Twinkle Twinkle

In the last few years I've become interested in astronomy, to the extent I can enjoy it without actually working or studying hard to learn more about it. But I like to watch shows about space, and I sometimes check out the incredible photos on NASA's website.

Sam has been interested too, and we sometimes talk about stars and black holes and such. He has mentioned that he wants a telescope. And then, last time we were at my parents' house my dad asked me if we were interested in taking the telescope he had bought the kids for Christmas a few years ago. Um, yes?

I remember that we were never able to use the telescope to see anything useful, but I was willing to give it another shot, especially because of the Google Sky Map app for my phone. I can point it up at the sky and see the names of everything, making it a lot easier to know what to look for. So Sam and I decided to look for Jupiter, since that's the most visible object to look for, aside from the moon.

So last night was finally less than totally cloudy, and we were able to check it out. And it worked! We were able to see Jupiter, if not super clearly, and a few tiny point of light that were some of its moons.

They say that when you travel to outer space and see the earth below, you get a sense that "All the people of this earth are truly one." While I didn't have that epiphany, it was an amazing feeling to know that I was looking at something nearly 400 million miles away (actually a little more, given its current position).

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that it was neat.

Comments

Jen said…
I feel that way every time I go to the planetarium. I LOVE SPACE.

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