Stargazing

When I moved to Oslo I first lived downtown in Frogner many many moons ago. In fact next week will be 11 years since I arrived in Norway.

During that early period I always remember thinking that it was strange that you couldn’t see more stars in the night sky.

I was later to conclude disappointingly that this was due to excessive light pollution.

5 years ago I literally moved away from the bright lights and settled on the edge of the woods, where I spend the vast majority of my waking and walking hours.

And so late, late last night I found myself heading out with Minttu on our last walk of the day. It is also a chance to relax and decompress and be alone without distractions, focusing purely on nature and my own lovely dog.

It was so late that the lights in the woods had long been switched off. I had my head torch with me but as so often I preferred to try and pick my way through in the dark.

The moon last night was extremely luminous, but it was very low in the sky. When it would appear through a break in the trees it was casting a gorgeous Moonlight Shadow.

The sky was unbelievably clear and there were a tremendous amount of stars visible. I found myself stopping every 20 metres or so just to look up in awe.

The numbers and distances involved in the universe are simply too much for my mind to properly comprehend. And yet that takes nothing away from how incredible it feels just to stare up at those little dots in the night sky.

So next time you find yourself late at night about to take the dog walk, why not try and escape the city lights and go stare into the past, far up in the night sky.

Doggies: Jello, Quila, Oscar and Haraka