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Vega & Orin

Bantay-Bituin Observatory · the Cordillera

Vega & Orin

Two orbits. One night under the dome.

Saturday, 16 October 2027 · the vows at 5:30 PM

T−—d —:—:— Married at T+00:00, under the arch of light. Thank you for coming up the mountain.

Reply The night

Please reply by 15 September.

The real sky over the deck, 7:30 PM on the night, sped up

If it clouds over, the dome projects the sky the clouds are hiding, and the night goes on.

The saga

In four parts

  1. I

    First light

    A beach in Zambales, a sky full of stars, a small telescope on the sand. A radio astronomer and a flight-dynamics engineer, and the first night they looked up together.

  2. II

    Signal delay

    Two years apart, thirteen hours apart. Every message timestamped, every reply arriving in the other’s night.

  3. III

    Rendezvous

    Manila, one apartment, one balcony, and the small telescope from the beach between them.

  4. IV

    Docking

    Under the dome, the projector off, the real sky through the slit. Orin asked. Vega said yes.

Read the whole saga

The sky that night

Every star where it will stand

The sky behind the names is the real sky over the deck on the wedding night, from dusk to midnight in a minute: the stars, the moon and the meteors where they will be. Nothing in it is decoration.

Vega at six
62° up, north-west
Orion’s belt rises
about 9:45 PM
Clear of the ridge
about 10:30 PM
Vega sets
about 11:40 PM
The moon at eight
computed for the year

T+05:30 · 11:00 PM

Under the arch of light

Every guest is handed a light sword at the dome door. At eleven the swords go up in two long rows, and Vega and Orin walk out beneath them into the night, a little before Vega, the star, sets behind the ridge.

34 swords raised so far, one for every yes. Reply, and yours joins them.

The night

Deck, dome, terrace

  1. The observation deck set for the vows at dusk: rows of dark wooden chairs, a narrow aisle, two amber lamps on a low table at the railing, blue ridges beyond. T+00:00 · 5:30 PM The vows On the observation deck, as the sun goes down
  2. Inside the dome at night, set for dinner: long white tables curving round the old telescope pier, amber candle lamps, the shutter slit open to the stars. T+01:30 · 7:00 PM The feast under the dome The slit open to the stars
  3. The stone terrace at night: three telescopes on tripods, guests in dark formal clothes gathered round them, small amber lamps on the stones, the white dome lit behind. T+04:00 · 9:30 PM Telescopes on the terrace Orion’s belt rises in the east before ten
Vega and Orin on an observation deck at dusk, she in a long pale silver gown, he in a midnight-blue suit, arm in arm at a dark railing, blue mountain ridges and mist behind them.

The summons

Come up the mountain

Vega and Orin ask you to join them at Bantay-Bituin Observatory, on a pine ridge above the clouds in Benguet, for one night: the vows at dusk, a feast under the dome, the telescopes, and the arch.

The road is long and the night is cold. Bring a coat, and something with a little metal in it.

Reply The briefing