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Billions and billions
When I first started teaching Astronomy in the early 1970s (I include the “19” part of that just to thwart a possible Clarke snark about my age), I started polling my classes concerning how many of them had ever seen the Milky Way and knew what they were seeing. In the ‘70s, the response was typically about 75%. By the late ‘80s it had dropped to below 50%, and by 2000 it was 10% or even less. I don’t even bother asking, now.
Thus spake Sherwood in the comments to this post, and — after making the obligatory “BC-AD” joke quietly to myself — I’ve been thinking about it since. I don’t remember the first time I saw the Milky Way, but it was quite possibly the first time I was out after dark — I grew up at first in the rural and small-town landscapes of Central New York. It wasn’t until we moved into Buffalo that the night was lit too brightly for the Milky Way to show.
And yet more and more people don’t have that experience, as the world grows more urban and more brightly lit.
While this was running through my mind from time to time over the last week, I noticed a few more people commenting around here who I didn’t recognize, and realized it had been a while since I’ve actively solicited comments from the lurkers.
And what better metaphor for lurkers than stars you hadn’t seen before?
So tell me, lurkers, occasionals, and regulars: was there ever a time you hadn’t seen the Milky Way? Have you seen it yet? Do you see it often, or do you, like me, have to travel a couple hundred miles to see it? Take it away in comments. And feel free to expand on the basics, give us date and place and tell stories about what happened the night you saw it first, or the night you saw it last for that matter. Let it shine.
Posted by: Chris Clarke
In elementary school and junior high I was a rather avid backyard astronomer. This was back in the early- to mid-70’s in suburban Detroit. I was frustrated at my repeated inability to find Andromeda, Mercury (too many trees and buildings along the horizon), or, worst of all, the Milky Way.
In the summer of 1978 my uncle took me white water rafting along the Green River in Utah. The outfitters did not provide tents—you either brought one or slept outside. My uncle quickly teamed up with a cute brunette and was able to share her tent. I, at a very awkward 16 years of age, wasn’t teaming up with anyone and, come evening, looked for rock overhangs under which I could spread my sleeping bag.
One evening the lead guide told me about an old Indian granary just a bit up the cliff from the campsite. I found the cleft in the rock, partially blocked with a who-knows-how-old rock wall, just as the clouds were rolling in. I crawled into the granary, rolled out my sleeping bag, snuggled in, and went to sleep.
That night I had some of the worst nightmares of my life. There seemed to be little difference between the storm outside and what was happening in my head. In a relatively lucid moment I decided it would be better to be wet, even in a down-filled bag, than to sleep any longer in that granary. The rain had stopped so I grabbed my sleeping bag, stumbled down to the canyon floor in the dark, rolled out my bag on the wet ground, and tried again to go to sleep.
When I next opened my eyes I was looking straight up. I could hear the river. The left and right third of my field of vision were pitch black—the canyon walls. The center third was filled with, what? Clouds? No. Clouds didn’t glow. It took some time to realize I was looking—for the first time—at the Milky Way.
In 29 years I have subsequently never, ever failed to be awed by the sight of the Milky Way. Friends of mine and I camp at least once a year along the banks of the Yuba River. I sleep alongside the river with a pair of binoculars by my side. As I wake up during the night I note how the canyon has rotated beneath the Milky Way. And I remember that night many years ago in Utah.
By: By soitnly on 2007 09 16
Wow. Thanks, Chris. The responses here will be great fodder for my next three decades of lectures.
My experience? As you know, my sky background is also one of rural and small-town landscapes of Central New York, but perhaps even more be-nighted than yours (Chenango vs. Buffalo). My finest view of the Milky Way, though, was far, far afield from the Tug Hill Pleateau: central Australia, near Uluru and the Olgas, in April of 1986. While I should have been scrutinizing Comet Halley, I was agog instead at the glory of the starcouds of Sagittarius. My main memory of my trip South to, putatively, see this little comet is instead the arch of wonder from horizon to horizon afforded by the Milky Way.
If someone had asked me in 1984 if I had ever seen the Milky Way, I would have answered, “of course.” I hadn’t, though; one doesn’t really see the Milky Way until it’s seen from a dark, dark, Southern station.
By: By Sherwood on 2007 09 17
I saw the Milky Way a number of times in my youth on various camping and country vacations, but cannot recall the first. But I do remember the first time I really saw it. I was drving west with a friend the summer after graduating from college (1972) when we stopped to sleep in a roadside park outside of Kimball, Nebraska. The combination of lack of lights, no moon, dry air and 360-degree horizon view all combined to make for an incredible display that I recall to this day. (About a month later driving back east, I had a similar experience with the Perseids - I was driving in the western Dakotas when I kept seeing what I first thought were insects crossing in front of the windshield - turned out it was the Perseids, frequent enough and bright enough to see through the windshield while heading north and east. Barely got any sleep that night enjoyng the show.)
See it all too infrequently anymore, but this weekend I happened to be on a quick loop that encompassed central PA and Southern tier of New York which took us very close to Cherry Springs State Park in PA, which per this NY Times article has become an East Coast mecca for stargazing. (It is in the middle of one of the “darker” areas in the east and they have set up a stargazing field.) Unfortunately we were busy in town Saturday night when conditions were ideal - and found myself too sedentary and lacking in imagination to at least do a quick pop out to the countryside to take a look.
By: By JP Stormcrow on 2007 09 17
That part of Nebraska is one of my favorite places.
I don’t think I’ve used that sentence before, but it’s true.
By: By Chris Clarke on 2007 09 17
Have you heard about a country where the rivers run free,
That’s a place where I think you ought to go
Where the corn stands high, tall as the sky,
On the great plains of Old Nebrasky–O.
In school I read of men who died by the gun,
But not of those who died by the hoe.
The land has drunk the rains of many a farmer’s blood
Now forgotten and buried long ago.
Where are the hands that plowed fields without sleep
Hands that saved a dying calf without rest
Where are the feet that walked down them hot dusty trails
On their way to seek their fortunes going west.
And where are the fathers who died in the dust
And mothers who died hungry in the snow
And where are the kids that watched the banks plow their houses down
Those are the things I guess my teaches never knowed.
You tell me drought hurt only corn and not men
You smile and say hard times have gone away
I guess I should listen to my city politician
Who keeps telling me these are better days.
Is there anybody left to walk a muddy mile
Is courage a word that’s only said
Is it true them dusty days are days that never really were
But are only tales in books to be read.
Have you heard about a country where the rivers run free,
That’s a place where I think you ought to go
Where the corn stands high, tall as the sky,
On the great plains of Old Nebrasky–O.
Eric Anderson
who has spent far more time in Amsterdam than in Lincoln, but the song is okay, anyway.
By: By Sherwood on 2007 09 17
The first time I really saw it was in France, in the Normandy, while on a holiday with my parents, I think I was 14 or so. I climbed on the roof of the RV to watch the stars and there it was - much clearer that I had seen it before.
The last time I saw it was when I watched the Perseid meteor shower. I live in Hamburg (Germany) now and there’s usually too much light pollution to see it clearly or at all. But that night is was pretty visible.
The best view I ever got of the Milky Way was in Austin, Nevada. A short walk and climb from the campground on top of a hill gave me an awesome view of the night sky.
By: By Jennifer on 2007 09 17
I think the first time I *really* saw it was in the desert when I was about 15. We were visiting my uncle who lives in Los Angeles, and we took a trip around California, Arizone, Nevada and Utah as part of the visit. We were staying for one night in Furnace Creek in Death Valley, and when we arrived the power had gone down for 50 miles around. So the place was pitch dark apart from candles in jars placed around the paths and the most spectacular stars I had ever seen. It was the first time I realised how majestic the Milky Way is - from a city street in the UK it’s just a paler part of the sky, like a drop of milk in a cup of black coffee, but with no light pollution in the middle of the desert, it’s spectacular. Everyone was amazed by how beautiful it was and I still remember it now - groups of strangers standing around gazing up at the stars and talking to each other about how incredible they were.
Since then I’ve been lucky enough to see the Milky Way from New Zealand earlier this year, on a dark night in Fox Glacier towards the beginning of autumn - the stars were so amazing that my boyfriend and I couldn’t stop looking at them despite the chill in the air.
Slightly off-topic, I saw Orion from the Wadi Rum desert in Jordan last year; getting out of the tent in the middle of the night to stumble across to the toilet, I was amazed by how much the constellation really did look like a man when you could see all of it, not just the stars bright enough to be visible through the usual background light pollution.
By: By thegirlfrommarz on 2007 09 17
Hmm, I seem to be amazed a lot in the above comment. Must remember to proofread before posting…
By: By thegirlfrommarz on 2007 09 17
I spent two weeks in the Utah desert with Boulder Outdoor Survival School when I was 21, and that was the first time in my life I discovered what the night sky really looked like. I miss that a lot when I look up at night now and the stars seem so weak and dim.
By: By Jeff on 2007 09 17
I first saw thew Milky Way while camping with my friends out west of Pike’s Peak, kind of between Florissant and Cripple Creek, CO. It was the early 80s, and I was eleven or twelve years old.
I had heard of the Milky Way before that, and had seen pictures in books, but I wasn’t really prepared for what I saw.
By: By John on 2007 09 17
I grew up in the suburbs, but every couple months or so we would go spend the weekend at grandmom’s place in the country, where it was really dark. I never was very good at finding many of the stars, but at least I grew up knowing about the milky way.
Actually, I just wanted to comment here because I haven’t - at least not for a year or so.
By: By bill on 2007 09 17
I grew up seeing the Milky Way from a hilltop in rural western Pennsylvania. We saw Bootes and Ursa Major from one bedroom window and Cassiopeia and the Charioteer from the other.
I haven’t seen the Charioteer for about 15 years. Where I live now, Orion’s barely bright enough to shine through the light pollution.
By: By Kimmijo on 2007 09 17
I can’t remember the first time I saw the Milky Way. My mother taught me the stars when I was a kid, and we occasionally had dark enough skies to see the Milky Way.
I can remember the last time fairly well, though. That would be last night! I was awakened in the wee hours by a noise that made me think that perhaps my horse had gotten out, so I had to go out and check. Just some deer under the apple trees enjoying some windfalls.
I looked up to see an exceptionally clear sky, and a blazing Milky Way. And Winter stars rising.
I live in rural central NH, and see the Milky Way every clear night, no problem, but last night was really something special. Reminded me of my years poking around the canyon country in AZ/UT back in the day… those were some clear skies…
- Steve
By: By Steve on 2007 09 17
never seen it in my life. but then i’m only 30 and have just recently begun to feel the urge to take my eyes off the urban lifestyle and look around at nature. on the positive side this urge seems to be growing by the day
By: By buck on 2007 09 17
Don’t remember the first first time, though it may have been when I got to Arizona in ‘04 - that was the first time I saw it and thought, “oh, that’s why they call it the Milky Way.” The best time was hanging out the window of a stalled bus in middle-of-nowhere Bolivia. The last time was biking home from the bar a few nights ago, when we almost crashed from the looking.
By: By Kat on 2007 09 17
I’ve seen it a couple of times, but it doesn’t compare with a sunrise over Lake Ontario on a clear morn from the end of the Leslie Street spit, for sheer awe-making. I imagine sunrise in the desert is much the same.
By: By Rob G on 2007 09 17
I don’t know that I’ve seen it yet, in its full glory.
The first time I was out of the city was for a few days, sometime in my mid teens. I was visiting a friend’s family up in the Palmdale area, I think it was (of CA) which, at that time at least, was not very built up.
I was pretty freaked out anyway by all the vegetation and dirt, not to mention the darkness and the silence, but I got the shock of my life when I ventured outside one night and looked up and saw a sky absolutely littered with stars. I had no idea so many stars even still existed, having only seen - at the most - maybe 40 or so in the sky on a clear, fairly dark city night. It had been my belief that - like clear blue skies, every day - skies full of stars were just something in the books about Way Back When.
Over the years I’ve had different constellations and such pointed out to me, including the Milky Way, but I don’t believe I’ve yet been in full darkness (after the Northridge quake it didn’t occur to me to look up and besides, generators all over the place kicked in), so I don’t think I’ve ever experienced the full effect.
I too have been thinking about your picture since I first saw it, though.
By: By Nanette on 2007 09 17
Well. Just last week I changed my desktop background to this photo from NASA: the Milky Way viewed from Death Valley. (Warning: addictive site!)
Lovely post and responses, y’all. I don’t recall the first time I saw it (possibly along with the northern lights, in Alaska), but most recently we went out for the Perseids in August, and the Way was gorgeous from atop the ridge in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
By: By embee on 2007 09 17
embee, I just dropped dead of longing with that Racetrack Playa photo.
By: By Chris Clarke on 2007 09 17
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see,
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at 40,000 miles an hour
Of the Galaxy we call the Milky Way.
Our Galaxy itself contains 100 billion stars
It’s 100,000 light years side to side
It bulges in the middle, 16,000 light years thick
But out by us it’s just 3,000 light years wide
We’re 30,000 light years from galactic central point,
We go round every 200 million years
And our Galaxy is only one of millions and billions
In this amazing and expanding Universe.
The Universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding in all of the directions it can whizz.
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light you know,
12 million miles a minute, and that’s the fastest speed there is.
So remember when you’re feeling very small and insecure
How amazingly unlikely is your birth
And pray that there’s intelligent life somewhere up in space,
Because there’s bugger all down here on Earth.
- Galaxy Song, Idle & Du Prez
Galactic feelings when gazing at that spurt of milk.
It’s a sheltering sky indeed, our universe/ mother’s arms like a vault holding us here at the edge of darkness as we whirl into eternity.
Me and my sisters understood this when we bedded down outside on the lawn in heatwave summers. Can’t remember whether the Phillips Atlas reading came first or whether we had already felt the spin/comfort you feel when looking up from lying down.
My sisters are all 3 dead now, but we’re all still together here on this rock, still whizzing out to infinity.
By: By Casting Nasturtiums on 2007 09 17
Another photo from APOD -
Night Sky Over the Tetons,
the Milky Way at the left.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070814.html
By: By omegapet on 2007 09 17
I live in San Francisco, so the light plus the fog makes stargazing somewhat difficult.
The last time I saw the Milky Way was on my way up to Lake Tahoe, somewhere in the region of Truckee. It was through a dirt-smeared car window, but it was still incredibly bright.
I can only find a couple of constellations. My stepdad’s hobby is astronomy, so every time the family gets together, there’s an outing to a “dark spot” and he tries to add a few more to our repertoire.
By: By Loki on 2007 09 17
ironically, (or maybe not) i don’t think i’ve ever really seen it. i grew up in dallas. the stars aren’t so big and bright… but i think you can still see one or two.
i signed up for an astronomy course as an elective at the university of texas. i dropped it after we all trooped up to the roof and observed vega for an hour. naked eye astronomy is not so satisfying these days in austin.
i’m glad you’re inviting comments. your blog has wonderful conversations.
By: By bright on 2007 09 17
partial lurker? periodic lurker?
The cornfields of Navarre, Ohio, circa 1965. There was nothing there but silos, no street lights, nothing. It was pitch-black nighttime at the farm of a relative, exact kinship-level forgotten. I was about 7-8 years old, and remember asking my mother and stepfather, what the “clouds” were. I had just taken 3rd grade science and knew they weren’t ordinary clouds. I was transfixed.
My mother said it was the Milky Way, which seemed a bizarre name. I said “what’s that?” and she said “it’s where all the stars are”—which seemed magical. My stepfather, a Cherokee, said he had always been told it was where heaven was. I like that explanation, too.
I frequently saw the Milky Way as a child, nearly every time we went to the country to visit relatives. (Eventually, all the relatives moved to the city, and that way of life seems to have ended.)
I last saw the Milky Way in the Blue Ridge Mts, several years ago.
By: By DaisyDeadhead on 2007 09 17
bright, comments are always invited whether I say so explicitly or not.
But I ought to say so more often. This is wonderful. More, more!
By: By Chris Clarke on 2007 09 17
I can’t recall the first time I saw Cygnus and Aquila flying along this dull wash in the summer sky above upstate New York in the 1950s - I’m MUCH older than Chris. I was young, less than 10, but I knew my constellations.
I remember the first time I really saw the Milky Way however. I was in Yosemite in July of 1972 on a ridge above Tioga Pass at about 10,000 feet. I couldn’t believe it. It took me an hour to even find the Eagle and the Swan. I’m back in upstate New York now and how I miss that high country and high desert sky.
By: By Carl Buell on 2007 09 17
So, I’m a lurker.
Sort of like you, grew up near the BUF, but out in Amherst in those days we could see the Milky Way, and I didn’t think too much about it. It was there in a fuzzy sort of way. I even knew some 15 of your basic constellations, and which season you could see them in the evening.
Where the Milky Way really hit me was on a trip to Rocky Mt Nat Park in ‘76, in Glacier Basin Campground on my back in the central meadow at 10 pm. It was black, no moon, my eyes were better, and it was amazing. For a moment I could imagine that I was in space itself rocketing thru the vacuum, quite disorienting actually. So many stars that I could not really pick out the constellations anymore. But I could see the edge of the Milky Way, and could figure out which way to look out of the plane of our galaxy.
So what did I do? Turn my head 180° to the earth and become a biologist…
-d
By: By Don Kane on 2007 09 17
Funny thing, Don. When I thought about seeing stars as a kid when I wrote this, whan came to mind was layng in the back of the 1966 Malibu station wagon as Dad drove us down Walden Avenue and Ransom Road.
I noticed Orion’s belt for the first time one of those nights, then remembered long enough to ask a science teacher what it was.
By: By Chris Clarke on 2007 09 17
My area was East Amherst to those in the know.
But when you wrote “Ransom” I almost had an out of body experience.
I _lived_ on Dodge Rd right where _Ransom_ Creek crosses. What not for our rusty sump pump, it would have flooded us out twice or three times a year. Anyway, that’s about a mile from Transit Rd, near Swormsville and its old St Mary’s Cath Chch.
You prob’ly flew by on your way to the clubs in Lockport….was it Keystone 90’s?
(Why 90’s in the 70’s. 1890’s?)
And Walden Ave, grandma’s street.
Whew. Some great big world we live in.
-d
By: By don Kane on 2007 09 17
Down here on the Florida panhandle near Pensacola, I can occasionally can get a hint of the Milky Way on the less humid nights. In 2004, after Ivan tore through this area the power was out for days. Each night, after a long hot day of clean-up, I would sit out in the front yard with the neighbors and we’d grill out, get drunk and star gaze all night. With the power out, the Milky Way showed in all its glory reminding me of my youthful days when I could go out in my backyard in suburban Atlanta and see it. Alas, not anymore…
By: By Matt on 2007 09 18
Hey Chris,
I’ve been reading my way through your biography section. These stories are brilliant. I’m not sure why exactly, but I’m reminded of Catcher in the Rye, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Trout Fishing in America, and perhaps even some of the Dharma Bums. I’ve had many experiences that resonate with your evocative tales. I think among other writing abilities, you have that “Voice of a Generation” quality. Thanks for this treasure.
Concerning the Milky Way….My wife and I live way out in the deep country of Southwestern Virgina, surrounded by hundreds of acres of beautiful hardwood and pine forests. We’re lucky to have deep solitude and darkness here, and the stars burn brightly. The Milky Way is astonishing.
Some evenings, as we sit out in the yard after dinner, waiting for the night to settle in, a huge Horned Owl soars down the ravine and over our little house, on his way to the River, where he begins hunting for the night. He flies so low when he comes over that, even in the dusk, we can see his markings. No matter how many times this happens, I am always thrilled by it. Needless to say, that’s one of many reasons why your Pale Wing story spoke to me.
By: By Bruce on 2007 09 18
It was not visible at my parent’s house on Long Island, so the first time I saw it was on vacation in Maine. I don’t know when exactly because I was so young. The last time I saw the Milky Way was this weekend on a camping trip through the San Luis Valley.
We stopped the car on the way to Buena Vista just so we could look at it.
By: By ellenbrenna on 2007 09 18
My father’s parents woke him up to see Haley’s comet fly, time before last. I’ve been looking at the sky and seeing the Northern Lights, the Milky Way, and the Perseid Shower for nearly seventy years, since childhood—I suppose I had to keep track of my feet for the first few years. One of my favorite memories is lying with my son on the North Shore’s cold rocks on Lake Superior, August after August during vacations, as meteors crosshatched the sky. Another favorite is the night we took our friend from a Rainy Lake island to International Falls at one a.m., for treatment of a leech bite that looked like a necrosing streptococcus infection. (It was a severe allergic reaction that required systemic cortisone and antibiotics, but the ER doc agreed that it looked like the dreaded flesh-eating disease.) For hours, lime green sheets lit up the sky, rising and falling throughout the boatrides there and back, so bright that we wouldn’t have needed our running lights, so clear that our flashlights hardly made much difference when we drove in to the dock.
I wonder what city light does to the circadian (I typed “quotidian” the first time) rhythms of plants and animals.
By: By jane thomas on 2007 09 18
Hi Chris, I’ve been a long time lurker. A blogfriend told me about CRN.
Grew up in the Midwestern suburban haze dont remember seeing much of anything there. Moved to w$#k at the Grand Canyon when I was 20 and couldnt believe how brilliant the night sky was. Have a tiny chip in a front tooth from tripping over a rock because I was walking while looking up at night that first summer. Good thing i wasnt chewing gum probably wouldnt be here today.
Two decades later, now in a different part of N Az, but the night skies are still captivating. Our city has dark sky laws for outdoor lights at night so even from my yard the view isnt totally diminished but nothing beats camping out somewhere.
By: By rusty on 2007 09 18
I can’t remember when exactly I first saw it, but I remember looking for it every time I had a dark sky from pretty far back into childhood, probably age 8 or so. Best memories: camping on a ridge at treeline, 9000 ft. or so in the central Sierra on a backpacking trip, and not wanting to close my eyes to sleep—there was just too much to see. And showing the Milky Way to my city-raised adult nephew, just a few years ago. He was visiting us (rural WA state) and we were driving along toward home after a dinner out. Somehow the topic of the Milky Way came up in conversation and he didn’t quite believe that it truly was visible without a telescope. So inside of a minute I had pulled off the road into an orchard, pointed the car away from the passing headlights, pulled him out, and pointed up. He was convinced. Oh, and holding my drowsy, bare-footed kids by the side of the road late one winter night, one by one, on a drive through the Columbia Gorge, just because it was so spectacular.
Thanks for the invitation to de-lurk. I appreciate your writing, and your photographs.
By: By sam on 2007 09 18
Glad you’re here, sam, and thanks for the kind words.
And Rusty, I bet I know what town you’re in with that dark sky ordinance. Bought my favorite day pack there across from the train station. (Filled it with beef jerky and headed for the aspens.) (Aspens love jerky.)
Bruce, you’re far too kind. And everyone! I go away for a day and am greeted by a wealth of great stories. Jane and ellenb, welcome back. Paul and Matt, put your feet up.
I am loving all these stories.
By: By Chris Clarke on 2007 09 18
Wow. I have to admit that until I read Sherwood’s comments and this comment thread, it had never occurred to me that there were people out there who had never seen the Milky Way!
I grew up in rural Newfoundland, where “light pollution” was an abstract concept that I first encountered in an article in a boyfriend’s astronomy magazine. The Milky Way was an omnipresent feature of the night sky in my childhood, and I remember lying in the back yard with my brother on the small hill we’d nicknamed “Sugarloaf” and staring up at it and talking on summer nights.
Later I moved to St. John’s, a city of about 150,000, and later still here to my current home in a small city of about 50,000, and I didn’t think about it much anymore… until a couple of years ago when I returned home for a family wedding. I drove the car into my parents’ big back yard after a shopping trip and got out in the thick, thick blackness that surrounded the island of our house, and suddenly I was aware that the sky was full of stars, just packed with them, including the fat white stripe of the Milky Way. That’s when I realized I *didn’t* see them in the city - and that they were still there, and worth missing.
By: By ronniecat on 2007 09 19
I don’t know when I _first_ saw the Milky Way; given that I’ve been going camping since I was a babe in arms (or at least babe-in-backpack) it seems like it’s more of an old friend than a startling new thing. (Seeing the ocean for the first time - that I remember.)
It does feel like it’s been too long since I’ve seen it. The places where it was clear and easy to see are ones I haven’t been to in a while - Indian country, the Arizona Strip, Anza Borrego, northern Australia… Basically, the dry, remote places - places where not only can you see the Milky Way, but also satellites crossing the sky.
One other thing I miss about those amazing skies - the brightness of the moon. In Australia, after several weeks, we were all able to easily make our way after sunset by the light of the moon - we could even read by it when it was full. I don’t know whether it was spectacularly bright out there in the uninhabited wildness, or whether we had re-adapted to that sort of environment (just like our hair adapted to being unwashed, and miraculously transformed into soft fluffiness after weeks of limp greasiness). Either way, it was a wonderful thing.
By: By Rachel Shaw on 2007 09 19
I first saw the Milky Way while camping as a girl, outside of St. Louis and in the Ozarks. We saw a fair number of stars in town (that was before sodium lights), but a sky full of stars was unusual. Then I moved to NYC, and seeing more than one star at a time (or ever) became a rare occurrence. But one time, flying to the West Coast after dark, I got hours of it—from starting over the Rockies to coming down on the far side of the Sierra Nevada—more clearly than I had ever seen it before. I stuck a blanket over my head to block out the cabin lights, stuck my face to the window, and stared. After I convinced the flight attendant that nothing was wrong and that I didn’t need any help, of course. I keep meaning to do that again….
By: By nm on 2007 09 19
chris-
i thought of you tonight. my kids and i watched ‘a sidewalk astronomer’ on pbs. we completely enjoyed john dobson teaching about his telescopes, the universe, it’s galaxies and the planets. the visuals were incredible!
rose
By: By rose on 2007 09 19
i grew up in los angeles; by the time i graduated high school, we could barely see the nearby hills in daylight, and it was never truly dark at night. sometimes we went to big bear, and it was astonishing to see so many more stars.
the first time i camped someplace other than a back yard i was 17, and some friends and i spent a night freezing to death in yosemite and wondering at the stars. the most profound time was camping with my son and husband in the middle of nowhere in utah. i think that may be the only time i’ve ever really seen the milky way [as opposed to “more stars than we get in the city”].
By: By kathy a on 2007 09 20
(I’ve been lurking for a few months. You are an amazing storyteller, Chris. Thank you so much for all you share with us.)
I don’t remember the first time I saw the Milky Way, but I do remember the last.
We live far enough south of Boston that we can find nights where the sky is filled with stars. And growing up, I spent a lot of time on Cape Cod. Walks to the beach after dark were a nightly ritual. It was interesting how the same expanse of sand I’d used for my sandcastles during the day was so very different at night.
My mom loves astronomy; it’s probably where I get it from. I’m also a sucker for the stories behind the stars - the figures they’re named for, the myths and superstitions. So, we’d be on the beach looking for planets and constellations all summer. I saw lunar eclipses, meteor showers, and the Milky Way, and always found myself in awe of how BIG the sky is.
It’s been a long time since I’ve gone stargazing with my mom. I need to remedy that. She called me one night last month to remind me to go outside and look for the Perseids. I should have driven up to her house to watch them with her, but I had company. Hrm. The Leonids are in a couple of months. Looks like I’m buying a thermos and filling it with hot chocolate in November so we can stay warm while we watch them.
The last time I saw the Milky Way was in July. My husband and I went on a camping trip with some friends who are normally scattered across the country. We were at Swallow Falls State Park in Maryland and one of the women had brought her telescope. We went out around 11:00 two nights in a row and she pointed her lens at different parts of the sky and told us what we were seeing.
There were, of course, more stars visible with the naked eye there than I can see at home, so I was already nearly speechless just craning my neck and looking up while everyone took their turns at the eyepiece.
Then she pointed the telescope at the Milky Way and told us to have a look.
Ohmy.
By: By Lauren on 2007 09 21
Been lurking quite awhile, thanks to a link on SherWords!
Charlotte NC was not a great area for skywatching, but in the 60’s it wasn’t that bad either. The city was a lot smaller and we were pretty far out in the suburbs. There was night when i came to know that the Milky Way existed - I was about 7 or 8? My dad called us out because the night was so clear. A foggy band of stars crossed the sky but i thought it was a cloud till he explained.
A galaxy - and we lived in it. I didn’t entirely comprehend the spiral form but i do remember picturing it as a long white silk scarf that floated like a magic carpet, on which we stood at one end and could see the other billow around us.
By: By nickelshrink on 2007 09 21
I did an astronomy project for schools with Sherwood and Brian Fies as my advisors, and when I casually mentioned the Milky Way, one of them—I suspect Sherwood—advised me that most kids had never seen it. I was stunned, because I grew up with the Milky Way as a simple fact of life. But that was in the Adirondacks.
Now I’m out in Western Maine, living in a rented farmhouse where the first thing I did after moving in was figure out how to shut off the barn light so I could enjoy the dark. When the moon is down, or in a crescent phase, I come home at night from covering meetings and step out of the car into a spectacular sky full of stars, so many that it’s hard to make out the constellations I know because it’s so crowded up there.
It reminds me of when I was in high school and I’d cut through the woods on my way home at night. Even without the moon, I could see the path by looking up for the stars—except when I’d absent-mindedly take the shortcut in summer when the leaves were out. Some slow progress on those nights ...
By: By Mike Peterson on 2007 09 22
