Painting the Heavens
One of the highlights of my trip is having the ability to leave
the confines of the observatory and drink in the night sky.
The transition from the florescent lights of the observatory
to deep dark of night can make this a rather surreal experience.
The lack of light outside the observatory is quite a shock
to your eyes. The darkness is consuming. The effect is blinding.
It helps to bring a flashlight with you. Those four steps
back to the observatory can be wild when you can’t spot your
own hands.
From what little I understand of the science, this has to do
with more than just an adjustment of the pupils. The diodes
in your eyes are just gleaming from the effects of the indoor light
and need some time to adjust. This period of adjustment
leaves you witness to extremely cool effect.
As your eyes slowly adjust, stars begin to pop into view, almost
one by one. All of a sudden you can make the dark profile
of the CSO. Other nearby telescopes spring to silent life,
focused on what you can just make out. More stars appear.
The Milky Way struggles its way out of the black. The
sky slowly fills in.
It’s almost if you get to watch God himself paint the heavens with
starlight. Let’s put one here and another here. This would be a good
place for a galaxy. This guy here surely wants a close neighbor.
It’s truly a cool effect. Tomorrow I’m going to add some oxygen for
an even greater show.
Deb
November 12th, 2002 at 4:52 pm #
Hey Ken, I was just reading the entries about the baby on the way. Just wanted to remind you of that wonderful incident when you changed Taylor’s diaper for the first time and he peed all over you and you freaked out. It was hysterical. Get used to it, brother.