Star Gazer

The year began perfectly as if the eternal spring had finally arrived in my life. At least that’s what I thought! Two months into the new semester, we received a mail to go back home due to the outbreak of COVID-19. While for some it was, ‘YAY! We are going home!’, for me, it was, ‘Well… I just came back!’ Anyways, I packed my bags and bid farewell to my friends. While buildings sprinted, the memory lane of everything I was leaving behind for an indefinite time rolled in. It wasn’t just the people I was going to miss but something that was constant in the campus-sitting next to the lake with breeze brushing our face as we glanced at the star filled night sky. I was introduced to outer space in the 4th standard and stars seized my attention the most. It’s all just so mesmerizing looking at the fireflies in space, light years away and when joined by lines, draw stories. Like Orion, the very first constellation I spotted in the countryside. Orion stands for a hunter in the Greek mythology, who fought with the scorpion sent by Gaia, the Earth goddess. To protect himself from the creature he hid in the sea but was killed by Artemis on Apollo’s instruction. After retrieving her friend’s body who she thought was an enemy, Artemis begged the gods to bring him back to life, the gods refused. So instead she placed a picture of him in the sky to look at every day. Sadly, the city lights may shine like stars but they do bring in a grey sky. Meanwhile, the cities are on lock-down. The COVID-19 apart from acting part Thanos was also doing some good to the planet and one of the results was the rare phenomena of clear starry nights in Delhi. The winter skies of January, February and March bring the easiest constellations to view in the northern hemisphere. These constellations can be seen by the naked eye, nonetheless, some stars as clusters are so light that one might need a telescope. My observations started with Orion positioned South-west. On day 1, the cluster of Hunter’s body was visible. Further, into observations on day 2, the stars of the bow and hand became clearer. Along with this, the second and third in my account were, Big Dipper and Small Dipper each consisting of seven stars. The two are the part of constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor respectively. These constellations are clearest in the Summer sky and start having their appearance in winters. Having the shape of pans, Big dipper lies in the northeast while Small dipper lies further north having Polaris- the ever-shining star, at the end of it’s handle. Big dipper Day 2 The constellations too share a story in Greek mythology. On day 5- Diagonally to Orion, Gemini-the twin brothers are positioned. The constellation has stars Castor and Pollux which signify the eyes of the twins. The other stars from the cluster appear lighter and require a telescope for tracing. Gemini day 5 Furthermore, I’m working on constellation Taurus having a red star in it, right above Orion. I keep on making the updates on my Instagram, just so everyone captures the beauty before, the stars shift to the west with spring. Once we return, we’ll be busy with our schedules so why not spend time with ourselves. Take out the telescopes of our mind and discover ourselves in the sky. One of my trances is camping in Ladakh seeing the stars out stretching to horizon, immersed in an awestruck emotion. In this quarantine I rediscovered my Star Gazer. What about you?