yellow and greyish-lilac
to yellow and blue-green.
Modern observers generally
find the primary star to be a
pale yellow while the second-
ary appears yellow-orange.
Although the Milky Way
lies nearby, Delphinus con-
tains only four deep-sky
objects: two planetary nebu-
lae and two globular clusters,
all of them noteworthy. The
brightest of these is NGC
6934, a globular cluster con-
sisting of primary ancient
stars located 52,000 light-
years away in the halo of our
galaxy. The cluster is esti-
mated to be approximately
10 billion years old.
A tale from Greek lore
describes the romantic inter-
ests of Poseidon, the sea god,
in his pursuit of the beautiful
nymph Amphitrite. Initially
the mermaid resisted his
advances by fleeing to be
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among her sisters. Poseidon
then sent messengers to
find her and bring her to
him, among them a dolphin.
Delphinus found Amphitrite
and convinced her to return
to the sea god. After the
two were married, Poseidon
decided to honor the dolphin
by placing his image among
the stars.
For those of us who live
in the Northern Hemisphere,
autumn will arrive at
12:21 p.m. on Wednesday
September 22. At that time
the sun will stand directly
above the equator as it passes
from north to south. As a
result, the length of day and
night will be nearly equal
across the globe.
Four of the five naked-
eye planets are evening
objects this month. Brilliant
Venus and the much dim-
mer Mercury hover above
the western horizon just after
sunset. Although Mercury
will lie a full 27 degrees
from the sun on September
13 when it achieves great-
est eastern elongation, it
will stand only four degrees
above the horizon. The best
chance to see it will probably
be on September 8 when the
waxing crescent moon will
be five degrees north of the
PHOTO COURTESY NASA
Globular star cluster NGC 6934
lies 52,000 light-years away in the
constellation of Delphinus.
speedy orb. Mercury fades
from view in the later part of
the month.
Saturn and Jupiter in the
southeastern sky will put on
the best evening show, par-
ticularly to those who have
access to telescopes. Mars
is lost in the glare of the sun
during September.
The best time for stargaz-
ing will be early in the month
when no moon will appear
in the evening sky. The Full
Harvest Moon will arrive on
September 20.
This month9s dark-sky
awareness tip to help fight
light pollution here in Sisters
is this: If possible, switch out
lights with poor light shield-
ing with light fixtures that
provide proper shielding to
reduce sky glow.