7 posts tagged “astronomy”

A_starlightnights

That last poem, the title was a little homage to one of my favorite astronomy books, "Starlight Nights" by Leslie C. Peltier... he was one of the most famous amateur astronomers in the last century, and the book is a biography of his beginnings and life in astronomy... it's a must-read for anyone with any interest in just what those people do in their backyards with their telescopes.

First Eclipse

You will fear it's witchcraft once its begun,
it will be easy to imagine the Moon ate the Sun,
but it is all a matter of astronomical position,
that can be calculated with a total precision;
still to see the Moon take its first "bite",
and to note the fast reduction of light,
to see lunar shadows flow across the land,
then suddenly night falls right where you stand;
to see stars come out in the afternoon,
and the Bailey's Beads flicker around the Moon,
pick out Venus and Mars close to the scene,
and the other planets shining full and serene;
the Sun's corona of white, flaming hair,
you can feel celestial gears turning in the air,
yet it seems to end all way too soon,
and the Sun is the Sun, and the Moon is the Moon,
release the breath that you were holding in,
because all is right with the world again.

I've been dealing with really bad sinus headaches for the past month or so... and last night was like the mother of them all, just incapacitated me for several hours until I finally dozed a bit on my bed... I woke up after midnight, feeling better but like I had been run over by a car... I really couldn't get to sleep after that, and even today I'm still achey and tired, but can't fall asleep... it's been frustrating because yesterday morning I got some good work done on a short story I have been writing - the story is done, now it's just in the rewrite/edit stage... I really hoped to have it done this morning, but I just couldn't focus... hopefully tomorrow I can get it done...

... oddly, the short story is a horror one... as are the other five stories I've been making notes and rough drafts on... guess all the years of King, Koontz, movies and music are finally working on me, hehe... I'm jazzed tho, because so far the ideas and work are going good, and I'm hoping to have some good stories to do something with... I've been researching some magazines to send them to, maybe I'll get lucky...

... I haven't been reading much with all the writing going on... right now I'm working my way thru a book of Edgar Allan Poe stories, along with the bunch of poetry books that always seem to follow me around the home...

... I saw Venus the other night, shining bright in the west after sunset... so I went and consulted my almanacs, and seems Venus is going to be real nice in the evening sky this season, and next week Mercury comes up to join it... so I'm hoping to catch some views of both planets together... last night some light clouds hovered around the west, making it hard to catch Venus, but higher up I could see the slender crescent Moon...

So what did I do with my afternoon?... I attacked the garden on the balcony, wishing to clean up the floor, and get rid of some plants that haven't survived... so, keeping my eye on the circling wasps, I managed to clear the place up and make it more presentable... the morning glory's are blooming really good right now, they're a real pale blue with a darker blue "star" inside... so far no moonflowers, but there are several buds around that should open maybe over the weekend...

I'm reading an interesting book right now, it's called "A Floating Life" by Stephen Elegant, and it's about the life of Li Po, one of my favorite Chinese poets... there's little known about his life, but there are several myths, and the author has put these together so they make kind of a larger-than-life adventure story which Li Po is telling to a scribe so that he can have a record of his great life to present to the Emperor... it's been a neat read so far, almost reminiscent of a children's book, tho the language is a bit rougher...

The bakery's been very slow since even the summer school sessions are closed now... hopefully things will get kicking again in a week or so after Labor Day when the kids go back to school... my boss took a bad fall in the freezer last weekend too, so he's been out of work most of the week, and I wonder if he'll ever be the same... I think he broke a rib or two, cause he's complaining about pain when he breathes, but he won't go get an X-ray... given how business was this summer, I really don't know how the place survives... we were so dead, it was the worst I've ever seen... I really didn't have much to do, since nothing was being sold, and a lot of days I got home even by 8 a.m.... I think it's a matter of time til the place has to fold, and I guess I'm stuck there riding it til the end...

I'm missing astronomy real bad right now too... fall was always a great time for it, a lot of cool days and fronts that would clear away the haze and make for beautiful nights... already in the morning on the way to work I can see Mars shining in Taurus, and the Pleiades, and the great Orion just climbing his way up over the trees and buildings in the east... it seems a lifetime ago when I was home in Audubon Park and would be outside every clear night enjoying the sky... I really hope my situation changes again someday so that I can return to it...

... and thankfully I got to finally see it... I was getting worried I'd miss this whole evening apparition of the planet Mercury, given how the weather was last week... but Saturday night finally came thru for me... a cold front swept the clutter out of the skies, and by dusk it was clear and bitterly cold... with the Sun down, I found Venus easy of course, since it's so brilliant these nights... then I got out the binoculars to help me pick out Mercury, which I found pretty easily... then it was a matter of putting the binoculars away and finding it with the naked eye... a few moments later I could make out the innermost planet's glimmer in the twilight glow... and as the time passed it became easier to see the darker the skies got... so, I could breathe a sigh of relief... I also got to see it Sunday night, and even tonight... this is the time to enjoy the show, because Mercury will move out quick.

Surprisingly it was a busy weekend at the bakery, with the Superbowl, even tho' the Eagles weren't in it... at least we sold more than I thought we would... which made my boss happy, and me too, since when he's happy, we're all happy... now the really slow days should roll in, since there's no big holidays for us til Thanksgiving... Easter isn't much for us, tho you might think otherwise... but it just never seems to get wild for us...

... still reading "Exultant" by Stephen Baxter - been kind of lax on my reading the past few days, tired after a busy day at work... I've been re-reading "Say Uncle" by Kay Ryan, and making notes on Amazon at my Wish List of some of her other books I want to get... other than that, life's been routine... and yes, I did order in a buffalo chicken pizza for the Superbowl... I figure it was as good a time as any to indulge again ;)

I hope you've been noticing Venus in the west after sunset like I have been... or should I say before sunset, since it's been so brilliant you can see it while the sky is still blue and bright... over the weekend the crescent Moon passed by it in the evening sky, which is one of my favorite sights of all, especially when the Moon is showing earthshine... now, this weekend coming up, and early next week, look for Mercury to pop up to the lower right of Venus... Mercury is notoriously hard to catch, since it usually never gets far above the horizon and always stays close to the Sun... I have been into astronomy since the mid-80s, and didn't catch Mercury 'til '96, so it's quite a sight to bag... anyway, try to find as clear a horizon as you can to catch it, and here's hoping we all get some clear skies at the same time!