Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Crew Journal, Deck Department

October 12, 2009
I can't believe how awesome the sky looked tonight. About 20 minutes into my Lookout portion of the watch, the skies cleared up and it was like it was uncovering a massive sheet of stars. It almost felt like if you jumped you would be floating around in space. 10 minutes later I saw Mars floating just above the horizon with its ominous orange glow. 10 minutes after that, I saw the first of 3 auroras of the night. Following the path of the aurora behind us, I saw a flashing light that was flashing red-white-green almost simultaneously. That light turned out to be Venus. Around 2300 I saw the 2nd and 3rd auroras of the night, which looked like they were almost encircling the ship. Amongst everything else, there were 4 or 5 shooting stars and many easily recognized constellations. It was probably the most amazing night ever.

~SN Robinson-Rivera

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