We did not see a supernova this weekend. M husband forwards me the article, and while I'm all enthu, and in a "let's take out the telescope" mood, he mumbles and mutters, about the polluted night sky and how we have to look at the northern sky etc etc. Talk about a wet blanket!
But sadly he was right, I looked up and there were hardly any stars seen. I was also a bit shocked and saddened. When we moved into this part of town, a decade and a half ago, the night skies were beautiful, and I was introduced to the Big Dipper, the Great Bear, Mars, venus, even the rings and moons of Saturn. I looked out for Orion's belt, which was as far as my idying skills went!
Even then, the Milky Way of my childhood was not seen. Summer nights in Coimbatore as a child, used to be magical, not least because of the splash of starlight that would stretch across the sky
But atleast there were some stars to show our son. Now even that has gone..as the country has got electrified, so too the night skies have disappeared. That is inevitable, but could we be reasonable and innovative in how we light up?
I came across this post, which seems to indicate we can....
Weekend Diversion: Protecting the Night Sky : Starts With A Bang
But sadly he was right, I looked up and there were hardly any stars seen. I was also a bit shocked and saddened. When we moved into this part of town, a decade and a half ago, the night skies were beautiful, and I was introduced to the Big Dipper, the Great Bear, Mars, venus, even the rings and moons of Saturn. I looked out for Orion's belt, which was as far as my idying skills went!
Even then, the Milky Way of my childhood was not seen. Summer nights in Coimbatore as a child, used to be magical, not least because of the splash of starlight that would stretch across the sky
But atleast there were some stars to show our son. Now even that has gone..as the country has got electrified, so too the night skies have disappeared. That is inevitable, but could we be reasonable and innovative in how we light up?
I came across this post, which seems to indicate we can....
Weekend Diversion: Protecting the Night Sky : Starts With A Bang
IN US MANY inner-city kids had never seen stars. They
ReplyDeletewent to camp in the countryside and were frightened, seeing stars for the 1st time!
Ambika I loved this though it made me sad! I miss the night sky too - we had so much of it on a tea garden. We were very lucky indeed. Interesting link there at the end of the article.
ReplyDeleteInjamaven, that is funnily sad. Gardenia, you mean no stars in SIliguri?!
ReplyDelete