Lights In The Sky
Read more articles on Life's Nuances and Let Me Share With You.July 14, 2007
Posted by Karen Amato Schwartz
July 14, 2007
Posted by Karen Amato Schwartz
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A couple of nights ago, my husband noticed what he thought was a really bright star in the western sky, and called me to see. I told him it was a planet, but naturally he didn’t believe me. So I checked on various sites that did, in fact, assure me it was Venus. Saturn and Jupiter are also noticeable right now here in the Northeast, so my mission is to get out there with binoculars within the next few nights and look at them a little more closely.
Sometimes I wonder if I’m one of the few adults who still get a bit of a thrill from our heavens. Even my daughter and her friends are rather blasé about what’s above. I often question why it seems that astronomy isn’t more discussed as it was before cable television and the internet started keeping us inside at night.
I remember going outside in my backyard with a flashlight and my sky map while still in grade school, trying to place the summer constellations. Going to the planetarium took me to another place that was very pleasant, since it put my problems-and those of this world’s-into perspective. It was a good feeling to imagine that better worlds existed out there in the darkness, worlds of either a more simple existence or with technology we could not comprehend.
Of course, I was strongly influenced by “Lost in Space” and those other great black and white Martian movies of the time. When man first set foot upon the moon, I was glued to the television, and was absolutely thrilled that I was watching history in the making. As much as I admired astronauts, I knew at even a young age that I could never be entombed in little can floating through space. It made that career even more glamorous in my eyes.
But occasionally, I thought, it may be worth it, just to see different planets and stars up close. Being able to set eyes upon something that no man has seen before in the history of our world would hold an honor like no other.
As I look at those stars and planets, I am reminded of every science fiction story I’ve ever read, especially those by Ray Bradbury-the originator of Elton John’s “Rocketman”. I think we will always be amazed and intimidated by what is above us, as apparently we are meant to be. We will continue to make headway in our technology to snap more pictures of the lunar and Martian surfaces, and continue to find more planets, but what we do with the knowledge is yet another story.
No matter how you look at it, though, the idea that we may not be alone, looking up into pitch blackness, is rather comforting. Even if the only things above us are rocks and gases, it’s ok; they’re there for some reason. Even if we’ll never know of that reason, I think we’re still lucky to have stars and planets to remind us that we are not the centers of the universe that we sometimes think we are.
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