SKY full of stars

There is a  faint star formation called  "seven sisters"

You can't possibly see it with naked eyes if you live in a modern polluted  city. Decades back, when the cities were not polluted one could see this costellation in the night sky on a moonless night. It is the in the northern sky. 

In the northern skies there is  another constellation of seven stars called great Bear or Ursula major. In India it is known as Sapta Rishi. This is brighter and bigger.

It is brighter than the Seven Sisters. There is a faint star next to the second star of Great Bear tail. You can see this on a clear night only if you have perfect vision. This dim star is known as "arundhati".

Summer is the time of nature's fury in the plains of India as the Sun scalds everything at a hundred and ten plus temperature during the day. But summer nights in the open are generally pleasant .

We always slept outside in the summer, in the inner courtyard, in my childhood. There were light cots for sleeping outside. These cots were placed on  a raised cemented platform known popularly as Chabutara.

It was in those days that I came in contact with the limitless and timeless universe. My father had a phenomenal knowledge of the skies and he was my encyclopaedia during my early years. From him I learnt to identify the planets of our solar system, the stars and the constellations.

 In the western sky there was that constellation called ORION HUNTERS  with the belt of three bright stars.

The Milky Way  sweeps across the sky , from the southern horizon to the northern. It is  faint, like a hazy white dust. 

Ancient sages of India had not only identified all the planets of the solar system but had accurately measured their distance from Earth, their circumference and their diameter .it was a mind blowing feat. The details of this and much more are given in an almost two thousand years old book SURYA SIDDHANT. 

Gone are the days of night sky watching because of high pollution and very bright lights of modern cities. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star has the meaning for the children of today !

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