Elusive Celestial Events

 This year there have been celestial events seemingly in abundance. The tv meteorologists and social media have been busy letting us know when and where we can witness these amazing feats of nature. It started with all the hype about the solar eclipse in April. There have been super moons, something I never heard of when I was a kid, meteor showers, a comet, and of course the most spectacular northern lights.  I have witnessed only the eclipse and the super moon which seems to happen every few months when we are told the moon will be closer than it will be for X number of years. Seems pretty frequent to me, but then I’m not keeping track. So, when they began talking about how those of us south of the usual aurora borealis zone would be able to see them for several nights my husband and I were excited! We went outside and looked, but never saw them, in spite of seemingly everyone around us and in our town was posting pictures taken from their back yards of the beautiful light show with time stamps that showed we were outside looking at that time. Strange but true and quite frustrating! Next up was the Tsuchinshan-ATLAS comet, which “Meteor Mike”, our local tv station’s meteorologist explained where in the sky and the best viewing times we could all see it, and that it was viewable for several days in the evening. Again, we were excited! Guess what?  In spite of several attempts in different locations around town we never saw it. We weren’t alone, though. There was another man trying to see it on the last night at the same place we were. It’s good knowing we weren’t the only ones disappointed—misery loves company! Most recently it was the Orionid meteor shower. Once again, Meteor Mike explained where in the sky and when to see the event. Once again, we didn’t witness the event in spite of several attempts . There are meteor showers throughout the year so there’s a decent chance we might get to witness one at some point. Way back in the 1980’s (so long ago! lol) when Haley’s comet was viewable my husband and I went to the Jersey shore and set an alarm for 3:00 am, left our hotel and went onto the beach to view the once in a lifetime event through binoculars. It was a little unnerving being on the beach in total darkness listening to the waves but not seeing them, but we were young and adventurous and happy we were able to experience the comet hurtling through space. I think we’ll continue to try and witness the celestial events as they come to our area, and hopefully they won’t be so elusive.

                                                   Me viewing the eclipse in April, in my official eclipse viewing glasses.

                                                    The sky as the eclipse was happening. Pretty cool!