I Look Up So Much, I Forgot to Look UP

As one who planetariums (its a verb) all the time in my backyard universe, strange things happen like this morning.  Ive taken to rising about 4 AM to get out there when the air is fresh and cool even in August, no light leaks plague my dome, and the coffee courses through my veins.  Ive talked about it before, the fact that if you CAN experiment, you WILL in a home planetarium.  So I do it constantly - but theres a dark side - no pun intended - I tend to look at the same couple constellations as I shift skies, projectors, light sources, light source POSITIONS (a whole topic).   So this morning I found a wonderful position for my old Spitz A3 starball, donated by Harold Clutter.  Summer Milky Way arching beautifully - teapot and top of the scorpion dancing along the horizon in the south .   but then there was this whole patch of sky to my chagrin I couldnt identify.   Yes, lost in my own sky again.   It should be easy I thought, just north of the M of Cassiopea (the regal queen is on her head, to quote a song of mine) ... but WHAT are those stars, I couldnt recognize them.   Heres the funny thing though.  As I walked through the predawn darkness back to the house, I decided I needed to grab a starmap and check out that region ..   then I stopped dead in my tracks.

And looked UP.  The real stars glimmered above, the same stars I had just left in my universe.  Only these were much bigger - in that much bigger universe.   I had literally forgotten to look up at the real stars above my head.  I was so immersed in my private universe, I thought I needed a map.   I quickly was reminded I was looking above the M at Andromeda and Pegasus - I rushed back into my little theater and sure enough, NOW I saw them tilting there.   I didnt need a map.   I realized, I look up so much, I forget to look .. UP.