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| Fractured Light: Just try describing that with Euclidean geometry. |
Although I was now becoming au fait with the celestial landmarks, a few mornings later the sky threw me another stellar surprise. While I was busy studying Polaris - the only star in our skies which stays perfectly still, something caught my attention: a star that was moving like a rocket!
Although it was slower than a shooting star and didn't seem to fizzle out, it certainly was moving way too fast for even a jet plane. There was a complete lack of engine noise and I couldn't discern the telltale flashing lights that might also indicate an aircraft. It was just a bright point of light, similar to a star that cut a steady, silent and straight line across the still dark morning sky.
Aliens spacecraft notwithstanding, I already had an idea about what this might be: a satellite. The strange thing was, I had only ever seen these where conditions were very favourable - a clear night in the remote Australian bush where the stars stood out like flashing lights in a disco. But even then you had to have a keen eye to pick out an orbiting spacecraft. Here I was, in the middle of the biggest city in France, and I could see this thing as plain as day. It must been one hell of a satellite.
Back at home it took a little searching to confirm what I had seen. Celestia wasn't accurate enough to calculate the precise orbits of near earth spacecraft, but I eventually found a german website called Calsky that told me everything I needed to know. Indeed it was a big satellite that I had seen - none other than the enormous International Space Station (ISS). It was fascinating to think that the tiny point of light I had seen actually contained 3 human beings who were whizzing around the earth at over 300km in altitude. My research into satellites and their orbits turned up another curious advantage of Ramadan: the hour just before sunrise is one of the best times for satellite spotting - the sky is still dark, enabling us to see the soon-to-rise sun reflected off earth orbiting spacecraft. By contrast, in the middle of the night satellites are near invisible, being concealed in the earth's shadow as they pass above us.
My fascination with spacecraft didn't stop with the ISS. Ramadan had once again sparked my curiosity, and soon I discovered the website of NASA. Here, by the wonders of a computer and a broadband internet connection I found that I could watch in real-time what those astronauts were doing as they floated overhead. I had heard the conspiracy theories that NASA had faked the moon landings, but here I was, able to verify their claims for myself. Going outside to see that bright dot pass over Paris when they said it would I thought to myself "well, if they are faking it, they're doing a mighty good job".
After this first Ramadan, observing the wonders of manmade space phenomena became quite a habit for me. I have very fond memories of taking friends out at dawn and seeing their amazement as the dots of spacecraft appeared and disappeared at the predicted times. Or, like the time when lying on our backs in the middle of the Pont des Arts, we were able to witness the spectacular near broad-daylight appearance of an Iridium flare. If it hadn't been for Hebbat's introduction to her cultural practice of Ramadan, I would have most likely kept sleeping through this magical time of the day for the rest of my life.
