Obscured visibility
If a tree falls in the forest? If the sky is cloudy? At one point I have to stop believing in a certain number of the events of natural science, because the chance of being a witness is statistically low. Meteor showers? Rainy night. Northern lights? Cloudy skies. Total lunar eclipse? Same problem.
Yet another stellar occasion and cloud cover at full. It’s enough to make an amateur astronomer cry. Comets, eclipses, shooting stars. Lots of advance notice, thanks to a marriage between science and the media, but for a guy with a naked eye… nothing seen, again.
Sunset could have been spectacular, with a red sky in the west and a red moon in the east. Instead, flurries. If you never see anything, you can’t be disappointed. You can’t believe, either. Unless of course these are myths from a folk culture. Maybe the press has been reporting about a system that is fictitious. Otherwise, how come I never get to see the “show”. Oh sure, I’ve seen some stars that were bright, and a few planets have graced the sky on those odd clear evenings, but I wish I didn’t have to rely on old photographs from somewhere else. I just want something other than obscured visibility, sometime soon. So, when is the next eclipse? Next August? I’m ready already.
