Campfire, From Below

Lie on the ground by a campfire and look up. The stars above you are the real ones, for where you are and the minute it is. The fire is at your feet. Look down and it fills the view: flames, glowing logs, a ring of stones. Look up and its sparks drift into the sky, and the heat above the flames makes the stars over it shimmer. Past the fire, the Milky Way, the Magellanic Clouds, the moon in its actual phase, all seven planets and the meteor showers are all where and when they really are. 5,044 stars, down to magnitude 6, plus the best clusters, nebulae and galaxies. The land is real too. The hills and ranges on the horizon are worked out from open elevation data for about 130 km around, with the curve of the earth, so the moon comes up over the actual ridge. Tap the skyline and it tells you how far away it is and how high, and at the built-in places, the name of the hill or mountain.…