Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Night Sky

I walked out on the back deck tonight to see if I could catch the scent of rain on the wind. Radar showed thunderstorms popping up all around, but none were near Empire.
I sat on our wrought iron chair, laid my head back against the garden door and looked at the sky. The moon was half full and bright as a camera flash that forgot to go out after the picture was taken. A high flying jet heading west left a contrail that looked like a white cotton rope that was strung across the night sky.
The moon was so bright that it took a while for the stars to come into focus. Soon it will be cool enough to break out the telescope for some stargazing. 
The telescope was an anniversary gift from my old employer. The pictures that come into focus when you turn the dial are remarkable.
It won't be long until our great nephew Jordan, who lives next door, will be old enough to do some sky watching. I'll have to bone up on my astronomy to be able to answer the battery of questions that I know he will have for me. Many of his questions will go unanswered, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, because I'll encourage him to read and study so that he can find some of the answers on his own. 
Tonight we didn't have the gift of rain, but I did get a chance to look into the heavens and contemplate the vastness of the Universe, which is really a gift in itself.

3 comments:

  1. I saw a contrail in the sky Monday.

    A bright blue sky with a double white trail expanding from the earth up the side of the bowl of sky with the near earth beginnings growing puffy and the tiny thin ones up higher attached to an invisible plane.

    It seems I used to see more of these, or maybe it is I don't look up that much living in the city.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We're receiving the "gift" of rain as I'm typing this. So no star gazing for me tonight.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love your descriptive prose. Such a gift to share.
    tm

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