THE SKY – BEST SHOW IN TOWN!

Have you been watching the sky lately?
Since I saw the planets lined up at the end of April, I have become a stargazer! I am now so hooked on it, that I have become a member of the Astronomical Society of South Australia! I want to understand what I am seeing. I have been trying to catch a glimpse of the Eta Aquariids. Sadly, it has been so cloudy that viewing hasn’t been all that great, but I have caught a glimpse three times now of a little circle of lights that I hope to identify by talking to an expert from Dark Sky at O’Halloran Hill. Anyway, here is a poem inspired by seeing the planets when they appeared to be in all a row with Venus really standing out.

When the Stars are Aligned

I wonder how many bodies bundled out of bed
undaunted by the darkness, or the morning
chill, in confident expectation of experiencing the
thrill of galactic hijinks, reminding us that, despite the distance,
there are undeniable, scientifically measurable,
links behind that brilliant row of beautiful diamonds,
reaching out to us with playful interplanetary
winks, banishing time and distance in two blinks.

I’d like to think it is just another gift from God to the
undeserving, blithely-indifferent inhabitants of planet
earth who have an inflated idea of their individual
worth, believing that the importance of their success
and pleasure is a sign that, when things are working in their
favour, all the stars are aligned because the entire solar system
with its moons and sun and planets ¬ and not their own
behaviour ¬ has inexplicably saved them from fear of failure.