Soaking in the Stars – Suhaily Supahan

Soaking in the Stars

By Suhaily Supahan

Tekapo, New Zealand. I have never seen so many stars in the night sky. I think any Singaporean would say the same thing. There were bright sparkly stars, fizzling ones and baby ones that look like powder strewn across the sky and frozen in place. 

“Now, that is Orion’s belt,” the guide said, pointing his finger at the sky. I wondered, which stars exactly? I thought, oh no. Am I going to go through this 1.5 hour tour (and a pricey one I insisted on at that) and still not have any clear knowledge about these dazzling celestial objects I see above me? Then, as if he heard my lament, the guide whipped out his laser pointer. I gasped at the clarity of the strong green line pointed straight at the stars that make up Orion’s belt. Ah, now I see. 

https://theplanets.org/asterisms/orions-belt-asterism-the-girdle-of-the-celestial-hunter/

So, why does the belt belong to Orion? Who is Orion? Why was he wearing a belt? Again, the guide seemed to have heard my thoughts. With his handy laser pointer, he showed the outline of Orion, almost like those connect-the-numbered-dots puzzles I enjoyed as a kid. My eyes followed the lines he drew in the dark sky as I soaked in all the details narrated by the guide. Yes, the belt belonged to Orion, who is a hunter as he also had an arrow…

For another hour, my family and I learnt more about the stars. All the questions we had about spotting stars versus planets versus meteorites versus satellites in the sky were answered because we were able to see the differences in how they moved that very night. How different the learning was, rather than just watching a documentary or reading from the Internet.

After that hour of soaking in all the learning, we adjourned to a different kind of soaking. Laying on a float in the hot pool, we listened to the guide as he told us more. I forgot a lot of what he said because the only thought I had in my head then was, wow, this is heaven.

https://tekapostargazing.co.nz/