The Sounds of a Saturday Night Under the Stars

 

                Across the street, a neighbor had built a bonfire in his back yard. His kids were running around and yelling, glad to be outside. I’m sure, a few marshmallows were being toasted and burnt. Down the street a party was in progress. Country music drifted into my yard along with a few laughs every so often. Chances are there was a fire down there also. The air smelled good, like summertime.

                In my yard, I was sitting behind the telescope having my own little star party. Drifting around Orion, passing through the Pleiades and whatever constellation struck my fancy. Thanks to some creative (?) parking of my car, the yard was dark. So was the sky, there would be no moon to bother with tonight.

                Double stars, galaxies, some nebula's and a couple star clusters populated my eyepiece. A couple satellites drifted through my field of view as I sat, amazed at what came through my optics. I had no plan, I was just enjoying the view.

                Even though it was cold, the seeing was great. I forgot about how numb my fingers were getting. I also forgot about any stress that had been hanging over my head, the tensions of the world drifted away as I sat in my front yard and traveled light years into the past.

                While I drifted through the stars, I listened to the sounds of the neighborhood. They were the sounds of normalcy. It sounded great and it made me feel wonderful!  

 

Jupiter is there, click on the picture and look close!

                This morning the time was set ahead an hour so after what seemed like a short amount of sleep, I got up for Church. Before I got there, I stopped at the local cemetery and watched the sun brighten the sky in the east. Jupiter was sitting about 10 degrees off the top of the hill. As I watched, all the stars faded and it became the only thing I could see in the sky. I didn’t see the sun come over the horizon, I had a more important place to be! I did see the results of its appearance though. Bright orange sunlight slowly descended on the wall behind the altar during Mass. 

The day is off to a good start!  It’s Pi Day! I think we will bake a pie today to celebrate.