Clear Skies at Night

I need to go out west and spend a night under the stars. I've been told that without the light pollution in our neck of the woods you can see hundreds more stars than you can here in the eastern US. Still, the middle of the night in Hessel, in Michigan's glorious Upper Peninsula, offers a quietly vibrant view of the heavens.

After arriving in the late afternoon yesterday and grilling tuna steaks for dinner (I will definitely do that again: tuna steaks hot off a grill are spectacular) I found I was quite tired. I stretched out on the sofa and was asleep before 7. I woke up refreshed a little after 3 this morning. With a cup of coffee in hand I dressed, found my coat, slipped on my shoes, and walked down to the beach in the still of the morning.

The stars overhead in the darkness of the lakeside were a wonderful sight. There was even the occasional steady progression of a satellite, as though itself a slow moving star. Hessel at such times is serene and calming.

I never understood the attitude that we humans ought to feel insignificant and small in the huge and expanding Universe. The night sky I think is simply the dome of an artist, a view given us so that we might know we aren't really alone in creation. 

What has our size or spatial geography have to do with it anyway? Be glad you're here. You're supposed to be. Such starry nights prove our importance rather than negate our existence.