Quote from Carl Segan **************************************************
“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”
― Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
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***Note: This page is a work in progress***
Slowly - over the last few years, my work experiences, along with meeting some astronomy experts have had me realize that Astronomy is something that I am interested in.
It may sound cliche - but I look up to the sky and wonder --- where am I? Where is here? How is the moon orbiting earth? How does earth rotate its axis to the exact tilt angles, over and over to give us our seasons? Is there an edge to the Universe? Is there life anywhere else in the universe?
I find myself getting lost in amazement looking at a photo of a galaxy - and imagining the shear size of that system of matter, energy gravity. A galaxy could have millions or billions of stars (suns) each with their own planets and moons.
To simply consider the genius of Galileo Galilei or Sir Isaac Newton and perhaps take some time to come to a basic understanding of what they came to discover... is just mind blowing. Galileo genius is apparent to anyone who realized that he realized that the solar system and earth revolves around the sun. He exhibited breathtaking genius - with an estimated 190+ IQ (1 in 18,000,000 people) level to buck millennia of human observations arguing the heliocentric view of our solar system and universe.
Video - Smartest People in Human History
I am a new astronomy enthusiast. Here is a log of some of my observations:
April 8th, 2024 - Total Solar Eclipse at Point Pelee ON -
Feb 2021 - Planet Uranus [link]
Late January 2021 - Planet Mercury [link]
Mid-late Jan 2021 -Finding Andromeda Galaxy, Orion Nebula, Canus, Taurus, Andromeda, Mars , Plaedies Star Cluster.[link]
December 20th 2020 - Conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter. [link]
July 2020 - I had been invited to go see the Neowise Comet at 3:30 am ... I was reluctant to wake up --- that event made me realize that Astronomy is amazing and worth pursuing more knowledge.[link]
Summer 2020 - Field trip to the Hallam Observatory (Messier 13 - M13, Ring Nebula - M57, Markarian's chain, Veil Nebula (east and west), Jupiter (with sting of four moons in alignment), Saturn (with three moons visible)) [link]
Solar Eclipse partial [link]
Lunar Eclipse [link]
Dec/Jan/Feb 2021
Planets
Uranus (Jan/Feb 2021)
Mercury (Jan 2021)
Mars (Jan-Feb 2021)
Jupiter (Dec 20, 2021)
Saturn (Dec 20, 2021)
Venus (May 30th , 2021)
Neptune June 29th, 2021
MILKY WAY = Photography attempts...
Constellation Taurus
M45 - Pleiades Star Cluster
Gemini Constellation
M35 Shoebuckle Cluster
Monoceros Constellation
C50 - Caldwell 50
M46, M47
Cone Nebula
Perseus Constellation
Mirfak
California Nebula (NGC 1499)
Caldwell 14 (NGC 869 and NGC 884) h Persei and χ Persei
Orion Constellation
Orion Nebula
Triangulum Constellation
M33 - Triangulum Galaxy
Triangulum Galaxy
Cancer Constellation
M44 - Beehive Cluster
Andromeda Constellation
M31 - Andromeda Galaxy
M32 -
Boötes Constellation
Arcturus
Ursa Minor Constellation
Polaris
Puppis Constellation
M47
Constellation of Auriga
Capella
Kid or Auriga
M38 - Starfish Cluster
M36 - Pinwheel Cluster
M37 - Salt and Pepper Cluster
M41 Little Beehive Cluster
C64 Mexican Jumpting Star
Early March 2021
Leo Constellation
M66 - Leo Triplet
Ursa Major Constellation
Mizar
M101 Pinwheel Galaxy
Alkaid
M51 Whirlpool Galxy
Puppis Constellation
M93 Butterfly Cluster
Cassiopeia
M52 - Cassiopeia Salt and pepper
C11 - Bubble Nebula
Hydra Constellation
M48 -
New! April 2021
Constellation Hercules
M13
M92
Constellation Ophiuchus
M10
M12
Constellation Scorpio
M4
Antares (Not Mars)
M7
M6
Constellation Serpens (New April 2021!)
M5 Globular Cluster
Constellation Sagitta
M71
Constellation Aquarius
M2 -
Constellation Delphius
M15
Constellation Sagittarius
Sagittarius might be the single most amazing constellation in our summer sky. On this evening of finally seeing it, there were so many objects to look for, it had almost become confusing. Each M-Objects is just a little nudge of the camera (or scope) from the previous one.
M28
M22
M25
M17
M18
M24
M20
M21
M8
M69
M70
M23
Constellation Scutum -
M11
M26
My Astronomy Goals:
I would like to buy a telescope, and a better camera (ISO3200 is as high as my Canon 7D can go)
I hope to photograph Neptune in 2021
I hope to photograph Venus in 2021
I would like to visit Manitoulin Island and bring a telescope to appreciate the dark sky there.
I would like to see the Northern Lights
I want to get a better sense of the Celestial Sphere and the cyclicality of the yearly sky scape. (example: what constellations can be seen in winter vs summer)
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Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability
To lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here
Lyrics from Tool's song "Right in Two"
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