Most of us have lost the stars, lost the heavens, living as we mostly do in light polluted areas. So, let me remind you of what is just overhead, the best show in the world, and we can have front row seats, as long as we get out of town.

Before I give links to star-related phenomena, let me put you in the mood with something I wrote while on a long trip to rural, red-state America last September.

After dinner, we walk up the steep road toward Purdum, and watch the sun setting behind these steep dunes. Unbelievably beautiful. We come back after dark and, as our eyes adjust, we see a sky so filled with stars it is hard to pick out Cassiopeia’s W shape. The Milky Way, so full of stars it appears white, snakes through the sky. We see two satellites whiz overhead. Every night all this has been over our forebears’ heads and it still is, but I haven’t seen any of these sights for years. Most of us have never seen them. We are growing up forgetting the stars, but those in this Red State have them just out their backyards.

Merlin
Yes, seeing the stars is magical. Perhaps that's why the Jodrell Bank Observatory named its new radio telescope array Merlin. But in addition to magic, they provide online access to an array of topics for the general public.

The Jodcast is a podcast or on-line radio show by astronomers at Jodrell Bank including the latest news, what is is the sky this month, interviews with guest astronomers and anything else we can think of!

The Night Sky This Month gives a what's on guide to astronomical events occuring this month in the sky. Allied to this we also provide information on the ways in which you can observe the night sky.

The Astronomical Almanac is an online calculator to provide you with the positions of stars, planets or any other astronomical object in the night sky for any location or time.

The image of the night sky at the time I am writing is a view of earth from Saturn. Stunning.

Remember Laika?
That small dog is remembered here through images and stories.

On November 3, 1957, the U.S.S.R. launched the satellite Sputnik II, carrying within it a small Russian dog, Laika. The first living being to orbit the Earth, she embodied multiple meanings on both sides of the Iron Curtain. For the Kremlin, her mission commemorated the fortieth anniversary of the "great October Socialist revolution," and she emerged as a canine hero of the Soviet Union. Gazing up at the night sky, many Americans saw the small dog as a terrifying declaration of Communist technological supremacy and American vulnerability.

Laika also revived the long raging debate over vivisection. Countless Americans bristled at Soviet inhumanity. As news of Laika’s death from overheating reached the West, American antivivisectionists capitalized on the "Muttnic Affair," turning popular anticommunism against researchers who had so successfully employed it against animal protectionists over the previous decade.

Spirit and Opportunity
As we walk around on this planet, some former earthlings are spending their days on Mars. Spirit and Opportunity, the Mars Rovers who have far outlived their predicted lifespans, are continuing to send us great data and photos. The site tells you when it is daylight for each rover, how long it has been on Mars, and how long each has outlived its "sell-by" date.

Go, little guys, our thoughts are with you.

Space Sounds
Yes, space is full of sounds. Spacesounds lets you hear Jupiter, pulsars, Sputnick, and more from this link. And from this link, you can learn about the history of the space program.

This site has links to whalesounds, dinosaursounds, and stormsounds. Plus very classy graphics and interface.

I am surprised as any of you that the quality of recording equipment during the jurassic was this good, but certainly pleased.

Hubble
The Hubble site is a great source of information, links, and beautiful photos. I get my computer wallpaper from their gallery. I'm especially found of the deep space deep time photos, like this one.

Hopi Cosmology
We aren't the first to have had the ability to be awed by the stars. Tale a look at this art exhibit of Drought and Hopi cosmology.

Victor Masayesva, Jr., who lives in Hopi, Arizona, is a distinguished photographer and filmmaker known for blending traditional photographic techniques with digital imaging, drawing, hand coloring and collage. Over the years he has focused on the struggles of Native People to retain their identity, culture and spirituality against enormous obstacles.

Masayesva's earlier bodies of work have explored such issues as reappropriation, government encroachment on sacred sites, historical biases, environmental destruction, and limitations of human perceptions and sensitivity.

Drought deals with the Southwest's ongoing severe drought of 2006 and its impact on Hopi communities who depend solely on rainfall to grow their crops. Although Masayesva does not directly address the subject of global warming, its ramifications cannot but be underscored. Masayesva creates digital collages from an amalgamation of stories, symbols, natural objects and actual places. He brings to this body of work insights from the fields of biology, ecology, humanity, history, and planetary energy, along with concepts and traditions from the Hopi people. Rooted in Hopi cosmology, Masayesva explores a devastating reality meaningful to all people.

Images are here.

History of Astronomy
Many links may be found through the Royal Society's webpage. Free access is only available until the end of November.

And for more magic, lest we forget . . . listen and look. Don't skip the intro.

Yes, we here on earth, are truly Lost in the Stars:

Lost in the Stars
Maxwell Anderson/Kurt Weill

Before Lord God made the sea and the land,
He held all the stars in the palm of his hand.
And they ran through his fingers like grains of sand,
And one little star fell alone.
Then the Lord God hunted through the wide night air
For the little dark star on the wind down there.
And he stated and promised he'd take special care
So it wouldn't get lost again.

Now a man don't mind if the stars grow dim
And the clouds blow over and darken him,
So long as the Lord God's watching over them,
Keeping track of how it all goes on.

But I've been walking all the night and the day,
Till my eyes get weary and my head turns gray.
And sometimes it seems maybe God's gone away,
And we're lost out here in the stars.
Little stars, big stars, blowing through the night,
And we're lost out here in the stars.
Little stars, big stars, blowing through the night,
And we're lost out here in the stars.

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