Odyssey Magazine Issue 1, 2016 | Page 11

PLANETARY ALIGNMENT Rhodes' Colossus In a move reminiscent of recent fantasy spectacles such as Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, a collective of European architects has proposed to build a 21st Century version of the Colossus of Rhodes – the ancient Greek statue erected on the island of Rhodes in 280 BCE. The new statue would stand 500-feet tall and serve as a cultural centre as well as a lighthouse. The Colossus stood as one of the tallest structures of the ancient world until an earthquake brought it crashing down in 226 BCE, but now, a group of architects, civil engineers, and archeologists from around Europe want to build a modern version of the statue, five times taller than the original. For the full story click here. If you haven't seen it already, since January 20 our five closest celestial neighbours, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, will be aligned in the night sky for the first time in over a decade. To get the best look at this phenomenon, try to find an open field and a dark sky. At the very least get a clear view of the sky and hope that it's not cloudy. Then look toward the moon and follow its path toward the horizon. You should be able to see the planets (which are generally less twinkly than stars) shining brightly in the sky. Savvy astronomers may notice that the alignment of the planets in the sky does not follow their order from the sun, (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and dwarf planet Pluto), but you'll be glad to know that the planets' order from the sun hasn't changed, but rather the path and plane that they follow around our star means that when we see them, Saturn kind of jumps in there after Venus and before Mars. The planets will be visible before fading by Feb. 20. Need help locating the planets? Try one of these free apps for stargazers here. DIGITAL DIVA Imogen Heap has been a pioneer in the music industry for decades – one of the first artists to brave the 'self-published' route and, since 2011, has been using her futuristic digital gloves called Mi Mu to control the sound of her voice. Her latest innovation is a musical platform called Mycelia, which proposes using blockchain technologies, similar to those used by ѡ