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dado potato
11-8-19, 3:05am
This frosty time of the year the moon and stars seem brighter to my eye.

I am starting this thread to inquire about your star (or stars).

Is there a certain star that has particular meaning or magic for you?

In the night sky I always looked for Polaris.

And the big dipper... I think it was The Weavers who I first heard to sing "Follow the Drinkin' Gourd" … for the ol' man is a-waitin' for to carry you to Freedom. Follow the Drinkin' Gourd.

I also remember times I lived in Pennsylvania, and the Moravian Academy "for love and understanding" … Moravian's amazing man-made stars, bright, light, and mathematically precise!

As an old man, I taught youngsters how to fold Froebel Stars with strips of paper. Years later, as an old-old man, I remember every moment of that teaching with satisfaction.

Back in November 1833 an intense Leonid Meteor shower was observed in Alabama. In the 20th Century this shower was musically remembered by Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong, "...and stars fell in Alabama last night."

rosarugosa
11-8-19, 6:32am
I've always been partial to Orion. My dad "introduced" us when I was young.

razz
11-8-19, 7:30am
I just love stars in general but the evening star has been my favourite since childhood. Anyone else remember this?
"Starlight, star bright,
First star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight"

Living in town now, it is harder to see the night sky than when I lived on the farm. Stars give me a sense of magic, mystery and beauty so I do look for them whenever I am out in the night. But, there are so many satellites now that I wonder how many of the lights are actually stars.

happystuff
11-8-19, 8:07am
I love looking up at the stars! Whenever there are any "events" - i.e. meteor showers, eclipse, special moons, etc - we are out looking. I like Orion as well, rosarugosa, but mainly because it's one of the few I can recognize. lol

rosarugosa
11-8-19, 10:50am
I love looking up at the stars! Whenever there are any "events" - i.e. meteor showers, eclipse, special moons, etc - we are out looking. I like Orion as well, rosarugosa, but mainly because it's one of the few I can recognize. lol

That honestly has a lot to do with his appeal for me too!

ToomuchStuff
11-8-19, 11:52am
The one that we are in the goldilocks zone around.

Tybee
11-8-19, 12:09pm
https://youtu.be/GLYZbREAyJQ

JaneV2.0
11-8-19, 1:58pm
I liked the particularly bright star I saw one night in the western sky. Then it flashed even brighter and zoomed northward at dazzling speed. I have no idea what it was...

dado potato
11-11-19, 3:59pm
While we are at it, there is a beer named after a star, Stella Artois, brewed since 1366.

And in the summer months I have blooming perennial Purple Blazing Star in my back garden. YouTube has a video on conservation for pollinators that raves about the 48 species of blazing star (and related gayfeather!) I tried to link it, but without success.

bae
11-11-19, 4:10pm
Sol

razz
11-11-19, 4:26pm
Sol

Kind of hard to forget about SOL that keeps our earth warm and cozy.

Rogar
11-13-19, 8:43pm
I've always been partian to the North Star. Being slightly directionally impaired I can get oriented by the mountains in daylight but at night the North Star is helpful in orientation.

dado potato
11-13-19, 10:27pm
Quelle etoile est-ce?

What star is this, with beams so bright,
More lovely than the noonday light?

Soon I expect to be hearing that Christmas carol.

Etched glass was used by Jamie Covino in this "Bethlehem Star". I understand that a "Bethlehem Star" has larger points on the top and bottom, whereas a "Moravian Star" has points that are all the same size." This "Bethlehem Star" is 9 inches from top to bottom.

3020

jp1
11-13-19, 10:33pm
Sol

The brightest star of all!

Personally I love looking up and seeing the big dipper. As a total novice star gazer it's the one thing I can reliably pick out. Years ago I downloaded an app to my phone called starview lite. You point it at the sky (or the ground if you want to see what's in the sky on the other side of the world) and it identifies all the stars and groupings for you.

Since we live in a dense urban place star gazing isn't top notch here, especially given the tendency towards foggy weather. I can remember an assortment of times in my life when I happened to be far from any city on a clear night and being absolutely flabbergasted at the number of stars out there. Like the time I was on a roadtrip to far upstate NY with my first boyfriend 25ish years ago. We were there for the wedding of a college friend of his. I've long forgotten any other detail about that trip but I'll never forget going outside the first night we were there, looking up at the sky, and both of us saw the same shooting star and both being ridiculously excited at what we had just seen.

razz
11-14-19, 8:29am
Quelle etoile est-ce?

What star is this, with beams so bright,
More lovely than the noonday light?

Soon I expect to be hearing that Christmas carol.

Etched glass was used by Jamie Covino in this "Bethlehem Star". I understand that a "Bethlehem Star" has larger points on the top and bottom, whereas a "Moravian Star" has points that are all the same size." This "Bethlehem Star" is 9 inches from top to bottom.

3020

Thank you for explaining this as I had wondered what triggered the difference.

happystuff
11-14-19, 9:04am
Quelle etoile est-ce?

What star is this, with beams so bright,
More lovely than the noonday light?

Soon I expect to be hearing that Christmas carol.

Etched glass was used by Jamie Covino in this "Bethlehem Star". I understand that a "Bethlehem Star" has larger points on the top and bottom, whereas a "Moravian Star" has points that are all the same size." This "Bethlehem Star" is 9 inches from top to bottom.

3020

Beautiful star!!

KayLR
11-14-19, 2:08pm
Kind of off topic, but some hobbyist astronomers set themselves up in a Safeway parking lot the other day to give folks a look at Mercury as it passed by the sun for the last time until 2032. I wasn't able to go look, but the photo someone published in the paper the next day---wow! It was gorgeous. I think it was this one:
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mercury/overview/