An unexpected, though delightful, benefit of the coronavirus lockdown is the significant reduction of air pollution. There are not very many cars on the road these days. Everybody is staying home. Therefore, there is less air pollution which means you can easily observe the night sky. It is even possible to see some of the planets without looking through binoculars or a telescope.

There is nothing like going outside and observing the night sky. On a clear night, away from city nights, the stars look like diamonds in the sky, as the childrens song goes. A cobalt blue sky filled with stars, and the occasional shooting star, is wonderful to behold.

Stargazing in the Great Smoky MountainsEvery summer on our family vacations we went camping in the Great Smoky Mountains. After dinner every night, we enjoyed the quiet beauty of the night sky. Daddy would point out a constellation and say, See those stars? That is the Big Dipper. Then hed say, A long, long time ago, people thought the stars looked like things and so they gave the stars a name. Ever the teacher, Daddy made everything a teachable moment, even stargazing on a family vacation in the Great Smoky Mountains.

In the American Southwest there is no light pollution. Visibility is so clear you can actually see satellites. Several years ago, on a trip to Zion and Bryce Canyon in Utah, one night the park ranger told the most delightful Navajo legends about the stars. One legend was about mountain goats. He said the young mountain goats liked climbing so much they climbed right up to the stars.

When the rangers talk was over, we had the opportunity to go outside, behind the visitors center, and look at Saturn. There were three telescopes, each of which was trained on Saturn and there was a team of five astronomers there to answer questions. When I looked in the telescope, I could clearly see Saturn and the rings! I looked away from the telescope and asked the astronomer to point out Saturns location in the sky. He pointed out Saturn and, although the rings were not visible, there in the Utah sky, I saw Saturn!

I thought how delighted Daddy would have been with the Navajo legends. I thought how thrilled he wouldve been looking at Saturn through the telescope. Daddy would have relished talking with the astronomers.

Skyview is a free phone app that allows me to locate stars and planets, the Hubble Telescope and the International Space Station. When I take my phone outside and click on Skyview, it shows the night sky, and I can look up and see the actual location of the stars and planets. Skyview has a compass and that helps me comprehend the location of the stars.

When you look at Skyview there is a small circle on the screen. Trained on a single star or planet, Skyview names the star or planet you are looking at. It identifies the Hubble Telescope and the ISS. Lately, Ive enjoyed looking at Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Mercury, and Venus. I think it is amazing that Skyview shows the telescope and the ISS. One night last week, I was able to actually see the ISS as moved across the sky.

When I go outside at night to stargaze, it is quiet. The sky is magnificent. When there is a full moon, it brightens the sky. The occasional shooting star is a sight to behold.

With childlike awe and wonder I look at the stars and I think back on those family camping trips when Daddy taught my brother and me all about the constellations. Sometimes I think about the astronomers of biblical times who studied the stars and saw a star in the east a star they knew was very special, a star they wanted to follow to the to the birthplace of Jesus.

I will always appreciate the quiet, regal beauty of the night sky, which I can reverently behold from my front yard. Stargazing ... here, there and everywhere.

Roman Pam Walker is a paralegal, a writer, an avid cyclist, history enthusiast, and an ardent reader of Southern fiction. She is the author of People, Places, and Memories of Rome. Readers may email her at pamterrellwalker@gmail.com.

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Stargazing ... here, there and everywhere | Columns - The Catoosa County News