Winter Skies
FEBRUARY 20, 2008
Old man winter blowing up a storm
There's a giant in the sky.
Tonight I dragged my son Jacob out onto the front porch to see the last sliver of light disappear from the eclipsing moon. Beautiful red tinges and plenty of oohs and aahs. During the eclipse the stars really shone bright. I was inspired to put together this little tribute.
Orion looms overhead all winter long, from the first frosts in autumn until the last snowflake melts in the spring. I spend a lot of time looking up at the sky, checking out the stars, when I am out flooding the rink or just going out to the studio. I like to connect the dots.
Orion, the hunter, is a constellation where the blanks are not hard to fill in. Betelgeuse, a red giant, forms one shoulder. It is a star that could supernova at any given point in time. Three perfectly aligned stars form a belt. Below the belt is a blurry grouping of stars, a sword dangling from the belt, where the Hubble telescope has detected rich birthing grounds for stars and planets.Those who created the star maps we live by took a few creative liberties. Here's a few more.
My favorite winter sport
© 2024 Carl Wiens