“Whereas other animals hang their heads and look at the ground, he made man stand erect, bidding him to look up to heaven, and lift his head to the stars.”
Ovid, Metamorphosis
Every human being, at some point of time, must have looked up at the skies and wondered about the heavens above. Sad blue stars, fiery red ones, wandering planets, fuzzy nebulae and bearded comets have all captured the imagination of mankind since the dawn of civilization. The ancients saw animals, heroes and princesses in the sky and wove rich tapestries of myth and legend around them. They also studied and marvelled at celestial phenomena and even revered them. They don’t call it the first branch of science for nothing.
Fast forward to the twenty-first century. Our advances in astronomy and astrophysics are incomparable to that of our caveman days. From planetary probes to high-tech space telescopes, we are but few steps short of measuring the hitherto unmeasured - the size of our universe. However great our achievements be, though, newer and bigger questions still pop up. As Einstein once aptly remarked, as the circle of light shed by our knowledge widens, so does the circle of ignorance around it. Do we have company in this cold and desolate universe? Is ours the only universe? What lies on the other side of the speed-of-light barrier, if anything? Even after an existence of searching the answers for such questions, we may be left clueless.
This is one of the aspects that drew me to astronomy. You can explore it, but never conquer it. One look above puts a lot of things into perspective. The incredible vastness of the macrocosm shows our place in it. The utter insignificance of the whims and chaos of the inhabitants of a miniscule blue marble that orbits a tiny main sequence star in one arm of a galaxy among millions in our universe which may not be the only one becomes very clear to any stargazer. We are but a fleeting little smudge on the great canvas that is the universe. This feeling of awe is what astronomy buffs like myself seek for.
Then there are splendid constellations and nomadic planets that wander across the skies. Each constellation tells a story that stands testimony to the power of human imagination. Though each of them is said to represent a character or a thing from mythology, it must be admitted that very few of them actually look like what they are supposed to look like. Two such constellations, Orion and Scorpius (my personal favourites) are so breathtakingly wonderful that no person should ever miss an opportunity to see them. And to know that these were the same patterns that our ancestors saw four thousand years ago (albeit with some tiny changes – due to precession) is a wondrous thing. Our brothers (and sister, Venus) in the solar system dance about every night, sometimes brighter than others, giving us a beautiful show in the sky. Nothing can match the awe and delight of locating a planet all by yourself and seeing it with your naked eye for the first time. Nebulae, star clusters, meteor showers, double stars, eclipses and occultations are all spectacles to behold with our eyes.
So, how does it feel to be an amateur astronomer? Constellations and planets become old friends who visit regularly with their charms. The Summer Triangle of Altair, Vega and Deneb, the reclining Leo, the bloodshot eye of Taurus, Pleiades the Seven Sisters and the ladle of Ursa Major are some sights that you will never get tired of. Each time, the awe-inspiring force of such spectacles overpowers you. Such things must be seen to be experienced.
Being someone who stares at the open sky for longer than it is acceptable for a casual look also has minor ill-effects. Apart from the obvious that the unfortunate astronomer may be branded as being loony, non-initiates sometimes fail to see the celestial patterns pointed out to them by overenthusiastic stargazers, resulting in trifling embarrassment for the latter. Every astronomer, at some point of time, also gets confused with an ‘astrologer’ (“trust me, there is a lot of difference.”). But it is all worth for what the heavens have to offer.
Do you think that you have never sampled the bounties of the universe? Think again. Is there a single human who has not wondered at the Moon on a clear full-moon day, or at a total solar eclipse, or at a fleeting dazzle of a meteor? No. Astronomy is something that is hardwired in us since the times of our ancient kin. Appreciation and reverence of celestial bodies has always been an integral part of our existence. All we need to do is to look up and marvel at what we were missing all along.
What are you waiting for? Mother Universe has a different story to tell each one of us who raise our gazes heavenward. Look up and see for yourself, and never forget to share the experience with those around you.
