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Amber Paulen

Sun is Star

As mentioned last time, I’m beginning to look star-wise. I laugh at myself for not starting this sooner, when stars furiously peppered the night sky; there are so many lost in a city. But Rome’s streetlights are low and glow orange, perhaps working to my advantage cleaning the palette. If I crane my head out a window at an upward angle I can make out the Big Dipper then Polaris by the Pointers and that’s progress.

This is all the more reason to go stay a week on an island: I want more than a peak at the Virgin and her companions. For starters I want to see the different colors, maybe a nebula, get lost, confused then found again which I can somewhat do from my living room. In beginning stargazing, I didn’t realize what would come gratis.

The Universe blows my mind. For too long have I gazed up in ignorance. No longer. Everything up there surpasses my imagination which I have to stretch for accommodation. Science fiction is non-fiction the more light years we radiate out from our green and blue planet. For instance, I didn’t know that our sun is a star, not brighter, not dimmer than many other stars we see on single night. If the sun is a star then everything goes topsy-turvy. If the sun is one of billions of stars in one of billions of galaxies, then…. (You can surmise the rest.)

There’s no predicting what this study and these thoughts might do to me. The excitement fuels the journey. It’s not that far from Arcturus.

In case you are curious, I’m beginning with The Stars by H.A. Rey and Nightwatch by Terence Dickinson thanks to Simon’s research. Expect “Reading Notes” after delving deeper into them.

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