We read in the paper yesterday and then watched the news where people were discussing the current Venus-Jupiter planetary conjunction.
(It is highly likely that sitting there on the sofa against the wall dividing living room from kitchen is where I first became a news junky — the news was always on and there was always a big stack of newsprint sitting around. It somehow feels now as though I can’t get enough news there. I think because you’re watching the local and evening news and reading this morning’s newspaper, but that’s just a part of my regular information diet these days. But I digress.)
So my grandfather and I walked outside on the family compound last night and we looked up into the appropriate part of the sky.
There’s Venus! And, just there! Giant Jupiter!
I pulled out my phone, powered up one of my sky apps (I have three, and no, I don’t have a problem.) and started identifying stars and constellations and twirled around in the yard like a fool until I found the space station. It was below us and to the west.
My grandfather enjoyed this.
Today, he mentioned all of this to a coworker. (Because he’s the kind of guy who retired five or six years ago and still goes to work almost every day and laughs at how the rest of us talk about our hard days.) That coworker was intrigued and wanted to know more. So my grandfather came home I heard him put together a string of words I wouldn’t have imagined coming from him that morning.
“Oh, what was the name of that app you showed me with … ”
My grandfather: digital native.
So I turned it on again. This time we looked at things in the sky from inside the house, which might have been even more interesting. Look just behind the fireplace there and you’ll see …
When I went outside I took a few screen captures from the SkyView app, because these were just fun.
The constellation Cancer because this is basically my personal crest. He looks like he’s pinching the planets:
And look, Leo the lion is playing with two beach balls!
