I was out with friends tonight. Us with our 8 year old, another with their infant and another on the way. Yet another who is divorced. Another buddy got his PHD and yet another his captains license and yet another who has been gone for far too many years and still missed like it was yesterday.

All of this makes me think back to 18 year old me. Standing on my parents deck, drunk, looking up at the stars and musing that these are the same stars that will be looking down on me my whole life.

I look at all the changes and losses and I look up at those stars tonight and I look right back at 18 year old me and “18 year old us” and can’t help but smile. Changes and death be damned those same friggen stars are there and take me back.

So Happy Easter and whether you are a believer in Jesus or a magical bunny, believe in the fact that the universe is way bigger then you or I and that you can look up and look the old days right in the eye.

Just felt like musing a bit and forgetting all the ancillary bullshit in life. Politics, social justice, apocalypse du jour. etc. just remembering what matters in my small life.

Right back at ye dude.
Time really does fly.
I'm 38 now... but it feels like just the other day when I was 20 years old in the USMC with my friends and our whole lives in front of us.
Almost 20 years later and several of them are dead and gone already....

I remember laying on my back on the deck of a US Navy ship running dark. I was looking up at the sky. At first, it was just the normal stars that I can see from any land. As my eyes got accustomed to the night sky, stars started appearing from behind the stars that were already there. And stars kept continuing to appear from the dark.

I was undulating with the ship deck and I was looking at a sea of stars. It certainly put me in my right place as a small thing in a very big universe.

I look at the stars every night and I can name about 60 of them - its been a project of mine for the last year to be able to look up at the night sky and name as many stars in the constellations as possible

It's amazing to me that the light from some of those stars we see with the naked eye started our way 10,000 years before any recorded human history.

If you want to feel small in the scheme of things, consider that our 2nd closest star is Proxima Centauri at 4.2 light years. Just over 4 years at the speed of light. Unless we conquer speed of light travel, we will never visit another star. Ever.

Trillions upon trillions of stars, and our sun is the only one we can experience up close.

I remember the first time I saw the Milky Way. I was on a road trip way out in the middle of Texas, had to stop to take a pee break. Got out, looked up and.....damn! Big ol’, nearly solid swath of white slashing across the black sky. I stood there for a while just looking.

“The heavens proclaim the glory of God..” (Psalms 19:1)

I grew up in a small town in Missouri. The night sky was beautiful, with the Milky Way easily visible. Few street lights in my neighborhood, and they were pathetically weak incandescents. I miss that view, but my memory of it is clear. I also clearly remember the chigger bites I suffered from summer night sky viewing.

Isaiah 40:26
Turn your eyes to the heavens! See who created these? He brings out the army of them in sequence, summoning each by name. Through His great might and His massive strength, not one of them is missing.

I love the stars, and even dabble in astrophotography.

I would really like to see the Milky Way, but unfortunately the light pollution is too bad here. I think 2/3rds of the world's population is in the same boat.

Well said!

Thanks for helping me take a break from the action!

We were hiking in to a small fire at night—too small to put a distinctive glow on the horizon to guide us. We’re trying to rely on a hastily drawn map to get us there and it was dark.. We were definitely turned around and trying to get our bearings. My best friend on the fire crew was a pretty good amateur astronomer and trying to help asked, “Where’s Scorpio?” If memory serves, it should be in the southern, summer sky.

That was probably a mistake. Most of the crew kept repeating, “Where’s Scorpio?!?” and “What the hell?!?” That became the theme for the rest of the summer. Where’s Scorpio?

We bought our property and built our home out east of Cheyenne. I really hoped it was far enough out of town that we could still see the Milky Way. No joy. The night sky was spectacular where we lived north of Jackson, WY.

The best thing in the world is being somewhere beyond the man made lights and looking up at the stars. When I was a child I dreamed of being an astronaut. I love everything about the heavens. I have an app on my phone called SkyView, and one of my favorite things is sitting out back with my girl's daughter (9 years old) and using the app to look around. To see her excitement as she names things and watch her wonder...nothing compares.

A memory I have as a yungin’ is camping in the mountains of Colorado. It was “can’t see your hand in front of your face” dark. Looking at the night sky, I’d start to pick out a couple of objects that looked like stars, but they we’re moving slowly. I was seeing satellites orbiting! Boggled my mind.

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
I look at the stars every night and I can name about 60 of them - its been a project of mine for the last year to be able to look up at the night sky and name as many stars in the constellations as possible

iPhone / iPad app called Sky Guide has been helping me to learn / name constellations and stars.

Not quite a starless sky, but a favorite of mine.

The Yoop can make me tiny and insignificant. All I need to do is stand on the shore of Lake Superior on a cold clear night, with the stars overhead and a fantastic lightshow from the Aurora Borealis going on.

This takes me back to my pre-teen years lying on my back in the backyard grass gazing up at the heavens. Immersive sensations as the deep sky and milky way unfolded their wonders to my night acclimating eyes. Soft warm gentle breeze further setting this wonderfully memorable experience.

Watch out for falling space stations



(And northern Michigan is unreal for star watching - no light pollution.

I can't wait to move out onto our land in the country as you can barely see any stars at my house right now. When I used to go to my brother's land out in the middle of nowhere, it was pitch black and you could see every star. It was amazing and I would use one of the planet apps on my phone to identify and see the constellations I did not know.