Last night we joined a group of friends for an evening of star gazing on a quiet beach on the bay. My husband the astronomer brought his telescope and as evening fell we looked through the telescope. I saw Jupiter with four of its moons circling around it. Then he turned the telescope to the moon. I could see the craters and mountains on the moon. It was amazing. After we all had time to enjoy the wonders of seeing the heavens through the telescope we spread our blankets on the sand and lie down and just enjoyed the night sky. As we lay on the sand more and more stars became visible. We found several constellations. The ancients must have had very good imaginations to see dolphins, flying horses, and bears in the patterns of the stars, but those same stars named so long ago are the same stars we saw last night. The Milky Way was visible stretching all the way across the sky. When we pulled out the binoculars we could see a gray patch that was the Andromeda Galaxy, a whole other galaxy full of billions and billions of stars. We saw several shooting stars falling to earth. Pondering the vastness of the sky and universe it demonstrates is an awesome and humbling experience.
“The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
Psalm 19:1
8 comments:
It was beautiful and awe inspiring--and not just the stars. That husband of yours is pretty amazing too! Thanks for a great evening.
Those stars are in your heart as well.
That's what I'm talkin' about right there!
I love taking out my telescope on these warm evenings,and getting to know my place in the scheme of things.
The qoute at the end of your post pretty much says it.
We are so small in the scheme of things, this I know from staring at the stars....
The song Steer by Missy Higgins was inspired by her having stared up into the starry night out in the desert of Western Australia. She realised how we are just a speck int he ocean of the scheme of things..and I reckon it is true.
I hope I can make it next time. Sounds wonderful!
Me too.
Which beach did you go to?
Sounds like a great evening! That painting always reminds me of the Don McLean song.
We were at the beach by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation where one of our friends works. The beach was private so we had it to ourselves. It is in the Bay Ridge area of Annapolis. I do hope we will be able to do it again.We did have a great time.
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