It's been a long time!
January 16th, 2012
It has been nearly 2 months since I last gazed at the stars. As each night filled with clouds passed, a small part of me ached and succumbed to darkness. December sneaked by without revealing any sky splendours yet I rejoiced about being reunited with loved ones. My return to the north was one filled with many teaching responsibilities making stargazing difficult. That January night, the skies seemed to come out and embrace me as I brought out my telescope to acclimate to the cold.
Since this felt more like a reunion than mere exploration, I decided to gaze at sights I knew well but stirred strong emotions from the past. The first was Venus, the first planet I found and observed with my telescope a long time ago. Looking at this planet like it's first observers from earth did in antiquity, I marveled at its beauty. I resisted thinking about its hostile surface and tried to imagine exactly how early astronomers saw this planet. Aphrodite, Goddess of love and beauty,.. With time we now recognize it as something totally different. Mind you, does that translate to our view of love and beauty today? Can danger be beautiful? Is love, a state of mind and emotion, devoid of danger?
Tell me now,.. Does this look dangerous to you?
With an atmospheric pressure 92 times more prevalent than earth's, an atmosphere consisting mainly of carbon dioxide and clouds of sulfuric acid,.. you should. Then again, we say that a sunset is beautiful as well but I wouldn't go strolling around on it's surface either. Love? We all know the perils yet we still venture forward. So Venus,... shine bright, your title is well deserving!
Jupiter was also shining brightly but was quite camera shy so I tried my luck with something that pushed the limits of my small point-and-shoot technology. It was with this picture of the Orion Nebula that I packed up my equipment and returned to the warmth of my living room. It just doesn't get any better than this:
Isabelle
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