Ok,the big dipper,the plough,what have ye.
So I'm camping in Az, I'm in my sleeping bag and my heads to the north, I'm in the mountains and the sky is clear.
I've been interested in the stars like forever but I've only seen this once.
Ursa Major is the face of a bear.
Really,it was so clear I could see the ears ,nose,eyes the shape of the face, the chin and everything clearly delineated and absolutely defined. I had no idea that such a view was possible but there it was and I somehow felt privileged to see it.It was like seeing the stars through the eyes of my ancestors when the skys were dark and the imagination ruled .
I mean you simply can not not see it...
Yes,I could. This is in Arizona in the mountains on a cold clear winters night. They talk about Arizona sunsets but Arizona skyscapes are simply fantastic.
We always have dark skys when you get away from the cities.
Why even question? This is something I've seen and really why would I say anything less than the truth? I'm just trying to share something I've experienced in my life that I thought was kinda cool.
I've been under the stars in the middle of the Pacific but Arizona stars do have their charms.
Actually I've experienced some pretty interesting astronomical phenomena. I was crossing the Pacific in the late seventies when Comet West was in the sky.I had the morning watch,4-8 and I'd been observing the comet in the ships big eyes ( 20x 120 binocs) but what was really cool was seeing the comet in the mornings rising light suspended above the slowly redding clouds with the sea breeze in my face and the smell of the morning sea in my senses.
It was really a wonderful moment in my life and one I will treasure forever and I feel blessed to have experienced it .
Life is that way sometimes when you get lucky and beauty just falls your way.
Oh, another time my brother and I happened to be rappelling during a total eclipse here in Tucson and a local news crew filmed us.
At least we got 15 seconds of fame .
I assume,
@Dukedog, you mean that you not only saw the seven brightest stars, also called the Big Dipper (Großer Wagen in Germany) in some countries, but also all the smaller stars, which represent the bear's feet and head.
I once had such an amazing night sky in Finland. There was almost no point in the sky where there was NO star, you could also see our Milky Way as a bright band of light without any problems. I envy you for that view in Arizona.
Seems the stars smile upon me.
@Dukedog said in #7:
> Seems the stars smile upon me.
I love it too. I live nearby a big city with very often foggy sky, and I haven't the possibilty to see a very clear sky very often.
The Scandinavian lakes in Finland were very fascinating for me. Also difficult to see NO shooting stars in the sky every few minutes.
@Schiffskoch I've also see the aurora borealis here though that's probably common there. It was during an active solar cycle and you could see it at our latitude ( roughly 31 north).
@Dukedog said in #9:
>
@Schiffskoch> I've also see the aurora borealis here though that's probably common there. It was during an active solar cycle and you could see it at our latitude ( roughly 31 north).
Oh, very nice. I haven't seen before. I would like to visit northern Norway, maybe I have a chance there.
