Bill-on-the-Hill

I'm not doing much traveling right now, but that's okay, because we're in one of those few-times-a-century periods when to see something remarkable, all you have to do is get outside and look up. Well, that and get away from city lights, of which more later.

Our scenic spot of the moment is in Space -- alas (or perhaps fortunately), not in a part of space accessible to the Wikitraveler for another century or so, but still pretty close to home, by space standards. About two weeks ago, Periodic Comet Holmes, normally a faint little dot in the sky visible only in very large telescopes, brightened by a factor of a million -- yes, that's right, 1,000,000-fold -- and is now easily visible in the night sky, looking like a fuzzy "star" in the constellation Perseus, high in the northeastern evening sky from mid-north latitudes. Nobody is exactly sure how or why this happened; it did it about 120 years ago, when it was first discovered, and not since, as far as can be told. If you have decently dark skies (say, clear enough that you can dimly see the Milky Way in spots), you should be able to pick it up without optical aid; in binoculars it's a very conspicuous little ball of celestial fuzz that leaves no doubt as to its identity. It doesn't have the showy tail that one associates with the "great comets," but it's still impressive to look at if you're in the right frame of mind. Check this web site for charts to help you find the thing.

We have the great good fortune to live in North Central New Mexico, far away from the city lights, so that we can simply go out in our back yard and see it. If you're reading this from somewhere with similarly dark skies, give it a try, and if you're not, head for the hills if you can -- you won't see it from downtown New York or Tokyo or even Peoria, but the skies don't have to be that dark. It's worth the effort simply for the novelty. When was the last time you saw something that was a factor of a million bigger and brighter than it was three weeks ago? Things like that just don't come along very often.

If you've tried to Get Away From It All and still can't see the thing, more's the pity, and you're not alone. Urban light pollution is making skies of the necessary transparency ever harder to find. Even from our rural home, the skies are significantly brighter than they were 20 years ago, courtesy of a noisome casino that's opened about 15 miles away, in the town of Pojoaque -- I curse the name -- and insists on calling attention to itself in the gaudiest possible way, as casinos do. In most places in "civilization," the brightening has been worse yet.

All of which is a warmup to calling your attention to the Web Site du Jour: http://www.darksky.org/, home of the International Dark-Sky Association. These worthies are on a crusade to restore the beauty of the night sky, not by a Luddite reversion to pre-electrical days, but by using sensible outdoor lighting that sends the light toward the ground where it's needed, not into the air. I support this outfit and wish them increase. They're not going to get the stars back on a time scale that allows most of the world to see this comet when they are currently unable to do so, but maybe, by the time the next cosmic surprise comes along, enough progress will be made that the world can see it. So go to the site and help 'em out. Please. Those whose minds, if not bodies, voyage to space will appreciate it.