Lucky enough to catch a celestial event?

Anything celestial is so exciting and out of this world (excuse the pun). I haven’t really witnessed anything as fantastic as a total eclipse of the sun, the aurora borealis or even a meteor shower. But in recent months many around the world have been treated to just such events. Okay, I admit I am a tad envious of them. In America there are storm chasers who spend their entire lives chasing storms all year round no matter what part of the country they’re in. Their job is to go where the storm is going to strike and document as much as they can about its anatomy, strength and destructive power. What a brave and scary job that must be. The same applies to those who go where volcanoes erupt. But, of all the professions relating to out of this world phenomena, the best has to be that of astronomy.

Imagine going into work every morning to listen to signals from outer space, watching the sun and the moon and searching for another homestead or for alien life. Sounds like something from a sci-fi movie, doesn’t it? But, believe it or not, these are actual professions. But not all of us are smart enough and lucky enough to be able to do this kind of job for a living. So if we can’t do it for a living then we could at least try and enjoy what we see above us. So, if we’re fortunate enough, in our lifetime we could see at least one major celestial event, such as a solar eclipse (the lunar eclipse is not really exciting and, unless we were told, we wouldn’t even know it was happening). And for that solar eclipse we’d have to be in the right place at the right time.

The same, unfortunately, goes for the Northern Lights. By their very definition, the only place where they are clearly visible is the Northern Hemisphere. Hence, the name. So in other locations we don’t get to see it. I read again, the skies of most of Britain will be multi-coloured again tonight. Of course, in some Northern European countries, such skies are a common occurrence most times of the year.

Meteor showers are also a regular occurrence in many parts of the world. If the skies are clear and the night is starry, the chances are you will see one of two dart across the sky. Speaking of darting across the sky, did I ever tell you about the time I saw something fly past my bedroom window in London back when I was in my teens? It was nighttime, the curtains were undrawn and a ball-like shape that looked like it was on fire flew past my window at great speed. I asked my sister if she’d seen it too but she wasn’t looking at the window but I happened to be. Days later, the late Sir Patrick Moore, who hosted the show, ‘The Sky At Night’ announced that a fireball had flown by in London that very night and if anyone had seen it, could they please get in touch and let them know in which direction it went. I was flabbergasted and told my family that what I must have seen was that fireball Patrick was asking about. Of course, I immediately wrote a letter to Patrick telling him on which street I lived and in which direction it went. That is something I will never forget. I am also amazed at the number of stars that we can see on a really clear night sky at certain times of the year and when out of the city. I remember one trip to Hatta during the winter months when the sky was as black as night and the stars were so many, so big and so close you could almost touch them. I’ve not seen anything like that again. I’ve never seen the Milky Way but I hear that in the desert at certain times of the year, it is clearly visible. I did once, however, have a dream about looking up at the Milky Way but it wasn’t your normal Milky Way. Well, dreams are weird, aren’t they?