But then I came to the Saturn's black hexagon comment and I'm like... this guy's nuts,... how come my girls haven't told me about this one?? They had their kid's solar system book out at dinner last night, asking how many planets humans had been to, and when we told our youngest that there were waaaay more solar systems than just this one, as she had thought, her mind was blown (maybe a little like stepping out of the cave!). So I'm like hexagon shape on Saturn.... no way, ...search... holy heck. Thanks Nathan, this one will blow their mind again.
I was pretty lucky to grow up in wheatbelt Western Australia, we were 30km from the closest town and about 200km from the city. The whole family, after dinner on clear nights (of which there were many, about 300 days of clear skies a year), would lie out on the trampoline in the backyard with all the lights out and spot satellites and shooting stars. The Milky Way, from the boondocks in Australia, is like a bright cloud at night, it's really something.
Leon, it's quite gratifying to hear that your girls are doing well! I always enjoy hearing about their latest intellectual adventure...and I'm delighted that you got something out of this week's essay.
"The Milky Way, from the boondocks in Australia, is like a bright cloud at night."
I have access to some pretty rural areas here in the far reaches of the Northeast United States. The difference between what I can see in the skies over in my home city and what I can see over my dad's rural house startles me every time. The difference between his home and the "boondocks in Australia" must be same delta over again. I suspect that we're only just beginning to grasp the consequences of being cut off from such a spectacle.
But how come you cannot see the sky from the Philippines? Is that specific to your location, or peculiar to the entire archipelago?
What you see at night in the Northern hemisphere is quite different to southern hemisphere. I didn’t do much star gazing while living in the US/Northern hemisphere but you have a disorientating different bunch of stars at night!! I remember feeling quite homesick about it when I first saw it, because it makes you realise how out of place you are that you don’t even recognise the night sky (all depends on your latitude and time of viewing I’m supposing, I’m a novice so not sure).
Here in the Philippines we have a massive population density, I just read that our province (state) is 2500 people/mile2. Everybody leaves their outside lights on “for security”. Frankly I don’t understand it, if I was a burglar at least with some lights on there’s less chance of banging into something and making lots of noise?? My neighbour has a large empty 20Ha field, he doesn’t live there but up in the city, but illuminates the whole place in solar powered floodlights. Sometimes if I’m up at 3am and all the lights have run out of power and all the rural street lights have been turned off (to save $$$) I get a good look at the stars, but it’s still poor compared to the boondocks WA
Yeah I certainly think a reacquainting to the night sky and the seasons and the sun will happen in a more energy constrained future. I kind of wish I had come here twenty years earlier as I think most of the elderly generation here in the provinces have lived since the green revolution and so a dependence on the old wisdom was not necessary.
Cape Town is same latitude as I was approximately, so you would have seen same great stars!.
Learned so much from this, as always!
But then I came to the Saturn's black hexagon comment and I'm like... this guy's nuts,... how come my girls haven't told me about this one?? They had their kid's solar system book out at dinner last night, asking how many planets humans had been to, and when we told our youngest that there were waaaay more solar systems than just this one, as she had thought, her mind was blown (maybe a little like stepping out of the cave!). So I'm like hexagon shape on Saturn.... no way, ...search... holy heck. Thanks Nathan, this one will blow their mind again.
I was pretty lucky to grow up in wheatbelt Western Australia, we were 30km from the closest town and about 200km from the city. The whole family, after dinner on clear nights (of which there were many, about 300 days of clear skies a year), would lie out on the trampoline in the backyard with all the lights out and spot satellites and shooting stars. The Milky Way, from the boondocks in Australia, is like a bright cloud at night, it's really something.
Now in the Philippines we can't see jack.
Thanks for all the writing Nathan!
Leon, it's quite gratifying to hear that your girls are doing well! I always enjoy hearing about their latest intellectual adventure...and I'm delighted that you got something out of this week's essay.
"The Milky Way, from the boondocks in Australia, is like a bright cloud at night."
I have access to some pretty rural areas here in the far reaches of the Northeast United States. The difference between what I can see in the skies over in my home city and what I can see over my dad's rural house startles me every time. The difference between his home and the "boondocks in Australia" must be same delta over again. I suspect that we're only just beginning to grasp the consequences of being cut off from such a spectacle.
But how come you cannot see the sky from the Philippines? Is that specific to your location, or peculiar to the entire archipelago?
What you see at night in the Northern hemisphere is quite different to southern hemisphere. I didn’t do much star gazing while living in the US/Northern hemisphere but you have a disorientating different bunch of stars at night!! I remember feeling quite homesick about it when I first saw it, because it makes you realise how out of place you are that you don’t even recognise the night sky (all depends on your latitude and time of viewing I’m supposing, I’m a novice so not sure).
Here in the Philippines we have a massive population density, I just read that our province (state) is 2500 people/mile2. Everybody leaves their outside lights on “for security”. Frankly I don’t understand it, if I was a burglar at least with some lights on there’s less chance of banging into something and making lots of noise?? My neighbour has a large empty 20Ha field, he doesn’t live there but up in the city, but illuminates the whole place in solar powered floodlights. Sometimes if I’m up at 3am and all the lights have run out of power and all the rural street lights have been turned off (to save $$$) I get a good look at the stars, but it’s still poor compared to the boondocks WA
I had the same "disorienting" experience in Cape Town, South Africa, admiring the celestial sphere from the south. It was incredible!
I hope that humanity and general—and most certainly those Filipinos—wake up to the mystical importance of the night sky.
Yeah I certainly think a reacquainting to the night sky and the seasons and the sun will happen in a more energy constrained future. I kind of wish I had come here twenty years earlier as I think most of the elderly generation here in the provinces have lived since the green revolution and so a dependence on the old wisdom was not necessary.
Cape Town is same latitude as I was approximately, so you would have seen same great stars!.
I usually read your essays in my mail program, but I am very glad I clicked to the web. Thank you, Nathan, for this stimulating essay!
Thanks, Tedder. Always great to hear from you!
Thank you!