A Stellar Presentation: "Look up Above!" Plentiful Planetary Platitudes

"Welcome to the Show!" This warm welcome, preceded by "...whether you are just getting up, or preparing to go to bed..." A subtle reference to this weeknight radio talk show being aired when most of U.S. are in slumber. Who might otherwise miss out on "fresh" news...as well as some amazing sights unseen by those who are engaged in 'shuteye'...

"When the sun comes up..." is usually followed, in conversation with two young grandsons, by "the moon and stars go down" 😄. This was also the response of the one who was a good sport to get up with his mother yesterday, pre-dawn, to join me in viewing the stellar presentation, a planetary alignment which apparently, according to more expert star gazers, hasn't been seen by our naked eyes around these parts since 2004, and won't be exposed to us again for another eighteen years, at least not quite this way. This was accompanied by a rousing "so this is what it feels like to be up in the middle of the night papa!", accompanied in turn by a well-earned yawn. This particular morning, similar (but slightly different each morn this entire week), thanks in part to an otherwise cloudless sky, we (who were not preoccupied with trying to get sufficient sleep) were treated to a stellar presentation indeed. Which yesterday prompted this enlightened youngster to query "how come we can't see the planets as clearly, as big as they show in the book I read, and how come we can only see planets this morning...?"😔😕. This, from one of the "Best and Brightest", insights gleaned in part from star gazing, well ahead of his own 18th...

Viewing Audience: "View from Above" is an incredible, out-of-this-world array of photos, along with  narrative by Terry Virts, a NASA astronaut (and distinguished photographer), recently gifted to me by a dear friend, eventually to be enjoyed by a throng of gazers. If you have not distinguished yourself as an astronaut or a professional photographer, or have not stashed the cash to join the billionaires who are launching into space these days, it does not extinguish your ability, like me, to be at least an arm-chair astronomer, to fully appreciate the view above from below (perhaps like me accompanied by "google" and "Sky View" app to inform me what I am gazing at). Radically different (in my humble opinion and thankfully only brief experience) from what one might see and hear from "The View", an underwhelming array of opinions and otherwise cacophonous tones from some so-called stars and self-proclaimed experts. But similar to the 24/7 cable offerings, we have constant access to a stellar presentation, hovering just a few meters above, if we'll only put the rest of the noise on "Pause"...

"As the World Turns" A television soap opera, that aired for 54 years (3 X 18!), featuring an array of stars, some of which became household names, which initially aired only at appointed times (which caused my vacation with my aunt and her daughter in Florida to be rudely disrupted, a day-at-the-beach😎😠), but then available continuously day or night, for those faithful followers. Whether you, like me, appreciate "getting up in the middle of the night" (thanks again for being such a good sport, grandson) or you are more of the "sunny side up" variety, we can all agree that it's truly a stellar presentation...a view above from us below...

"Always up for it!" Sky View.