I really don’t have the patience to go out and stare at the night sky for very long, which is why I so appreciate it when brilliant people who follow the paths of planets, stars and asteroids tell us that something highly unusual is going to happen and then it does – right down to the second!
Early Thursday morning, March 20, the distant (78 light years away) star Regulus will be briefly obscured for sky watchers in parts of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Eastern Canada by the passage overhead of an asteroid named Erigone, pronounced (air-RIG-oh-knee).
Is this a big, jaw-dropping kind of space event, like a solar eclipse or an incandescent alien swarm of interstellar bees engulfing the moon and setting it on fire?
No! But it is quite rare. Rare enough so that maps have been published and in the nation’s most populous area serious people are thinking about staying up until 2 am to see a tiny light in the sky not be there for about 14 seconds, and then come back.
Simple pleasures are the best.
Pleasures as simple as a familiar nursery rhyme, re-cast as a conversation between an Earthbound observer and a distant light.
How appropriate that each verse, when sung sweetly, lasts exactly as long as Regulus will be invisible.
Regulus, so far away,
Spotted you towards break of day.
You’re a bright but tiny dude.
Star of the first magnitude!
Regulus, intense and proud.
Shiny, showy, sharp and loud.
Twinkle, Twinkle, little star
Now I don’t see where you are!
You were there but now you’re dark.
Were you light or just a spark?
So long star. This has been real.
Hey, you’re back! So what’s the deal?
Asteroid Erigone,
floating between you and me,
had the angle and the size,
to obscure me from your eyes.
Briefly blotted out, you see.
Thanks a bunch, Erigone!
Twinkle Twinkle, little star.
Resurrected! There you are.
Thought I lost you for a time.
Just a verse within this rhyme.
That was much too long, I think.
Twinkle, winkle, twinkle, wink.
Some people, Hollywood stars, mostly, can pull off a wink and make it seem sexy. When I wink it just looks like I’ve got something stuck in my eye, which is why I never do it.
What makes a wink work?
Trail Baboon 
a good tiddly
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the orbicularis oculi and the palpebrae superioris
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Wink wonky.
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golf cleats, dog poo, or diamonds on the soles of your shoes
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guilt, guile, or grace
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panache, poise or pulchritude
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Your creative juices are flowing early and well this morning, Clyde.
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Context.
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Good morning. A wink needs to be a surprise or some kind of a subtle message. Winks are too subtle for my use. I hardly ever wink at any one. There are some people who do a lot of winking who I think are trying to be a little too clever or cleaver. A carefully placed wink can be very funny. If you want to tease some one who winks at you, ask them if they have something in their eye.
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I don’t know what a wink is good for, but I’m fairly sure it is as good as a nod to a blind horse.
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That’s as good as it gets, Steve.
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It depends entirely on the winker and the winkee.
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Put 40 of them together.
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that’s a tric
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Love this one, PJ.
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whatever it takes, I don’t have it, including well-trained orbicularis oculi and palpebrae superioris
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Sometimes a quick wink is all I can do to acknowledge current or past child clients who I run into in public.
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A wink works when the other eye is still conveying the intended message. Also, I find not screwing up the facial muscles into a peripatetic spasm helps makes a wink look sexier.
Chris in Owatonna
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The twinkle in the eye of the winker, and the receiving done by the winkee.
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Close, if not exactly related:
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You all are leaving me in the dust this morning… not one creative juice flowing and I’m not a winker either!
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A facile and accomplished wink may indicate a promiscuous and possibly indiscriminate wink wielder.
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Is this what you had in mind, Bill?
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Eewwwwww…
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What Bill said or uttered.
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A winning wink will work wonders.
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The wink only works if you include the ‘finger point’ and ‘click click’ noise with your tongue. 😉
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Or perhaps a nudge…
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love that one
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Who knew so many baboons had already thought about this? – or at least it seems like it…
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My great gransmother’s maiden name was Hellwinkle, which translates as “Bright Corner”. I have no idea what that means.
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A wink almost got Sarah Palin in the #2 free world position in the country!
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This is actually a whole episode. Like the YouTube contributor, I drew directly on the TV.
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to make a wink work you need a receiver who gets the spoof. the grandpa who is pulling the leg of one young one and giving the other a wink to let em know hes just pulling his leg is the best. marilyn giving a wink lets you know she knows what you are thinking and wouldnt that be just elegant.renees example of acknowledgement without acknowledging is perfect too. i hate hate hate people who wink to accentuate a point. i was at a breakfast meeting the other meeting and a kid who is entering the refinancing business came in late and was kind of obnoxious about wanting to shake your hand and tell you he had a great deal for you and he winked at everybody as an exclamation to his sentence. slimey.
i had a skunk of a business partner who thought he was gods gift who winked his way through conversations thinking he was cute.
how t make it work, have it be a fun gesture,if you are winking as a come on, go away. if you are winking and you dont fit the above criteria, stop it.
thanks to dale for covering the celestial news so well for us. interesting and rhymey
late to day after an early start . interesting to stop in after everyone has thrown in their two cents
were so lucky to get rhymes
to start our days so is sublime
todays rhyme is even measures time
thats a lot for a 6 line rhyme
thanks to dale bet he thinks that im
out of words and this time hes right
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wanna see a wink work?
here you go
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