Dancing in the night sky by Tish Mason

A close friend has been given a telescope in recognition of forty years’ service with his company. He is an engineer so understands how to make this complex piece of equipment work; while I stand in the darkness until summoned to look through the viewer.

During the summer months Mars has been rising in the southern sky at twilight with Venus setting in the west and Saturn and Jupiter visible between them.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA. 

                 It shows Mars in real colours, not enhanced by digital effects.

Mars has been visible through the telescope as a glowing planet, yellow in the upper half, shading to red below because dust storms diffract the light. The rings of Saturn appear as a band of white around a shining ball. It has been possible to see with the naked eye all four planets stretched in an arc across the evening sky. 

My friend explains that we are looking across the plane of the solar system. The position of each planet in relation to the others has shifted over the weeks as they follow a unique course around the sun, and it is awe inspiring to witness these changes. 

I realise as I watch the planets rising and setting in their own orbits relative to the position of the Earth, that we are not spectators in the heavenly dance, looking out on a solar system as it follows its mysterious path. We are part of it. We are orbiting with our planet, and our position is constantly changing according to physical laws. More than that, our creator encourages us to interact. We articulate, describe and respond to the world around us. We shape words, pictures, and music that help others to respond. We each have a path to follow that will bring us into the heavenly dance of creativity.

We can choose whether to take part or not. If we do we might err, falter, crash, or burn as we test our ideas; but surely it is better to try than to wonder what our path might have been.

Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: who created all these? He who brings the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great and mighty strength not one of them is missing. Isaiah chapter 40 verse 26

Letitia Mason fell in love with East and Central Africa while teaching at a harambee school in Kenya. She has published Lost Children of Cush, a novel of South Sudan. Tish works for Flame International and lives in Surrey with her husband and a crazy dog. 

 www.mariaofsouthsudan.wordpress.com  @TishMason1