Waiting for Orionids meteors at one of the darker places in South Florida.
Stars
10 thoughts on “Stars”
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Some Chicago Boyz know each other from student days at the University of Chicago. Others are Chicago boys in spirit. The blog name is also intended as a good-humored gesture of admiration for distinguished Chicago School economists and fellow travelers.
Waiting for Orionids meteors at one of the darker places in South Florida.
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You can’t fool us. There are no dark places in South Florida. That’s like looking for a dark spot on Times Square.
:-P
Ha, actually there are a few places if you don’t mind a little driving.
The few times I have seen a meteor shower – the best description I have is awe – how small we really are in the big scheme of things…
The photo reminds me of nights when I would lie out on the grass after closing my father’s golf driving range south of Chicago. Tucson is another great place to see stars. It is a “dark city” because of Kitt Peak Observatory and there are few street lights. Aside from low speed limits after dark, the city ambiance is great. I took my telescope over there. It does get cold at night in winter, as low as 14 degrees at times, but aside from that is a perfect place for an observatory.
Mike_K – my most memorable “starry night” was – after flying in a C-130 from Frankfurt to Crete to view a Nike-Hercules missile launch the next day – despite my head still ringing from that flight – stepped outside the barracks and the sky was filled with – what seemed – millions of stars. It was a sight I remember still – 41 years later.
Jay Manifold graciously sent me a light map that made it easy to figure out where the darkest areas are. You can find such maps by googling around.
That is fantastic. Some day I will get a second house where there isn’t much light pollution and get a telescope to see the stars. My photos won’t turn out that well, though :)
I took an astronomy course at the local junior college. For a field trip we went to the mountains east of Orange County. My daughter, then 13, got to see the sombrero galaxy through a 16 inch telescope. Mine is 6 inch, big enough to see the rings of Saturn.
That picture of the sombrero galaxy is fantastic.
Carl, this is one type of picture-taking where having a decent camera helps.
It amazing to realize that humans stared at the stars for thousands of years, concocting all sorts of outlandish stories about what those lights were and what they meant.
And yet, the more we learn about how the universe actually works, the more we realize that the reality of celestial science is even stranger than any of the myths ever were.
I’ll never get there, more’s the pity, but my great-grandchildren will.