It was really peaceful on the water in South Pacific today. Motored some and sailed at 4-5kts some. Slept well last night and took a luxurious nap. The kind of nap where you get REM sleep and when you wake up you’re groggy but a new person.
But tonight was filled with excitement. I went on the back deck for my normal nightly stargazing and was mesmerized for at least an hour. The first sighting was my new best friend the Southern Cross. Always had this romantic vision on seeing it at sea down here but for the last week or so I’ve spotted it most nights and now I own it. Lovely little constellation in the Milky Way. The I saw a satellite speed across the sky. Extrapolating I think, assuming the earth was flat, that it would have taken about 4 minutes to cross from horizon to horizon. If that’s not the right approximate speed then maybe it was something else but it wasn’t a plane. I’ve seen planes a few nights and they all have a white strobe light that blinks every 10 or so seconds I think.
I then saw a brighter white lite that blinked twice quickly from the same location. Probably a star that was partially blocked by a high cloud or something else but no third blink and then wam, a shooting star from that location zipped into the horizon in about 2 seconds. I want to believe.
Mars made it up as expected and has become a comfortable old friend. Very easy to spot and the red is a big giveaway. Then I met a new friend who’s been teasing me from the corner of my eye to the North the last several nights. Had to look it up, of course it’s Saturn.
Saw another shooting star and continued the ponder the existent of life on earth and given the magnitude of space realize that we cannot possible be alone.