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Star gazing at night - " ... a
little self- discovery, catching meteors and alone with the universe - 'night
with a million eyes ' ."
Fiji being not too far from the equator
( just 20 degree south of the equator) you would have thought the weather
must be dominated by clouds and thunderstorm always. Yes, cloudy nights are
often. However in my stay of the seven 
days, I have seen at least three nights
with pretty decent sky. Early morning sky was normally overcastted.
In those clear nights milky way was easily seen with naked
eye. On one of the best night, I watched the southern sky just yards away
from my hotel room. This is my first time to make out the dark void of
coal shack in Crux and followed the tight bright knot of carinae nebulae. I
remembered one evening our Russians friends were enjoying the southern sky. I
joined in and was telling them about the circular LMC (large Magellanic
cloud) and pointed out the nearby bright star - Canopus. Apparently they have
heard of Canopus and immediately they asked whether the cloud is the big or the
small one. I just wonder whether they are using any celestial navigation in Mir.
Some nights I contended just watch outside my room and bagging three meteors (
virginids?) in just half an hour.
High light of my Fijian stay include watching the setting Sirius
reflection from the calm Pacific ocean. Just then a p
assing jet ( last one from
the nearby Nadi airport) appeared, its anti-collision light create a blinking
reflection from the ocean. It was so serene and peaceful. I also make a personal
're-discovery'. I think it was in 1977 I remembered seeing a pretty large
'misty'-patch in early dawn. At that time without a proper star map I could not
figure out what I saw. This incident lied dormant until I re-discover this
object here in Fiji. I was gazing at an area between the Leo and Bootes and
stumbled upon this similar patch again ( 22 years later). I did not realized
what I saw, but I took a mental picture of it -the stars within the patch
resembled a mirror image of numeric '7'. It was not until recently I read
May S & T then I noticed the familiar asterisms in coma Berenices !
Mystery solved - more than two decades later.
Despite a southerly latitude, the whole Ursa Major or the big dipper was
clearly seen. Above it were two pair of triangle stars. I then
traced the dipper handle which lead to the orange Arcturus. Nearby and overhead
was the compact and easily recognizable Corvus - additional stars at opposite
ends of a equilateral- the crow. The majestic scorpion is rising in the
east, Mars a little outside the the sprawling '3' shape.
Most of these nights I was alone out under the star. One night a bell
captain walked to me and we had a little chat about Mir and stars. Clouds came
quickly after 2:00 am and the ever presence mosquitoes prevent me from extended
viewing.