I enjoy looking at the stars. I live in the far southeastern, rural corner of Colorado where star-gazing is great even right in my small town, because the lights from corner street lights on every couple of blocks don't interfere much. A drive out of town just a mile or so offers fabulous opportunity for star gazing, especially when meteor showers happen.
On summer nights when I was a kid growing up on a small ranch, I'd often climb up on the top of our sloping, flat-roofed barn and lay there for hours looking at the sky.
I’m not skilled at recognizing constellations, even when using a star-gazing guide. I can pick out Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Orion, Pleiades, and sometimes Aldebran. My brain can’t connect the abstract dots of constellations. If I check the Farmer’s Almanac for any given night, I can go out and usually locate Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, and maybe other constellations. Identifying isn't all that important to me. I simply enjoy the view.
Oh…and the moon. I’ve got that one down pat. :-)
For information about The International Dark Sky Association, which has a plethora of information, CLICK HERE.
For the Wikipedia version, which includes lists of worldwide locations, CLICK HERE.
I live in the southeastern area of Colorado's Comanche National Grasslands, which is often listed in 'best places in Colorado to star gaze', even though it doesn't have the official international seal of darkness approval.
It’s amazing to think that throughout history (and prehistory) people looked at the same stars I’m looking at now.
A portion of Inspector Javert’s song “Stars” from the musical Les Misérables comes closest to expressing how I feel when looking at the stars, but only from 0:59 to 01:42, since the bulk of the song is about Javert’s vendetta to apprehend Jean Valjean.
As Agent K said to Agent J in Men in Black 1: They're beautiful, aren't they? The stars. I never really look at them anymore, but they actually are quite... beautiful.
Are you a star gazer? Constellation tracker? Night sky watcher?
I agree, Kaye! I love star and moon gazing! I envy you your light-pollution-free skies.
ReplyDeletelovely blog!
Lindsay,
DeleteWhoever came up with the phrase "light pollution free" created a perfect descriptor, but it sure is an awkward way to say the sky is dark enough for star gazing. haha. Thanks for stopping in.
I really noticed a difference, moving from a heavily populated part of England to Rural Yorkshire. Without the light pollution we now have acres of beautiful skies. Thanks for this lovely post. It's good to take a moment to appreciate the beauty around us.
ReplyDeleteC.A.,
DeletePerhaps in one of your blog articles you might post pictures of what it looks like where you live. I envision it as lovely green and rolling hills.
It is good to remind ourselves that there is beauty all around even in the darkest of times.
Thanks for commenting!
What a great post to remind us of the beauty around us, even in difficult times. Thanks, Kaye.
ReplyDeleteAnn,
DeleteI have to purposely look for the beauty as I have pessimistic-realist tendencies, and I get easily bogged down in the world's woes even when I stay away from the news.
Thanks for stopping by.
Kaye, when I was little, my dad would come home from a long day at work and after dinner, he and my mom and I would go sit outside on an old packing quilt. We'd look up at the stars and he'd show me some of the constellations (which of course I didn't understand at the time) but I DO remember learning the Big Dipper, because I could actually SEE it and not have to try to imagine "connect the dots"--so every time I see the Big Dipper in the sky I remember those hot summer nights sitting outside with a glass of something cold to drink, and just spending time with Mom and Dad together. Great memories. One of my first words was "star" and one of my daughter Jessica's first words was "moon"--my mom taught her that so she was thrilled when Jessica started saying it.
ReplyDeleteI still love going out and looking at the night sky, no matter what the season--and believe me, I see a lot of it with these two dogs and no doggie door...LOL Great post!
Cheryl,
DeleteThose are precious memories of star gazing with your parents. I recall my dad waking me up on a cold winter night to take me outside to see the Northern Lights. I was seven. "Star" and "moon" as first words is also precious. (My kids' first words were cuss words... I have NO idea (snort) where they heard those words.) hahaha
See? Not only do your dogs bring companionship, joy, and love into your life, they also provide star watching opportunities.
Thanks for stopping in!
I've always been fascinated with the stars. I used to look up and want to be transported there. (This was before Star Trek the TV show). Sometimes I still think it would be an adventure. Doris
ReplyDeleteDoris,
DeleteFascinating is a good word for stars. I'd never contemplated 'going where no man has gone before' until I watched the original Star Trek, and I'm with you on wanting to take a space adventure...except that I'm claustrophobic. It would have to be a BIG space ship. hahaha
Thanks for stopping in.
My brothers and sisters and I would sit on the roof watching constellations in the Summer. Very often we could detected the faint flickers of Aurora Borealis -- Pure magic. Some great memories of those long warm nights.
ReplyDelete