Elemental Philosophy

I’ve always found the concept of night owls vs early birds to be really interesting. How come some people are able to pop up at 7 am and be fully awake while others come alive after 10 pm? And why does it seem like, especially kids, can be totally fine staying up late and thriving in the night hours? Lots of times parents just get mad at kids for staying up late since then then seem to sleep all day to get back the hours they lost at night, but there has actually been scientific studies and real explanations for why this happens!

When kids go through puberty, their body creation of melatonin, or the sleep hormone, is delayed so they don’t get tired as early as they did as kids. They also lose the sensitivity to morning light that would cause people to wake up once it got bright out. In addition to these findings many kids say that with the hectic craziness of their daily schedules including school and work, night is finally a time to themselves where they can get done things they normally wouldn’t have during the day. It give them a sense of control and many, including myself, find the night to be a peaceful break from the fast-paced hustle of our regular lives.

So next time your parents try to yell at your for staying up too late tell them its sciences fault!!

When thinking about night, I immediately started to think about the stars and how beautiful they are. Where I live there are hardly any stars at night, due to light pollution which is caused by an extreme amount of artificial light. I’ve seen pictures of people who go away and they can clearly see thousands of beautiful stars in the sky, and I would love to visit some place where you can clearly see the stars. I also think it’s so cool that you can name stars, and have a star named after you! Here are some pictures I found where I think the stars look amazing.

While the nighttime can be associated with utter darkness, fear, and terror, it can also be credited with bringing out astonishing images in the sky. There are both negative and positive effects of the night, and the artwork of the night sky is one fascinating positive aspect of it. During the daytime, stars and the constellations they form are invisible to the human eye. However, they appear at night and are magnificent sights. The word “constellation” derives from a term in Latin meaning “set with stars”.

Something I find extremely interesting is how there is a total of 88 different constellations that can be seen in the sky; I expected there to be a lot more than 88. The 12 major constellations are the zodiacs: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, and Pisces. The Aries constellation takes the shape of a ram, Taurus is a bull, Gemini shows a pair of twins, Cancer is a crab, Leo is a lion, Virgo is a maiden, Libra is a scale, Scorpio is a scorpion, Sagittarius is a centaur, Capricorn is a sea-goat, Aquarius shows a water bearer, and Pisces shows fishes. Libra is the only constellation that represents an inanimate object. The zodiacs surround the ecliptic. Ancient cultures used these constellations to be able to tell what time of year it was. The 5 largest constellations in the sky are Hydra, Virgo, Ursa Major, Cetus, and Hercules. Hydra, the largest constellation, takes up 3.16% of the sky. Crux is the smallest constellation and only takes up .17% of the sky.