Category Archives: musings

musings

Home In The Cosmos

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Stargazing is one of those activities that seems to kindle a lot of deep thoughts about … well, life, the universe, and everything (to quote a well-known phrase). It’s sometimes easy to lose sight of those deeper questions in our daily lives, as we rush from here to there, do our work, enjoy our families, and so on. But, occasionally we do have to step outside and just look up—and be reminded of the larger cosmos.

I’ve been working on several huge writing and editing projects for some observatory clients, and I am astounded at the complexity of running an observatory. Here are these places that look OUT on the sky, giving us deep looks into space and across time. Yet, they’re very human places to be. People get paid to look across space, and to maintain the equipment that does so. The money goes to support families, economies, and whole professions of people devoted to studying the cosmos.

Think about that the next time you’re out under the stars, thinking about how alone we are in the cosmos. We may be so; but a lot of folks here on Earth are doing an astounding job of bringing the cosmos closer to us using some of the most amazing technology ever to arise.

musings, stargazing

Serendipitous Stargazing

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We’ve had an unexpected (but welcome) warm spell here in the Northeast U.S. today. That means later on I can go out and do a little warm-night skygazing at the spring stars overhead. It’s not often we can do that in April around here. And, actually, there’s a good chance that it’ll cloud up and rain sometime soon, so I don’t want to lose the opportunity! In this stargazing business, you have to grab your chances when you can!

A few years ago I remember going out in downtown Boston (I lived in the North End for a short time) and being amazed to find Comet Hale-Bopp! It was bright enough we could see it from the middle of all the city lights. In fact, Mark and I grabbed the wait staff at the restaurant where we’d just had dinner and showed them the comet. Of course, it wasn’t all that warm (being late March at the time), but the generous impulse was appreciated. People respond to nifty cool things like being able to see a comet from a spot where, by all rights, they shouldn’t have a chance. A friend of mine who lives in New York City has regaled me with tales of taking her little scope out to a park near her place and showing people Mars and Saturn and Jupiter and the Moon. So, you never know when you might get a chance to see a celestial sight — and maybe share it with somebody!