2009 has been declared as the International Year of Astronomy. Most people, myself included, have forgotten the pristine pleasure that one derives by just looking up at the sky and seeing all the stars light up. All of it looks chaotic at first, but once you start recognising certain patterns, you begin to figure out constellations. Our ancestors derived so much pleasure and inspiration out of it that most of it can be seen as part of poetry and mythology too.
Astronomy probably gave rise to Astrology as our ancestors tried to think of possible connections between our lives and the stars above. We are just miniscule organisms with an inflated ego compared to the stars and the distances at which they are from us. Ironically, the enthusiasm of our ancestors has been diluted and misplaced so badly that people blindly believe in Astrology. Astronomy, its original parent is shorn to be for the non-believers and the geeks with nothing to do at night.
I think this is where declarations like International Year of Astronomy come in to create awareness among people. I read in some book long back, that the new generation of kids coming from the metropolitans have lost that spark of inspiration that every human feels on seeing the stars. It is because of all the dirty light that we humans throw towards the sky, blocking out all the dim stars.
It is only because people dreamt of reaching the stars, that humans have been able to put spacecrafts like Cassini orbiting far-off planets like Saturn. New Horizons is bound to cross the Solar system. Voyager spacecrafts are probably way away from the Kuiper Belt holding all the messages that late Carl Sagan lovingly put inside them. It is only because Indians dreamt, that Chandrayaan orbits the Moon and we aim for better things.
As part of the celebrations, I promise to learn something new about the Antariksha (Cosmos) everyday. To begin with here are a couple of photographs I took with the new SLR that I recently purchased!
Orion and Pleiades Star Cluster
Cassiopeia
 |
| From Night Photography |
3 comments:
So what have you learnt each day since your resolution began?
Also, you might be interested in looking up where the Viking probes are in the solar system today. It's amazing how far away they've gone...still functional by the way.
@cerebralmatter:
Well, Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) makes my vow quite easier!
Viking is still in Mars I guess! Too bad that the other 2 probes got lost in the dust storm.
my bad...I meant to say Voyager 1,2. Look them up.
Post a Comment