Astronomy

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Platapus

Everything we know and think we know is practically nothing compared to the Universe.

And the ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.



Seriously, though, I used to be way into astronomy when I was younger. My father bought a telescope from the Sears catalogue (remember those?) right around the time I started school IIRC. He was always a man of insatiable curiosity but I think the purchase was probably inspired by the Apollo 11 moon landing which would have happened shortly before then... I can remember being allowed to stay up past my usual bedtime if anything about it was on TV and he and I watched the coverage religiously. It's probably my first memory of anything that happened on a larger stage than my own little childhood world of home and family and close friends.

Looking back I'm sure it wasn't that great of a 'scope but you could see Saturn's rings and the big moons of Jupiter with it - amazing stuff for a kid my age to get a look at, sure enough. And it made looking at our own moon a whole new experience.

Even as an adult I've sometimes stood outside and looked at the moon and really thought about the fact that, at one time, there were human beings just like me up there walking around looking back at us. I mean, just... realized it, by which I mean made it real to the core of my being, not just as some "historical fact" of great importance. I don't quite know how to explain it, but there's a point where doing that really starts to blow my mind, for lack of a better phrase.

I used to do a lot of stargazing when I was still living at my family home, which (at the time) was far enough out "in the country" to make that possible without the interference of nighttime urban/suburban lighting. Can't really do it where I live now, although on clear, moonless nights I can still find some of the brighter celestial objects. Orion, in particular, feels like an old friend whenever I see him.

Still have a small collection of astronomy/physics/astrophysics books on the shelf but it's been a while since I meandered back into that area of interest. I imagine I'll get there again eventually, at the very least it's too tied up with nostalgia and the happier memories of my childhood to stay on the periphery forever.