December 23, 2022
The Pacific Northwest is well-known for its rainy and cloudy winters, which make clear skies a rare occurrence. Even when the clouds break, the clear sky is often brief, leaving little time for telescope observation. This Christmas week, I tried a new method. Instead of going outside, I attempted to observe through the small skylight in my house. This was not a planned event. In fact, I was getting ready to sleep when I walked under the skylight with the lights off.
To my surprise, the city lights illuminated the clouds enough for me to see their glow through the skylight. As I watched, the patchy clouds dispersed, as if on cue. Then, the diffused reddish glow of Mars seemed to melt the remaining web of fog. I ran to my office and grabbed my pair of binoculars. Through the narrow portal, I scanned the skies around Mars. I jumped from Mars to Capella, onto Menkalinan, and back over to Elnath. I even picked out the fuzzy patch of the Starfish Cluster.
Just five minutes into observing, Mars disappeared behind the treetops, and the clouds swallowed up the sky.
After putting down my binoculars, I climbed into bed and stared at the ceiling. It struck me how fortunate I was to feel the same excitement at spotting Mars through a 2×2-foot skylight as I did the very first time, so many years ago.
As I looked back on my experiences since starting this site during the dark days of the pandemic, my mind began to wander. Stargazing, which I had taken up again during lockdown, reignited my passion for astronomy, and my interest has only grown since then.
At that moment, I didn’t realize that COVID was inside me while looking through the skylight. The next day, I tested positive for the virus for the first time. It struck me as ironic that the virus that forced us all into lockdown and led me back to my love for the stars had finally caught up with me. Like the clouds that Christmas week, the sickness eventually passed, and life continued on.
These days, when November comes around and the skies turn gloomy, I take a detour to the skylight before heading to bed. I look up, hoping to see one bright star peering back at me, so that on the rare occasion, I may have another brief reunion with the universe.
Banner photo Full Moon on Night Sky by Ron Lach at Pexels.com.
The Garden Astronomer 