17 Jun 2023 - Stargazing Amidst Fire and Ashes
It was an unusual yet unforgettable evening under the cosmic canvas. The day we hosted our stargazing workshop, the unexpected happened. The distant bushfire roared to life, painting the sky with an ashy black. These ashes descended from the heavens, falling around us like somber snowflakes in the dimming twilight.
As night fell, we brought out our cameras and telescopes, focusing our gazes skyward towards the vast expanse of the universe. Despite the lurking menace of the bushfire, the night unfolded into an unplanned spectacle of beauty and intrigue.
The drama of the bushfire, the blackened ashes, the twinkling stars, and the luminous stream of the Milky Way created an ethereal combination that was beyond words. This unique combination added an unexpected yet stunning layer to our celestial observation - this extraordinary merger of fire and cosmic dust resulted in photographs of a "Fiery Milky Way." The images were so dramatic that some might have thought we were audacious stargazers standing right at the doorstep of a blazing bushfire. The amber glow from the fire mingled with the soft, milky white of the galactic band, painting a stirring portrait of the cosmic theatre at its fiery best.
Another striking aspect was the tail of the Milky Way. It was as if an unseen celestial artist had sprayed a dazzling array of diamonds onto the canvas of the night sky. It spread across the blackness, a testament to the beauty that can emerge even in the face of looming disaster. The tail shimmered with a million stars, each one adding to the spectacle that unfolded before our astonished eyes.
There was also the rare sighting of fiery shooting stars. One meteor arced across almost half the night sky. It wore a hue of fiery orange, like a burning ember set loose from the cosmic hearth. As it traversed the canvas of the sky, the shooting star began to disintegrate, leaving a trail of flickering sparks in its wake.
Date: 17 June 2023
Location: Zebra Stone, Litchfield, Northern Territory, Australia
