It took me a couple years to figure it out. We went to visit family in Oregon and we were driving towards Medford when I looked into the sky and saw hundreds of stars. I was so surprised it took me a few minutes to register it. You see here in Alaska it is light all summer long. Now I am not talking sun high in the sky light, but never really dark only dusky light. By mid June you can watch the sunset after midnight. And even though the sun sets, it just barely dips below the horizon so it never gets dark enough to see stars.
In the dark of winter the sun comes up around 11:00 am it gets dark by 2 in the afternoon. But even though it is "dark," the snow covers everything and casts the world in an eerie white color. Take pictures in winter and you would swear you had black and white film. With all the snow, I can see the shed in the back yard even at midnight. So, it never is a true dark and you still can't see any stars. And on a clear night is definitely around 20 below and I am tucked away in my warm and cozy home so still no stars.
That leaves a small window between September and October to view the stars in the sky. I imagine the same window exists between March and April but I will have to try to remember and look.
So, as I said, tonight the most amazing thing happened... I saw a star in the sky. It was only one star. And it probably was not even a star, it was most likely Venus. But that is okay. It shone so big and bright. Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight......
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