Wednesday, July 19, 2023
The Night Sky
What are you reading lately? I am reading the night sky. There is more than one way to interpret that. Specifically, I am reading Backyard Guide to the Night Sky, a National Geographic publication, authored by Andrew Fazekas. It is simple and fantastic, good reading. Of course, the other way to read the sky is to take a walk outside and turn your focus to the heavens. I do that daily, too, daytime and night! Though these days, I have not seen too many starscapes. (Note: Webster’s Dictionary does not have starscapes as a word in the dictionary. Who knew?)
It stays light out so long these days that starscapes do not really appear until I have gone to bed. I wake early daily, usually by 5-6AM, and via one activity or another my day energetically begins. With the warmer weather, it has been good to get out on the bicycle early. For that reason, I look forward to shorter days and an earlier beginning of the show in the night sky. But, for the time being, watching the sky daytime, at the variety of clouds and how the sun paints colors, tones, shadows, and bright areas, that is a fine form of gazing at the heavens.
Fazekas distills the science of the night sky, with all it contains, into mostly easy-to-understand language, starting with the Earth’s atmosphere and moving outward. An introductory chapter provides information to help become orientated properly with respect to the sky. Just as there is latitude and longitude when utilizing a globe and assigning locations on Earth, there is system for orienting and locating objects in a celestial sphere, an extension of the Earth globe, which has the Earth as the centerpiece.
Following this intro chapter are chapters on the Atmosphere, Sun, Moon, Planets, Comets & Meteors, Beyond the Solar System, and Beyond the Milky Way. Within the context of those chapters, he at times talks about the criteria and specifics of using and/or buying binoculars and telescopes for personal use. The last two chapters provide guidance in finding objects of interest in the sky: Navigating the Night Sky and Sky Charts. Sky Charts contains four sections, one for each season, viewed from the Northern Hemisphere at around 40 degrees latitude.
The size and components of the universe are totally mind boggling. The wonder of it all is fascinating. The amount of matter. The creation of energy from burning hydrogen, from those nuclear reactions in stars that are initiated by the strength of gravity. Solar wind. Magnetic fields that protect Earth. All the different classes of stars, black holes, quasars, cosmic dust. It is a complex environment and area to study.
And sitting here on this tiny mass of rock 93 million miles away from the Sun, a speck in the Milky Way, itself just one of billions of galaxies, it is dreamy. Looking up at the sky, especially at night, when one sees all those stars, it can reach into the deepest part of my soul, our souls. It touches us in a way that is beyond words. We can sit and gaze at that sky, going on forever, and feel that forever inside of us, too. Time is suspended. The depth of the universe is proportional to the depth of our spirit. Perhaps hard to fathom, but entirely true. Believe it.
More on the night sky another time soon.
Have a nice day!
Photo of Milky Way courtesy of Wallpaper.com, Creative Commons license.
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