Saturday, May 12, 2012

When I heard the learn'd astronomer

When I heard the learn'd astronomer






by Walt Whitman
















 
When I heard the learn'd astronomer, 
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, 
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, 
     and measure them, 
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with 
     much applause in the lecture-room, 
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, 
Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself, 
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, 
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.


A Zodiacal Skyscape: Jack Fusco
the photo above shows venus (the brightest), jupiter, the pleiades star cluster, and the glow of zodiacal light from february this year. 

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