Space is big
Dec. 15th, 2007 01:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stephbgLate last night I spent some time outside in the cold and the howling wind, staring up at the starry sky, watching for meteors.
Only 4 confirmed sightings of definite streaking lights, with a few suspect twinkle-flashes. It took quite a while for the first sighting, and I was reminded that I lack the patience and neck muscles for astronomy. At one point I became very excited by a bright moving light in my peripheral vision. As I swung about to track it I laughed to myself, for it was a plane.
Actually, I laughed aloud, which is probably not recommended neighbour-reassuring behaviour, being alone in my dressing gown at midnight, looking up at the sky from the middle of my driveway. Nothing too unexpected from The Mad Cat Lady at Number 3.
The plane was a piece of luck, for I saw my first definite meteor while I was tracking the plane's progress across the sky. Perhaps the fey magic of my laughter brought it out of hiding. Although "public amusement" = "rocks falling from the sky" is not perhaps a pattern I wish to encourage.
That's what I get for using the word "fey". Back in your box, neglected member of my vocabulary.
It's been a while since I've stopped and looked at the stars and contemplated the universe. The last couple of decades have been cruel to my dreams of star-faring humanity, and my eyes had fallen to the ground. I've been more aware of the smallness of the Earth and its insanely thin layer of atmosphere than the vastness of space and the wonders of the stars.
Last night I was reminded that Space is Big, and I was happy.
Only 4 confirmed sightings of definite streaking lights, with a few suspect twinkle-flashes. It took quite a while for the first sighting, and I was reminded that I lack the patience and neck muscles for astronomy. At one point I became very excited by a bright moving light in my peripheral vision. As I swung about to track it I laughed to myself, for it was a plane.
Actually, I laughed aloud, which is probably not recommended neighbour-reassuring behaviour, being alone in my dressing gown at midnight, looking up at the sky from the middle of my driveway. Nothing too unexpected from The Mad Cat Lady at Number 3.
The plane was a piece of luck, for I saw my first definite meteor while I was tracking the plane's progress across the sky. Perhaps the fey magic of my laughter brought it out of hiding. Although "public amusement" = "rocks falling from the sky" is not perhaps a pattern I wish to encourage.
That's what I get for using the word "fey". Back in your box, neglected member of my vocabulary.
It's been a while since I've stopped and looked at the stars and contemplated the universe. The last couple of decades have been cruel to my dreams of star-faring humanity, and my eyes had fallen to the ground. I've been more aware of the smallness of the Earth and its insanely thin layer of atmosphere than the vastness of space and the wonders of the stars.
Last night I was reminded that Space is Big, and I was happy.
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Date: 2007-12-15 05:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-15 09:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-15 10:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-15 07:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-12-16 12:02 am (UTC)I've seen some spectacular meteors in years of watching the skies (my father and I used to lie on the driveway and count meteors and satellites when my mother was learning the recorder), but they've all been solitary, not a storm.