It was really hard to drag myself out of bed, since I was up until midnight, due to a geomagnetic substorm I was trying to pinpoint. NOAA data was lagging, and other data from other sources was also seemingly lagging. All I had was the NOAA three-day, which is a broad swath, the NEOC webcam, and spotters on the MABW Facebook page who I knew would be out there.
I did get some sleep, because the storm came when I thought it would, thank you storm, and lasted not too long, just long enough for a few folks to get some shots.
I’m not sure what I am going to do if that webcam does go down at any time, though. Drive up there and stick one on a tree? How does it stay charged?
When the 4 am alarm went off for the Planet Parade, I almost didn’t make it.
But I did! I raced outside and still couldn’t see Mercury from the farm. So I took a gamble and jumped in the car and headed up Clary Hill.
I had to dodge a porcupine and a few racoons. The breeze was blowing and the first birds out. It’s so hard to find a good spot where no one has a mercury security light on, or there is a clear view, but, I settled on a spot and using the Sky View app I located where Mercury should be, below Jupiter and Venus and the Moon, and then patiently stood there for a few moments while my eyes adjusted and- there it was! I could finally see Mercury. I don’t think it will come up on the iPhone pictures I took. It was just a little pinpoint really, twinkling away.
When I am standing out there in the field, it never fails me the layers between worlds. There are so many creatures living around us unseen who conduct their business at these early hours. Unseen, unless one steps out into the early dawn and experiences the munching and rustling concluding for another evening and time for an amble back to burrows and grassy furrows, sleepy and bellies full.
And too the stars, out there so far away around us, but here we are about to catapult ourselves into another human whirlwind of activity. There will be appointments, bills, and cars will suddenly self-destruct. Some people will kindly open doors for others, while some will yell in traffic. Children will be bored, and demand to be taken for ice cream. There will be daredevil leaps off the bridge at the mill pond as there have been since 1850, yet wars are happening, and governments continue to spiral into whatever madness is occurring out there beyond the boundaries of the farm. So many levels to life and yet out beyond us the inexorable finality of the universe. Which also cycles through its own levels, though too vast for comprehension. Though it seems as if all of us possess some inkling of these doings, if I can believe the announcements of my rooster. It is a new day, crows said rooster, and I am waiting here for you to bring me my breakfast.
Last night I stayed up past 1:00am doing computer “armchair auroraborealising” (because I don’t live near enough to dark skies) but I didn’t have to set my alarm for the morning parade because my husband gets up before dawn to make coffee. So I stumbled out of bed bleary-eyed and it was so worth it from our bedroom window. Tomorrow morning though if I wake up, I’m going to think more about the layers of the universe – thank you for this poetic post!
Thank you!