A Heavenly Night

A Heavenly Night

Spring forward....fall back. This is the only way to remember what to do with the 'time' on these unreal evenings when you live the same hour twice or miss one, due to the hour change. This elusive autumnal hour is usually spent in bed, so how is it I find myself up a ladder on a wooden platform in the middle of the Larzac countryside at 3 o'clock in the morning? Let me explain.

Five members from our Astronomy club are on an 'Astro-weekend.' We are staying in a 'gite,' only reached by navigating a dirt road that leads to a secret minuscule hamlet. We are a mixed bunch by birth, but a solid band in language and passion for astronomy. José is Spanish: a gentle giant, built like a barn door, bald as a coot, but in the sexy Yul Brynner way. He is helpful and an extrovert and as he treats me like a queen. I can justifiably say I like him a lot. Jacques is Algerian born, discrete and smiley and organises the breakfasts. Ariane, born in Australia, is the other female of our group. (Lucky to have been blessed with such a name when you love astronomy!), then there is Geoff and myself. Poor Ariane has taken the option to sleep in our room but she doesn’t know that I snore, yet!

Anyway, back to the Stargazing. We trek down the stony path by the light of the Milky Way. On both nights of stargazing we are treated to an immaculate show of our own Galaxy's brilliance. Our host astronomer has built a metre diameter DOBSON telescope and there is a smaller DOBSON too. Frederick, our guide, hauls the 'Dalek' like creature from its hanger and professionally jacks it up and stabilizes it onto its own concrete base in the middle of the platform. He then wheels out a tall stabilized ladder that we need to use to get to the eyepiece to view the cosmos display.

Frederick is a master of his trade, and deftly moves his giant metal 'baby' to pre-destined areas of the skies to give us amateurs a full range of objects to see. He kicks off with globular clusters......orbs of twinkling masses of stars, older than our solar system, that are positioned above and below the bulb of our galaxy. Our eyes pop in disbelief that so many stars can be found so close together like diamonds swimming in molten silver.

Then there are galaxies, like our own, face or side on, in group formation, and then there are clusters of them as F. moves the telescope out of the realm of our Milky Way into the Deep Field. We move on to nebulae: remnants of supernovae each with its own distinctive shape and colour. We even decide to rename one 'the buttonhole' (boutonnière) as it makes an unusual slit in its surrounding clouds.

There is no moon and the only planet we can see tonight is Uranus, static in freezing territory on the outer edge of our solar system, and what a sight it is! How can this gassy planet reflect so much of the sun's rays when it is so far away? How come it is so blue and beautiful? And those moons of Uranus, that appear so near, how lucky we are to see them! I think of you Galileo and Herschel and by telepathy send this message, over time and with love.

Frederick then swings the telescope to another angle, taking us up to the constellation of the Swan above our heads and shows us the remnants of another supernova. These far-flung remnants are called ‘swan lace’ and it covers an incredible area of the sky (actually a teeny area but the whole of our view. What's ‘teeny’ about light years anyway?) The ‘lace’ is intricate, fine, delicate and imposing as it travels from one side of our sight to the other in a sweeping filigree formation. An incredible phenomenon to contemplate.

All this is mind blowing, but, not every splendid view is in the telescope. By looking up we can feel the majestic Milky Way encircling us, ignited by a myriad of twinkling stars. We notice that this has moved, as new constellations rise from the East as our earth, being the master of ceremonies, has rotated to present this ever changing panorama. As we try to find well-known constellations hidden in the starry mass of this inspiring brilliant arch, we are given the gift of making a few wishes as this is also a night for shooting stars. One in particular seems to hang in the air just a little longer than usual, proudly showing off its precious golden trail.

The 'alpha' males are tired and head back to the 'gite' but Ariane and I are still here, up and down the ladder. How my knees hold out, I do not know, or care. I am having a wondrous time and forget my freezing feet. The next astronomical event is the sight of Orion rising from behind a grouping of trees, like a puppet being manipulated by Aldebaran. He is the ultimate giant in the sky and I feel that I am back in pre-historic days at the wonder of this heavenly body appearing from nowhere to dominate the empty black space, bow glowing; Betelgeuse a fiery red. Orion's belt is vertical and he has to turn to fire those arrows and display his mighty dagger before we can delve into the depths of his secrets. ….and here we go.....

….back to the telescope, to view M23 and M24, two gigantic areas of star formation within the dagger area. My eye roams within the view as there is so much to see. Masses of dust in scintillating shapes, new born stars as bright as fireworks, this sparkling star-scape goes on for what seems like eternity. What a privilege to wander in this wonderland as we roam the cosmos through this eyepiece. Everything else is blacked out including thoughts and worries.

Eventually the cold does take over and Ariane and I decide to track back to the ‘gite,’ but not before Frederick calls us back as he points between two copses of trees. Just on the horizon and nestled in the ebony space between these trees, is the colossus SIRIUS spreading its pristine light. It is so bright: a real Divo. Orion, now the puppeteer, has pulled Sirius from beneath the ground. I'm back in pre-historic times again and moved beyond imagination.

This vision along with many others, I shall keep in my mind's eye for ever.