I don't know about you, but life sometimes bloats me up. I start taking myself a little too seriously. A need wells up in me, drop by drop, to reel in the long shadow life has cast, to recalibrate my bearings against something vast, reassuring and timeless.Â
Oceans and mountains are far away, forests and deserts too, so I turn to the sky. its vast expanse never fails to boot me right down to size. My ever-present, friendly neighbourhood Infinity. All I have to do is look up and say hello.Â
earthsky.org is a great portal to get to know your sky a little better. It covers everything - sun dogs, moonbows, occlusions, eclipses, intergalactic trespassers, clouds, conjunctions of the non-grammar kind, aurorae… the works.Â
But as the name suggests, it is about earth too - Tiger Days, Shark Weeks, forest fires et all.
Here’s what you can do if you haven’t really noticed the sky for a while. Wait for a cloudless night, ideally around a new moon. Cue some good music, a mat and your favourite tipple (optional). Scout the safest high point you can access… And then fall upwards into nursery rhymes and darknesses and memories of midnight.Â
If you’re lucky, a power cut to douse all the light pollution. Even otherwise, let Orion rise in the east wearing the star-studded belt of Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka or let the Lion leap across the sky… Watch a meteor rip the veil of darkness - make a wish... find puffs of clouds creep up from a corner of the sky... follow blinking transcontinental flights - I've even seen 4 at a time.Â
Realise we are just specks of life floating on the third rock from the sun. It helps.Â
Do you skywatch? Have you found the moon larger near the horizon? Scientists say we ought not; it is but an illusion! Do you have a favourite constellation outside your zodiacal? I do, and mine is currently Cygnus.Â
Devakalpa
Drifter, old school daydreamer, non-9 to 5 pusher, reader, thinker and seeker. I love laughs, clouds, trees, cats, conversations, silences. cooking too. And JOT. To pay bills at times, I am also an academic consultant, teacher trainer, counsellor, anchor and such. also a certified scuba diver.Â
Write in to let us know about your favourite sunsets and moon rises and everything celestial. And once you land back on terra firma, why not subscribe to Just One Thing? I did and found a parallel universe.