Twinkle Twinkle Urban Stars

You might be interested to know that the Lakota people of the Great Plains have a constellation that spans from Sirius, through the belt of Orion to the red star in Taurus called Aldebaran and beyond to the Pleiades. It also includes Rigel and Bellatrix on both ends of Orion. It marks out a vast chunk of the night sky, and according the the Lakota, it represents a gigantic animal, most likely a buffalo, but I've also heard it described as a lizard. There's more detail at the Lakota Star Knowledge web site. The ancient Greeks weren't the only ones to name constellations. Those are just the names we're accustomed to from centuries of common usage. Other people from around the world have their own names and shapes to describe the constellations. So Go Lakota! It's a cool star grouping and it's not a huge stretch to see the group.

It's always fascinating to look up at the stars knowing that they're all just like our sun essentially, blazing away in their own little corner of the universe. Whether you're an astronomy fanatic like myself, or just admire the twinkling beauty for it's own sake, it's hard to resist. I've never heard anyone exclaim that they didn't like watching the stars.

Tonight took the cake however. Even with my feeble eyes, I took off my sunglasses and peered up. I was able to make out enough of the stars of this super-constellation, and when I did, I knew for a fact that my eyes were going to be ok.

I can still see the stars. I'm a lucky bastard!