Winter star-walk

[george7378]

I didn't want to get my scope out in the thick snow of tonight, so I went out on a star-walk through the snow. I started just getting dark adapted by staring up towards the thin Winter Milky Way passing through the bright stars of Cassiopeia. While I was doing this, I slowly walked from the house through the garden trying to get as many scenery perspectives as possible to frame the rising stars of Orion against. Betelgeuse was one of the brightest of the many dots, and as I watched it rise through the gently swaying tree branches, I thought of just how unquantifiably extreme everything about that unassuming point is, with only its red tinge hinting at the turmoil it is facing in the last stages of its life. What was the star like in its youth, and did anyone ever live there?

I then ventured out into the large field that lays behind our house, which still had a perfect covering of snow. I crunched further and further out from the tree border around the edge, out into the centre of the white floor, and as I did, more and more of the sky became visible. There were a few lights on the horizon where the world was tucked up warm, but the sky above me was ever so black and the ever-mysterious glow of the Milky Way flowed through Cygnus and Cassiopeia. Finally stopping in the middle of the open field, I revolved around taking in the so-close-yet-so-far shape of the Big Dipper, which was framed against a sleeping house - itself appearing tiny against the vast and distant stellar background.

Then, despite the snowy ground, I relaxed down onto the floor and lay there for a few minutes with the gentle breeze washing across the field. Far beyond the myriad dots of our own stars, the glow of the Andromeda Galaxy was easily visible, with its light pouring down onto the quiet field. I stretched out to gather as many photons from the countless stars as possible - photons which had been travelling patiently for so much time before I was even born, which ended their journey with me tonight. The gentle white glow of the snowy ground added to the ambience of the scene, and as I crunched back slowly indoors, I was still surrounded by the silent stars framed against the dark horizon. A display of Winter aurora would have topped it all off - maybe some other time.

[Demonperformer]

Sounds like a good session. I wonder if sometimes we (I mean I) get so involved in chasing the faint, difficult objects, that the simple wonder of the night sky with the MkI eyeball is forgotten. Thanks for reminding me.

[Nexus 6]

Ditto Dp!

I have posted a few threads recently on this point by sheer coincidence. I have recently bought my first dog, I take her for walks down a farm track close to my home. The southern sky looks superb naked eye due to the lack of lp, its been a bit of a revelation to be honest and makes me look forward to a walk almost as much as her!

Alan