Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Before anyone else is awake...

Every morning for the past week I have wakened to see an outrageously bright star hanging in the pre-dawn sky. I'm reminded of Tintin and The Shooting Star, because it looks impossibly large, like its hurtling towards us, a meteor on a suicide mission. Or maybe someone left a light on up there. Maybe somewhere in a distant solar system on the edge of time, a sun went supernova thousands of years ago, billions of years ago - I don't know. I read the science books which talk about these things but the numbers just drop out the other side of my head. Or the shear scale of those numbers is too much for me to manage so a few zero's are bound to wander off. All I know is, this week, this enormous shining star has been hanging in my bedroom window when everything else is dark and silent. Does anyone else see it? I feel like its trying to tell me something. Maybe I can only understand its message in my dreams and when I wake its just beyond my grasp, leaving only the star to wink and hint...

3 comments:

Maureen Crisp said...

Hi Melinda,
I think it's Venus...I'm not up that early to have a look(LOL) but it should be quite low and bright in the sky about now and with the amazing frosty weather we are having.. the sky is clear and bright and everything looks closer than it is...
Wrap up warm if you are looking at the beautiful night sky and congratulate yourself that you are living in a part of the world that doesn't have light pollution to such an extent that you can't see any stars at all.

best predawn wishes to you
Maureen

Anonymous said...

Yep - I think you'll find it's what's known as the 'morning star'...

Melinda Szymanik said...

I suspected it was Venus but I've never seen her look quite so flashy. I'll miss her when she's gone. There seems something significant about her looking in at me as i wake every morning...