13 August 2010

Star gazing

Ok, so photo of the day failed today because I went to sleep super early in order to wake up at 3am. I did take the picture- but I'll post it tomorrow.

Why did I wake up at 3 am is probably what you are asking yourself... and why am I updating my blog at 4:30am. Here's my answer: meteor shower. You wouldn't believe how many stars you can see here! When I drove from Kansas to Colorado one night I thought I saw a lot of stars- but it's nothing compared to this. Then when you add the shooting stars to it- WOW! What a scene!

So, I set my alarm for 3am and text Mandy and Raymond to see if they were still up for it. Much to my disbelief, Mandy was already out there with her family looking for the shooting stars. Raymond was basically in the same boat as me... if you're going, sure, I'll come too. It wasn't that we didn't want to see the shooting stars... it's that it was 3am. But boy oh boy am I thankful that I got out of bed!

Mandy and her MG and SG were standing outside their gate looking up at the sky. I thought ahead and brought a blanket to lay on- of which Mandy was thankful for because her neck was beginning to hurt. After an hour and a half of this star gazing, I'm sure she would have been really sore tomorrow if I wouldn't have brought the blanket! Either that, or she would have missed a lot!

We saw some tiny shooting stars out of the corners of our eyes, some that were super bright and left tails, and some that even seemed as if someone had thrown a rock to skip across the top of the water. We found the little dipper (of which Mandy kept calling a "cluster" of stars), the big dipper, and the North star. Even after that online astronomy class, I have to be honest- I can't locate any more constellations. There was this belt of stars stretching across the sky- looking much like that of the Milky Way, but that's not possible since we are in the Milky Way... correct? And we saw some airplanes, and some what we think are satellites, and some of what were too far away to be airplanes but to bright to be satellites...? That will take some looking in to...

Now it's 4:40 and I'm going to go back to bed. I hope. But this was the first time I have ever seen a meteor shower and it was an awesome experience, and I'm glad my friends got me out of bed. We even got some nunta bread (wedding bread... it's tradition) as someone stopped to see if we were ok, as they were just getting home from a wedding (this is another post in the making...)

noapte buna

-cc

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