More passage notes.

Some readers might recall that Orion The Hunter was an 80’s rock band. Barry Goudreau’s distorted lead guitar sound is quite distinctive, sounding much like when he was in the group Boston. Barry would use studio magic to artfully mix several distorted guitar tracks, creating a signature sound.

I sometimes listen to rock music with earbuds during night watches. I’ll also spend hours looking up at the incredible night sky, with blankets of stars, seemingly in overlapping layers. The clarity and breadth of the night sky is astounding when sailing, and hundreds of ocean miles separate you from light pollution.

Bringing it together now, the blankets of stars are so thick, that otherwise prominent constellations like Orion (how can you miss his belt of three bright stars?) become drowned in the background (distortion?) of billions of other stars, normally invisible when viewed from typical land. I watch as Orion rises in the southeast, does a cartwheel over my head, and then sets in the west. After hours of staring, I can better make out the various features of his body arms, legs and bow. (Some star guides show a shield, instead of a bow). Regardless, features of various constellations sketched by millennia of past stargazers again become clear due to the incredible clarity and lack of artificial light. Eventually the show is over again as the anticipated glow starts to increase more than an hour before the rising sun appears at that brightest spot in the east.