The idea was that I’d get up far earlier than usual so I could see the Geminid meteor shower. I got out of bed around 3:00 a.m. and went outside on the deck. I looked skyward. I watched. I waited. No meteors. But the moon was bright, wrapped in luminescent gauze behind a thin layer of high clouds. It was a beautiful sight, peaking from behind the branches of the barren trees.
The swath of brilliant stars I’d seen when I went outside last night was no longer visible, but there were a few very bright ones visible when I looked straight up. Here’s one of them. Or maybe it’s a planet. I can’t tell without my interplanetary interpretive guide at hand.
If I’d been paying more attention, I would have read that the best time to see it began about the time I went to bed, about five hours ago. So, instead of awakening to an astronomical spectacle, I awoke to the realization that I’d missed it. But I’m satisfied that the moon and the few stars in the night sky, visible even with the thin veil of high clouds, were worth a little nighttime solitude on the deck.
