After midnight I wrapped up in a blanket and went out on the deck to watch for the Orionid meteors. I only saw a couple of "shooting stars," but the view was magnificent.
Looking straight up from my deck, there's a narrow dark strip of sky above my trees, with the glow from Birmingham to the west and the glow from Leeds to the east. At first I could only see a couple of stars, Polaris and something right near it. But as my eyes grew adjusted, they came out gloriously--Cassiopeia very bright and upside-down, the bowl of the Big Dipper, and Polaris directly overhead.
The sky was so cold and clear, the longer I watched, the more stars appeared. It's a long time since I've seen so many stars. I thought of Keats's poem about standing on the shore of the universe. But where Keats felt that it made everything down here seem unimportant, it makes me feel very important, a part of it all, part of the Milky Way galaxy, part of a star. Part of the Mind of God?
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When I lived at the Oak Trail apartments, the north-sky view from my balcony was so spectacular, I learned many of the constellations and star formations. Ones I remember are Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Draco, the Big and Little Dippers, and Cassiopeia.
2 comments:
Last night, Tuesday night, the stars over my hill were amazing! Big and bright.
I wish all the lights would go out for just one night. I would love to see the Milky Way. Haven't seen it since I was a kid, I don't think.
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