Stars shining bright above me...

"Hey Guys! You should come out and check out the Milkyway. I can see it so clearly.. its just beautiful", said Aishwarya who came running from the balcony of our lake house. "Could someone please switch off all the lights in the room? I can see the stars better then" and she looked around the room to find the switches for the 3 lamps in the room. I was puzzled when she said Milkyway. "Are you crazy? How can you see our galaxy from here? I think you are confusing it for something else". For a moment I was so sure of what I had said, but the very next moment I began to question my awareness when Jerry said "Yes, the Milkyway is visible from here!" I rushed to the balcony, dazed and confused as to what they meant; I looked up at the sky and voila!

"The disc of our spiral galaxy is quite visible as nebulae in the clear night sky especially on a no moon day. You can see all the stars are concentrated along this axis of the disc and few stars out lie around the axis..." went on Aishwarya, who sounded like a Wikipedia on the tape.

I kept looking at it awestruck; I just could not believe what I could see. The white dusty band of luminescence stretched from the horizon over my head. Upon glaring at them a little longer I could look through the haze a million twinkles along the band. I have never seen anything like this with my naked eye! "You can never see this in our smog covered city skies", said Jerry, who had been for sometime now looking at me gaping at this beautiful scene. "I used to watch this sky back home in Texas when I went fishing with my Dad". Finally, when my senses were done tripping, I spoke. "I never knew you could see the galaxy disc like this from the earth. I always wondered how Galileo figured out that we were in such a galaxy when they had no technology during his times. I wish I had my tripod to take a clip of what I can see right now." Seeing me feel hopeless, Aishwarya assured that her colleague was a photographer who had a few clicks of the Milkyway and she will share them with me. I could not get my eyes off this ecstatic view, so I pulled up a recline chair and relaxed myself on it. The panoramic view of the night sky, the sparkling stars, the glimmering lake and the unforgettable nebulous disc all stood right in front of me like a painting on a gigantic canvas. Jerry, on the chair next to me, strung his Eukelele and sang….

Stars shining bright above you
Night breezes seem to whisper “I love you”
Birds singing in the sycamore tree
Dream a little dream of me…………

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_070zWcEuk)