Gorgeous....

Almost All The Pretty Little Stars

I found something fun the other day.

I love the stars... I love to lie there and watch them at night, twinkling away hundreds and thousands of light years away; light only now reaching us, when the star that emitted them could be long gone.

I find it fascinating, and so beautifully haunting. I don't know what exactly it is, but I find looking at the stars almost like greeting old friends. I keep an eye out for my favorites, and it warms my heart to see their reappearance with the change of the season...

Which is why I found this to be so entertaining. Its an interactive star map... you can watch the tour (which is fun on its own) or zip around to the stars you are interested in.

Now not everyone is in there... this is in Beta mode still (and I am trying to not be sad that my beloved Sirius is not included as of yet) but it does give wonderful information, gorgeous images and you can learn something at the same time... how is that not amazing?

Silhouette

At first it was far too bright to see; peeking at the sun from behind a hand held up to block the light had my eyes tearing up and aching.  I was tempted to look again a few minutes later and had to restrain myself as I had no protective gear to keep myself from burning sensitive retinas.  I found myself frustrated that I was going to miss an event that was taking place right before me.  I snuck another peek and was immediately hit with a deeper ache in the left eye I was using, trying to spare the right by squinting it shut.  Afterimages of blue filled my sight....

I pulled out my camera and aimed it in the sun's direction, hoping for the best, but all I got was a big white blur.

Well darn, I thought, getting ready to bag the whole idea.  I went back in the house and sat at the kitchen table, noting glumly that the evening was quickly growing darker and the air was filling with the sounds of birds roosting for the evening, chirping out their final calls to one another at what they assumed was the closing of their day. The blue tint to my sight slowly faded and provided some solace, but it was with a heavy heart that I sat, knowing I was missing out on a dazzling Heavenly show, though I knew no one was to blame but myself, as I had failed to plan accordingly.  

Then Jason said the neighbors were out back with a homemade reflector that they were willing to let us look through.  We put on our shoes and I grabbed my camera (just in case) and headed for the park behind the house, where the one of the neighbors was looking through the reflector while another was beginning to snap photos, complaining about a covering of clouds that had moved in at the last moment.

What the heck, I thought.  This time I zoomed my lens, glancing at the viewfinder every now and again to be sure I was pointed in the right direction, and started snapping shot after shot.  To my surprise, the eclipse was now being captured, however faintly, as the moon slid into place and the clouds providing an imperfect, but welcome filter.

I admit that I went overboard, snapping away madly as the moon slowly crossed the face of the sun.  It seemed to pass in a matter of moments, and I found my images beginning to blur as the sun came flaring out on the far side once again.  As the evening brightened around us the birds began singing again and a few even took to flight.  I turned off my camera and made my way back inside again, where I pulled out my laptop and, fingers crossed, I downloaded my memory card, hoping that something had turned out.

Images, blurred at first, then growing clearer and clearer filled my computer, and I found myself finally looking at images that, while still blocked by clouds, showed a lovely silhouette of the moon as it performed its heavenly dance with our parent star....