Scrooge

Alastair Sim in Scrooge (1951)

The iconic novella by the great English writer Charles Dickens (1812-1870), A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, was first published in 1843. There have been many film adaptations since, the first being in 1901. But I can’t imagine a better one than the 1951 British black & white film Scrooge. Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, you should watch this movie.

Even after repeated viewings, I still can’t get through it without becoming teary-eyed at various points in the movie. The film score for Scrooge was written by English composer Richard Addinsell (1904-1977), and it is unquestionably a vital part of what makes this movie so good, along with the performances of all the actors—especially Alastair Sim (1900-1976) as Ebenezer Scrooge.

Experiencing this movie, you can’t help but be reminded of the following:

  • Bittersweet and very sad episodes in your own life (the older we get, the more of these we have to look back upon), especially now from a perspective of hindsight. What would you have done differently, knowing what you know now?
  • Much of what you thought was important has been a distraction from what really is important in “a life well lived”.
  • It is never too late to change the focus of your attentions and endeavors.

Timeless themes, to be sure.

Meteor Shower Calendar 2022

Here’s our meteor shower calendar for 2022.  It is sourced from the IMO’s Working List of Visual Meteor Showers (https://www.imo.net/files/meteor-shower/cal2022.pdf, Table 5, p. 25).

Each meteor shower is identified using its three-character IAU meteor shower code.  Codes are bold on the date of maximum, and one day either side of maximum.

Some additional events have been added to the calendar from Sources of Possible or Additional Activity, Table 6a, p. 27). I used the following abbreviations for the Table 6a events that do not have a standard three-character meteor code:

GY2 = 2006 GY2
209 = 209P/LINEAR
CK1 = C/1852 K1

Here’s a printable PDF file of the meteor shower calendar shown below:

Happy meteor watching!

January 2022
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
            1
DLM QUA
2
DLM QUA
3
DLM QUA
4
DLM QUA
5
DLM QUA
6
DLM QUA
7
DLM QUA
8
DLM QUA
9
DLM QUA KCA
10
DLM QUA GUM KCA
11
DLM QUA GUM KCA
12
DLM QUA GUM
13
DLM GUM
14
DLM GUM
15
DLM GUM
16
DLM GUM
17
DLM GUM
18
DLM GUM
19
DLM GUM
20
DLM GUM
21
DLM GUM
22
DLM GUM
23
DLM
24
DLM
25
DLM
26
DLM
27
DLM
28
DLM
29
DLM
30
DLM
31
DLM ACE
         
February 2022
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
    1
DLM ACE
2
DLM ACE
3
DLM ACE
4
DLM ACE
5
ACE
6
ACE
7
ACE
8
ACE
9
ACE
10
ACE
11
ACE
12
ACE
13
ACE
14
ACE
15
ACE
16
ACE
17
ACE
18
ACE
19
ACE
20
ACE
21 22 23 24 25
GNO
26
GNO
27
GNO
28
GNO
         
March 2022
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
    1
GNO
2
GNO
3
GNO
4
GNO
5
GNO
6
GNO
7
GNO
8
GNO
9
GNO
10
GNO
11
GNO
12
GNO
13
GNO
14
GNO
15
GNO
16
GNO
17
GNO
18
GNO
19
GNO
20
GNO
21
GNO
22
GNO
23
GNO
24
GNO
25
GNO
26
GNO
27
GNO
28
GNO
29 30 31    
April 2022
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
          1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14
LYR
15
PPU LYR
16
PPU LYR
17
PPU LYR
18
PPU LYR
19
ETA PPU LYR
20
ETA PPU LYR
21
ETA PPU LYR
22
ETA PPU LYR
23
ETA PPU LYR
24
ETA PPU LYR
25
ETA PPU LYR
26
ETA PPU LYR
27
ETA PPU LYR
28
ETA PPU LYR
29
ETA LYR
30
ETA LYR
May 2022
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
1
ETA
2
ETA
3
ELY ETA
4
ELY ETA
5
ELY ETA
6
ELY ETA
7
ELY ETA
8
ELY ETA
9
ELY ETA
10
ELY ETA
11
ELY ETA
12
ELY ETA
13
ELY ETA
14
GY2 ARI ELY ETA
15
GY2 ARI ETA
16
GY2 ARI ETA
17
ARI ETA
18
ARI ETA
19
ARI ETA
20
ARI ETA
21
ARI ETA
22
ARI ETA
23
ARI ETA
24
209 ARI ETA
25
209 ARI ETA
26
209 ARI ETA
27
ARI ETA
28
ARI ETA
29
ARI
30
TAH ARI
31
TAH ARI
       
June 2022
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
      1
TAH ARI
2
ARI
3
ARI
4
ARI
5
ARI
6
ARI
7
ARI
8
ARI
9
ARI
10
ARI
11
ARI
12
ARI
13
ARI
14
ARI
15
ARI
16
ARI
17
ARI
18
ARI
19
ARI
20
ARI
21
ARI
22
JBO ARI
23
JBO ARI
24
JBO ARI
25
JBO
26
JBO
27
JBO
28
JBO
29
JBO
30
JBO
   
July 2022
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
          1
JBO
2
JBO
3
CAP
4
CAP JPE
5
CAP JPE
6
CAP JPE
7
CAP JPE
8
CAP JPE
9
CAP JPE
10
CAP JPE
11
CAP JPE
12
CAP SDA JPE
13
CAP SDA JPE
14
CAP SDA JPE
15
CAP SDA PAU
16
CAP SDA PAU
17
PER CAP SDA PAU
18
PER CAP SDA PAU
19
PER CAP SDA PAU
20
PER CAP SDA PAU
21
PER CAP SDA PAU
22
PER CAP SDA PAU
23
PER CAP SDA PAU
24
PER CAP SDA PAU
25
PER CAP SDA GDR PAU
26
PER CAP SDA GDR PAU
27
PER CAP SDA GDR PAU
28
PER CAP SDA GDR PAU
29
PER CAP SDA GDR
30
PER CAP SDA GDR PAU
31
PER CAP SDA GDR PAU
           
August 2022
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
  1
PER CAP SDA PAU
2
PER CAP SDA PAU
3
KCG PER CAP SDA PAU
4
KCG PER CAP SDA PAU
5
KCG PER CAP SDA PAU
6
KCG PER CAP SDA PAU
7
KCG PER CAP SDA PAU
8
KCG PER CAP SDA PAU
9
KCG PER CAP SDA PAU
10
KCG PER CAP SDA PAU
11
KCG PER CK1 CAP SDA
12
KCG PER CK1 CAP SDA
13
KCG PER CK1 CAP SDA
14
KCG PER CAP SDA
15
KCG PER CAP SDA
16
KCG PER SDA
17
KCG PER SDA
18
KCG PER SDA
19
KCG PER SDA
20
KCG PER SDA
21
KCG PER SDA
22
KCG PER SDA
23
KCG PER SDA
24
KCG PER
25
KCG
26 27
28
AUR
29
AUR
30
AUR
31
AUR
     
September 2022
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
        1
AUR
2
AUR
3
AUR
4
AUR
5
SPE AUR
6
SPE
7
SPE
8
SPE
9
DSX SPE
10
STA DSX SPE
11
STA DSX SPE
12
STA DSX SPE
13
STA DSX SPE
14
STA DSX SPE
15
STA DSX SPE
16
STA DSX SPE
17
STA DSX SPE
18
STA DSX SPE
19
STA DSX SPE
20
STA DSX SPE
21
STA DSX SPE
22
STA DSX
23
STA DSX
24
STA DSX
25
STA DSX
26
STA DSX
27
STA DSX
28
STA DSX
29
STA DSX
30
STA DSX
 
October 2022
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
            1
STA DSX
2
ORI STA DSX
3
ORI STA DSX
4
ORI STA DSX
5
ORI STA OCT DSX
6
ORI STA DRA OCT DSX
7
ORI STA DRA OCT DSX
8
ORI STA DRA DSX
9
ORI STA DRA DSX
10
ORI DAU STA DRA
11
ORI DAU STA
12
ORI DAU STA
13
ORI DAU STA
14
ORI EGE DAU STA
15
ORI EGE DAU STA
16
ORI EGE DAU STA
17
ORI EGE DAU STA
18
ORI EGE DAU STA
19
LMI ORI EGE STA
20
NTA LMI ORI EGE STA
21
NTA LMI ORI EGE STA
22
NTA LMI ORI EGE STA
23
NTA LMI ORI EGE STA
24
NTA LMI ORI EGE STA
25
NTA LMI ORI EGE STA
26
NTA LMI ORI EGE STA
27
NTA LMI ORI EGE STA
28
NTA ORI STA
29
NTA ORI STA
30
NTA ORI STA
31
NTA ORI STA
         
November 2022
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
    1
NTA ORI STA
2
NTA ORI STA
3
NTA ORI STA
4
NTA ORI STA
5
NTA ORI STA
6
LEO NTA ORI STA
7
LEO NTA ORI STA
8
LEO NTA STA
9
LEO NTA STA
10
LEO NTA STA
11
LEO NTA STA
12
LEO NTA STA
13
NOO LEO NTA STA
14
NOO LEO NTA STA
15
NOO AMO LEO NTA STA
16
NOO AMO LEO NTA STA
17
NOO AMO LEO NTA STA
18
NOO AMO LEO NTA STA
19
NOO AMO LEO NTA STA
20
NOO AMO LEO NTA STA
21
NOO AMO LEO NTA
22
NOO AMO LEO NTA
23
NOO AMO LEO NTA
24
NOO AMO LEO NTA
25
NOO AMO LEO NTA
26
NOO LEO NTA
27
NOO LEO NTA
28
PHO NOO LEO NTA
29
PHO NOO LEO NTA
30
PHO NOO LEO NTA
     
December 2022
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
        1
PUP PHO NOO NTA
2
PUP PHO NOO NTA
3
HYD PUP PHO NOO NTA
4
GEM HYD PUP PHO NOO NTA
5
DLM GEM HYD MON PUP PHO NOO NTA
6
DLM GEM HYD MON PUP PHO NOO NTA
7
DLM GEM HYD MON PUP PHO NTA
8
DLM GEM HYD MON PUP PHO NTA
9
DLM GEM HYD MON PUP PHO NTA
10
DLM GEM HYD MON PUP NTA
11
DLM GEM HYD MON PUP
12
DLM COM GEM HYD MON PUP
13
DLM COM GEM HYD MON PUP
14
DLM COM GEM HYD MON PUP
15
DLM COM GEM HYD MON PUP
16
DLM COM GEM HYD MON
17
DLM URS COM GEM HYD MON
18
DLM URS COM GEM HYD MON
19
DLM URS COM GEM HYD MON
20
DLM URS COM GEM HYD MON
21
DLM URS COM
22
DLM URS COM
23
DLM URS COM
24
DLM URS
25
DLM URS
26
DLM URS
27
DLM
28
DLM QUA
29
DLM QUA
30
DLM QUA
31
DLM QUA

The Enemy Below

Robert Mitchum and Curt Jürgens in The Enemy Below (1957)

I don’t normally watch war movies, but the 1957 classic The Enemy Below is a war movie for people who don’t like war movies. It is best if you don’t know anything about the story or plot before you see it, so I won’t share any details here, but I will say that even if you are a pacifist (as I am), you will probably like this movie.

Some interesting facts:

  • The German actor Curt Jürgens, who played the German U-boat commander, was critical of Hitler and the Nazis and was sent to an internment camp in Hungary in 1944. He became an Austrian citizen after World War II.
  • The USS Whitehurst, an active-duty ship first used during World War II, was utilized for this movie.
  • Many of the sailors on the American ship in this movie were actual crewmen of the USS Whitehurst and not actors.
  • The main actors on the German submarine were born in Germany and Austria.
  • This is the film debut for (Albert) David Hedison (Jr.) as Lt. Ware, and he went on to a starring role in the television series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964-1968) as Captain Lee Crane.
  • The excellent 1966 first-season Star Trek episode Balance of Terror was influenced by this movie and closely parallels it.

Highly recommended!

Globulars Galore

So far, a total of 162 globular clusters have been discovered in our Milky Way galaxy.

Many of the recent globulars that have been discovered are either heavily obscured by intervening interstellar matter at visible wavelengths (and thus detectable only in the infrared), or they are so diffuse that they are difficult to detect against the field stars.

Here’s a list of the 88 constellations, and how many globulars have been found in each.

Milky Way Globular Clusters

46 of the 88 constellations harbor globulars (52%). Sagittarius contains the most globular clusters, 36, representing nearly 22% or about 1/5 of the total. This is perhaps not surprising as the center of our Milky Way galaxy (Sgr A*) is located at a distance of 26,673 ± 72 ly from our Solar System in the direction of Sagittarius near the Sagittarius-Ophiuchus-Scorpius border.

Only two other constellations host more than 5 globular clusters: Ophiuchus is in 2nd place with 25, and Scorpius comes in 3rd with 20. Together these three adjacent constellations, Sagittarius, Ophiuchus, and Scorpius, contain a total of 81 globular clusters, exactly half (50%) of all the known Milky Way globulars! Truly, then, the Sagittarius+Ophiuchus+Scorpius region can be called the “Realm of the Globulars”.

The northernmost globular cluster is Palomar 1 (Cepheus, α2000 = 3h33m19s, δ2000 = +79°34’55”), and the southernmost globular cluster is IC 4499 (Apus, α2000 = 15h00m19s, δ2000 = -82°12’50”).

Apus
NGC 6101
IC 4499

Aquarius
NGC 6981 (M72)
NGC 7089 (M2)
NGC 7492

Aquila
NGC 6749
NGC 6760
Palomar 11

Ara
NGC 6352
NGC 6362
NGC 6397
ESO-SC06
FSR 1735

Auriga
Palomar 2

Boötes
NGC 5466

Canes Venatici
NGC 5272 (M3)

Capricornus
NGC 7099 (M30)
Palomar 12

Carina
NGC 2808

Centaurus
NGC 5139 (Omega Centauri)
NGC 5286
Ruprecht 106

Cepheus
Palomar 1

Cetus
Whiting 1

Chamaeleon
ESO 37-01 (E3)

Columba
NGC 1851

Coma Berenices
NGC 4147
NGC 5024 (M53)
NGC 5053

Corona Australis
NGC 6541

Crater
Crater (Laevens 1)

Delphinus
NGC 6934
NGC 7006
Laevens 3

Eridanus
Eridanus

Hercules
NGC 6205 (M13)
NGC 6229
NGC 6341 (M92)
Palomar 14

Horologium
NGC 1261
Arp-Madore 1

Hydra
NGC 4590 (M68)
NGC 5694
Arp-Madore 4

Lepus
NGC 1904 (M79)

Libra
NGC 5897

Lupus
NGC 5824
NGC 5927
NGC 5986

Lynx
NGC 2419

Lyra
NGC 6779 (M56)

Musca
NGC 4372
NGC 4833
Van den Bergh-Hagen 140 (BH 140)

Norma
NGC 5946
FSR 1716
Lynga 7
RLGC 1

Ophiuchus
NGC 6171 (M107)
NGC 6218 (M12)
NGC 6235
NGC 6254 (M10)
NGC 6266 (M62)
NGC 6273 (M19)
NGC 6284
NGC 6287
NGC 6293
NGC 6304
NGC 6316
NGC 6325
NGC 6333 (M9)
NGC 6342
NGC 6355
NGC 6356
NGC 6366
NGC 6401
NGC 6402 (M14)
NGC 6426
NGC 6517
IC 1257
HP 1
Palomar 6
Palomar 15

Pavo
NGC 6752

Pegasus
NGC 7078 (M15)
Palomar 13

Puppis
NGC 2298

Pyxis
Pyxis

Sagitta
NGC 6838 (M71)
Palomar 10

Sagittarius
NGC 6440
NGC 6522
NGC 6528
NGC 6540
NGC 6544
NGC 6553
NGC 6558
NGC 6569
NGC 6624
NGC 6626 (M28)
NGC 6637 (M69)
NGC 6638
NGC 6642
NGC 6652
NGC 6656 (M22)
NGC 6681 (M70)
NGC 6715 (M54)
NGC 6717
NGC 6723
NGC 6809 (M55)
NGC 6864 (M75)
2MS-GC01
2MS-GC02
Arp 2
Van den Bergh-Hagen 261 (BH 261)
Djorgovski 2 (Djorg 2)
Palomar 8
Sagittarius II (Laevens 5)
Terzan 5
Terzan 7
Terzan 8
Terzan 9
Terzan 10
Terzan 12
UKS 1
VVV-CL001

Scorpius
NGC 6093 (M80)
NGC 6121 (M4)
NGC 6139
NGC 6144
NGC 6256
NGC 6380
NGC 6388
NGC 6441
NGC 6453
NGC 6496
Djorgovski 1 (Djorg 1)
ESO 452-SC11
FSR 1758
Liller 1
Terzan 1
Terzan 2
Terzan 3
Terzan 4
Terzan 6
Tonantzintla 2 (Ton 2)

Sculptor
NGC 288

Scutum
NGC 6712
Mercer 5
RLGC 2

Serpens (Caput)
NGC 5904 (M5)
Palomar 5

Serpens (Cauda)
NGC 6535
NGC 6539
IC 1276

Sextans
Palomar 3

Telescopium
NGC 6584

Tucana
NGC 104 (47 Tuc)
NGC 362

Ursa Major
Palomar 4

Vela
NGC 3201

Virgo
NGC 5634

References

Fundamental parameters of Galactic globular clusters (as of May 2021)
https://people.smp.uq.edu.au/HolgerBaumgardt/globular/
Accessed: November 29, 2021

A geometric distance measurement to the Galactic center black hole with 0.3% uncertainty
The GRAVITY Collaboration, R. Abuter, A. Amorim, M. Bauböck, J. P. Berger, H. Bonnet, W. Brandner, Y. Clénet, V. Coudé du Foresto, P. T. de Zeeuw
A&A, 625 (2019) L10