Thank My Lucky Stars

These past two nights have left me totally energised, uplifted and yearning to write to my heart’s content…. and for this I thank my lucky stars, literally!

Night One Thursday June 28:

Feeling a little weary and unsure of myself on this particular night, I attended one of my beautiful yoga instructor’s nourishing events.

Tara @ True Nature Yoga often runs a transformation class to coincide with various astronomical happenings. This night’s event involved paying gratitude and nourishing our mind and body with a cosy winter theme, in view of the full moon.

As usual, the event involved a short philosophical briefing, followed by a gentle yoga practice before settling my body within the comfort of warm blankets, cushions, eye pillows and a mist of blended, calming essential oils. Then with Tara’s guided meditation and celestial music humming in the background, my mind and body drifted into a space of peace and calm. A beautiful place to be.

I particularly enjoy Tara’s full moon events because the yoga moves are lenient and feminine and it allows me to truly go within myself, unwind and let go of emotional worry and thoughts that usually amplify during the full moon phase.

At the conclusion of Tara’s class, I drove home feeling so much lighter, energised, with a clearer mind and wonderfully relaxed body… like a weight had been lifted.

Night Two Friday June 29:

A very dear friend invited me to join him to visit The Gravity Discovery Centre Observatory in Gin Gin to observe the night’s sky.

The GDC, fondly called “The Leaning Tower of Gin Gin” is one of those places where I’d say “I must go there one day” but never made the time, so I was “over the moon” to finally be going!

Some years back in Uluru, I attended “Sounds of Silence” with my son Brad where we were fortunate to view the planet Saturn and the Milky Way through a telescope. I have never forgotten how spectacular that night in the desert was and have boasted about it ever since.

Now, on this winter's night in Gin Gin, with the temperature estimated to be 6 degrees Celsius, the sky clear and Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and Mercury all lined up! We were in for a great show!

Our guides were fantastic and we joined a lovely group of keen star gazes including young children and elderly folk (like me and my friend Alan).

Naturally, our brightest, sacred, sister planet Venus was shining down, gracing the skies in her usual glory. The planet of inspiration for writers and poets. Interesting to learn that Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system. Her surface is also unable to be seen in visible light, due to layers of highly reflective clouds shrouding her mass.

Jewel Box Cluster

We viewed the Kappa Crucis Cluster, fondly known as the “Jewel Box Cluster” through the lens of the first telescope. Amazing colours of red, green and yellow shone like tiny fragments of diamonds and gems. It really did look like a box of jewels.

On the second telescope we viewed the second largest planet Saturn, apparently big enough to hold 760 planet Earths. The rings of water and ice that travel up to speeds of 1,800 kilometres an hour were certainly visible and we were able to get photos on our phones through the telescopic lens.

I have to admit that Saturn was not as illuminated as I saw it in Uluru. Maybe this was due to Saturn being visibly close to our full moon of 98% - thus casting too much light throughout the sky, whereas in Uluru there was hardly any moon at the time I was there.

Nevertheless, Saturn is an amazing planet and remarkable to know, he is less dense than water, so if we could find a big enough bathtub to hold Saturn… he would float!

Our bright illuminous moon was crystal clear and were all able to snap some great images through the telescopic lens.

As Mars came into view we were able to focus in on the reddish, brown planet, though he was a little fuzzy and not all that exciting. I then began to realise why Men are from Mars and Women from Venus.

Peering through the telescope to view Jupiter however, just blew me away!
Witnessing the coloured bands covering his surface and three of his four Galilean moons shining so vibrantly bright was truly unexpected.

Sighting a moon to each side and one creeping over from behind planet Jupiter was a truly extraordinary and surreal experience for me. Amazing to know that these moons were discovered in 1610 by the famous astronomer Galileo.

So, I’m really considering purchasing my own telescope now, but I know for certain I will be attending and travelling through space to witness more significant events in our universe through the GDC Observatory. I thoroughly recommend this venue to all those who love star gazing.

Julie Annette