Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: ZENITH (04/21/16)
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TITLE: Spaced Out | Previous Challenge Entry
By Robyn Harbour
04/22/16 -
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Our farm was fifty km from the nearest city and over thirty from town; as a result the night sky was brilliant on a moonless night. More and more stars appeared as our eyes became accustomed to the darkness.
Earlier in the day we had downloaded from the internet a map of the night’s sky and a list of planets and constellations visible early evening. We printed off a list of all the satellites and rockets that were bright enough to reflect the sunlight before the earth’s shadow got in the way. We knew that we only had around two hours of good viewing time so concentrated on these first.
Tonight there would be over seventy satellites and rockets and a handful of iridium flares visible for one or two minutes as they tracked across the starry sky. The best ones were those that went over the zenith. We lay on our backs gazing up at the twelve o’clock position where all points of the compass intersected in the sky creating a high dome.
As these satellites arrived and exited in many different directions it was always a race to see who would spot each satellite first. The rockets were from many different countries and we would try and remember which country matched which rocket. Each of us tried to be the first to spot the International Space Station.
Next it was time to check for planets. There were four in our part of the southern sky tonight. The red cellophane over the torch light reduced the glare in our eyes and kept them adjusted to the darkness. Our youngest child held the map over her head and positioned it just right to make it easier read.
All planets rise in the west, following the same path as the sun, setting in the west. This makes them easier to spot. Excitedly the children would point and call out when they spotted a planet. The binoculars would be handed around and oohs’ and ahhs’ could be heard as the rings of Saturn or the moons of Jupiter could be seen.
Each night we tried to learn and remember a star constellation and all four of us became excellent at working our way across the sky and naming each one as we went. We would pause with the binoculars at Orion’s belt to focus on the gas nebular in the middle of the ‘saucepan handle.’ Another favorite spot to pause was in the Centaur constellation, a small smudge revealed what we affectionately called ‘star city’; a huge cluster of stars.
Slowly as the earth rotated we watched the Milky Way drift from one side of the sky to the other. The odd meteor would shoot across the sky, often disappearing as quickly as it came. Some nights were more alive than others.
Just before it was time to go to bed the crescent moon appeared. We looked through the binoculars deep into the craters outlined in the shadows of the mountain ranges.
As we talked, watched and investigated the night sky we felt as if we had become one with the universe, our world was bigger than ‘terra firma’ and we felt more attuned to our Creator, the one who so long ago spanned out the heavens with his right hand.
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Just a small red-ink note - I guess you meant "all planets rise in the east..." not west.
I enjoyed reading it. It brought back childhood memories, being far out at sea and seeing the stars and planets, with big brother explaining what was what.
Blessings~