ooh i love stargazing! haven't done too much through a telescope, but one time was incredibly memorable:
my first college astronomy course was meeting at a local park one night with a $3000 telescope. i remember seeing a nebula - a star being born - and then the kicker: saturn.
it was the most beautiful thing i'd ever seen. this perfect white shape, a cutout piece of paper, in the most pristine form i could imagine. i was so overwhelmed by the sight of it, its realness and awesomeness, i cried.
when i was in italy for a year, orion followed me across the country. i would look up at night and watch him standing over me, sword sheathed, as far as my mind could interpret, ready to protect me, but there was never a fight.
i'll throw in a little poem i wrote during that time, as i watched the night sky.
in the woods in tuscany.
in a night lit only by the stars of the universe and i mean all of them visible to a naked eye from italy
we close our eyes and still they are imprinted on the backs of our eyelids.
orione as always stands over me, sheathed sword
there's never a fight
the tiny dipper faces the big as it pours sweet cream
fills our awaiting buckets with milk.
at night i like to spot orion, scorpio (or what i imagine is scorpio, it may not be), the big and little dipper, and gaze at whatever other stars i may see.
i also follow the moon almost religiously. when i was in italy, i was so in tune to my surroundings, always out in nature, never in a city where the buildings block the view - the moon followed me, and i loved being in touch with her phases, whether she was waxing or waning, noting her changes night by night.
fascinating, the world beyond.
also of note, the first occupation i ever desired as a child was an astronaut. oh how i wanted to be an astronaut, so badly. who knows, maybe someday i will be! with technology accelerating at its own breakneck pace, one can never tell.
