Below is a blog written in December 2018, after watching Leonid/Geminid Meteor shower. This was then posted to my friends, and it took a long to post it on this blog.
Enjoy reading!!
Friends, it was a good gazing last night.
It
all started at around 1.30 when I spread my mat on the already swept terrace,
so that I could give my eyes enough time to adapt to the darkness of the sky.
The weather was cold and I decided to defy it, with the help of my gear - a
jerkin, 2 blankets, a towel to cover face, both from cold breeze and from city
lights.
With
all the excitement, my eyes were wandering the entire sky, without any blink.
Thanked God for making it a clear sky. Within the first 10 minutes, I could see
a bright spot twinkling and flashing in the sky. Felt wow! The journey through
the sky started. I could see the asteroid/comet dust entering and burning in
the outer layer of our atmosphere. The excitement grew further. In the next 5
minutes, could see 2 more. The show was turning more joyful.
All
in the while, a phone call disturbed my concentration. It was my friend next
door. He is all eager to join me for the Natural event. Advised him to come up
to the terrace, with his weather protection kit. In the next 5minutes, he
joined me for the spectacular event. Two is always better than one, and
it was proved true again by him joining me. Our joy of glancing the sky-lights,
turned manifold.
Together,
we were facing the sky again, with deep concentration, not to miss any twinkle
or flash in the dark sky. With me already completing watching 6, the count
started from 7, and from 1 for him.
The
show started again and we could see a few flashes. Some were observed at a
distance for a fraction of second and some very close by. One of it was so
close that we could see the fire in red color behind the flashing light, while
it was burning, and a long and bright smoke-tail behind it... certainly a very
rare sight. What more, it lasted for a second. We were lost for a while in this
world, preserving that spectacle in our eyes. This glimpse alone was worth of
all our waiting.
One
more was also found right above our head, again lasting for a second. It was so
straight on our head, between our eyes, that it would have fallen on us if it
travelled in our direction. We were agape in shock with that event.
And
close to 3pm, there was another particle coming on to the earth, with one
variation from the rest we had seen till then. This had no smoky tail. It
appeared like a flash, as if some Angel traveling in the sky flashed a torch
light at us to see us. Then we realized that this particle was travelling at
exactly 90 degrees to us and hence we could not see its tail. Had it reached
the earth, it would have hit us straight. That thought sent a shiver along our
spine and made us sweat in such a cold weather.
With
that, we decided to end our sky gazing after one more sparkle in the sky.
Probably, while we were glancing at the sky with joy, the sky too was enjoying
looking at us, and so it did not want us go inside early. To sight the last
one, it took us another 8 minutes, and it was a close one as well. With that,
the count was around 17 or 18 for me and 11 or 12 for my friend and the time
was around 3.08am by then.
Satisfied
with the spectacular event, and thanking Him for making all these wonders, our
heart filled with joy and eyes full of memoirs, we walked inside from under
Nature made roof to Man made roof, only to feel that man made can never match
the Nature and the only way man can reach that level is by getting close to the
Nature.
