Because this is what I see when I star gaze during the day. (This was taken in February, Calgary, Earth.)

Yes, I did enhance the picture a little, but not a lot.

But consider this. That is what writers do. They take real life and work a little magic to make it a little more interesting, enticing, enchanting, while leaving it real, believable.

The truth is there, the sundog was real, the clouds really were in the shape of Saturn’s rings but with a little imagination…

You find yourself living in an Earth colony on a planet in star system a thousand light years from Sol, accessible only by portal travel. Your home planet twirls and dances through the dusty lanes and rings of your star, a yellow dwarf similar to Sol. Every night, there are thousands of meteorites, falling stars. No more wondering if the show will be pretty, or when the peak will be.

The planet lying within your orbit is cloud covered, like Sol’s own Venus. Even in its current last quarter phase, its perpetual canopy of clouds reflects the light of your sun, sending brilliant polychromatic rays through space.

You live in the northern half of your planet, which is currently in the middle of what would be a twelve year winter, if one were using Earth reckoning. Yet, you find yourself looking up from the dirty frozen ground beneath your feet to behold the beauty stretching out in the heavens above you, and even though the splendid rays from your cosmic neighbor warm nothing but the cockles of your heart, the awesome beauty of the universe inspires you and you know that you can survive until the thawing times.

Until such visions no longer inspire me, I will continue to write with the conviction that one day, our kind will travel the stars.