On my return from my first ski of the season I noticed a sky without clouds and hoped it was not too good to be true. Lane Creek has a night sky like no other I have ever seen, so full of stars it seems there is hardly room to fit any more. Add to that its other gifts of the aurora and the full winter moons. Many nights have found us outside in wonderment at the aurora or traveling over hill and dale in the almost midday-like light of the full moon. Just as often we have lost to a night of clouds. But not tonight. Tonight we will see the most unique of all Lane Creeks special nights. We will celebrate the return of the ascending sun by watching a full eclipse of the solstice moon. How cool is that. I can't say I ever paid much attention to the winter solstice
until I came to Alaska. In Alaska, Solstice is celebrated with parties much like those for the super bowl or with special outings - climb a mountain, ski a night trail, stargaze. On the radio, the local astronomer is claiming Solstice as the "reason for the season". Something to do with the timing of the birth of Jesus and the journey of the Magi.
Early in the evening the full moon rising just above the tree tops let us know our clear sky held. We bundled up in our warmest clothes against 0 degrees with a breeze and moved out onto the upper deck which would give us a full unimpeded view. Will put down a camping mat and crawled into his sleeping bag. The reflection of moonlight on white snow allowed us to see miles down our valley. Creatures out in the night were probably hiding in the long dark shadows from the birch and spruce.
The eclipse came slowly, all the better to savor it. As more of the moon was eclipsed shadows moved into the bright landscape. Little by little the moon turned a reddish orange. Stars began to appear in the darkening sky around the moon.
Our conversations were in hushed voices. We talked about the stars starting to show around the darkening moon, about the fact that we could see them because we were here at the cabin with no artificial light infringing on our view. I wondered allowed if the stars around the moon were also in eclipse to which Will quietly reminded me that stars have their own light. It made me recall another night looking at the stars when Will was very young and I wondered aloud if any of the stars might have living beings to which he responded that he thought it most unlikely as anything would probably burn up in the heat.
We tried for a while to get pictures but never really mastered the technique of photoing the moon.
I thought how lucky we were to be at the cabin for such an event. In town we probably wouldn't have considered sitting out in the cold all night. If we watched at all it would have been momentary glimpses between emails or TV or other unimportant things that get in the way of quiet experiences.
Here we are close to nature and close to centuries of those who came before us and marveled at the night sky.