Please Reinstall Universe and Reboot

[hes not well again]

I consider it a case of happy chance that led me to the aquaintance of a man who in the course of time was to have a conversation with his wife. Nothing strange in that, you may say. Except in the course of this conversation the words "get that xxxxxxx heap of scrap out of my living room" were uttered by the said wife. It became apparent subsequently that she was refering to a home made 8" dob that was, to be fair, unrelenting ugly and I became the somewhat unsure owner of the said heap of scrap. Nevertheless I waited for a clear night and applied my eye to the eyepeice. This taught me two things. The first was that the previous owner considered that collimation was for sissies, the second that the Andromeda Galaxy is by any criteria a most incredible thing.

The thing that I was unprepared for, and it is here that I finally get to the point, that now I have seen it with my own eyes I can no longer take much of life seriously. Now that I have seen a whole other Galaxy millions of light years away I find that nearly every thing on telly is fairly pointless when veiwed with the perspective that only astronomy can give you. Is this a common thing or should I seek help?

[FrankieValley]

It is certainly common with me, to an extreme sometimes. Looking at Andromeda or anything up there makes me think that recycling is a waste of my time and that what we do to this planet, in the 5 seconds we are honoured to live on it, will not matter a jot given what it has been through and what it will go through in the very, very long future.

Then I think of my children and the fact that they will have to live in my mess, so I recycle. I find the short term view is best. Thinking about the cosmos and the time it has been around is not good for council recycling figures or TV ratings, so don't do it too much ;-)

[Mr Spock]

You don't need help, telly is fairly pointless.

Your friend needs help though. Sounds like his wife needs to know where the door is...

[hes not well again]

You don't need help, telly is fairly pointless.

Your friend needs help though. Sounds like his wife needs to know where the door is...

It would be ungentlmanly to comment, however I believe that she not only found the door, but used it. It would appear that the scope was only a side issue. He's not getting it back tho

[Andy McK]

I think what you expirienced was what I like to call "A moment"

The financial world is going to hell in a hand cart, no one know s the speed or direction, but when I go to work, in the morning, up the Neath valley, the mist holds at the tree line, in a steep, narrow valley and that the view, truely primordial, has been organised by a higher power (I'm not that religous) But you have to stop and think, there is somthin else going on here. You have to except the plain fact that we as mortals miss out on the most outstanding views. as a newbie to astronomy, this hobby just adds to the absolute beauty of our environment.

Andy...

[hes not well again]

I think what you expirienced was what I like to call "A moment"

The financial world is going to hell in a hand cart, no one know s the speed or direction, but when I go to work, in the morning, up the Neath valley, the mist holds at the tree line, in a steep, narrow valley and that the view, truely primordial, has been organised by a higher power (I'm not that religous) But you have to stop and think, there is somthin else going on here. You have to except the plain fact that we as mortals miss out on the most outstanding views. as a newbie to astronomy, this hobby just adds to the absolute beauty of our environment.

Andy...

Maybe the purpose of humans is to do what you are doing, finding the universe wonderfull. After all without intellingence the universe is just rocks floating about. Even to call them rocks implies intelligence. Intelligence gives the universe meaning, it is the part of the universe that is aware.

[Andy McK]

Bang on mate, "I think, therefore I am"

an ant or a mouse doesnt give a toss, there born, live , die. I honestly think inteligence is a curse, but what can u do? poetry?

There is 1 line in the film "Contact" "They shouldnt have sent a scientist, they should have sent a poet" Some of the images on this very web site are truly " out of this world" on so many levels.

I'm just glad, as working class as I am, I am in awe

[hes not well again]

Bang on mate, "I think, therefore I am"

an ant or a mouse doesnt give a toss, there born, live , die. I honestly think inteligence is a curse, but what can u do? poetry?

There is 1 line in the film "Contact" "They shouldnt have sent a scientist, they should have sent a poet" Some of the images on this very web site are truly " out of this world" on so many levels.

I'm just glad, as working class as I am, I am in awe

I think your right, it may be that intelligence has just made a perfectly good race of monkies neurotic and unhappy.

[Andy McK]

Hmm, I like bannanas?

but you know what they say, give a bunch of monkeys enough typewriters...

[Andy McK]

PS, I bet the dog is called "Rab"

[hes not well again]

PS, I bet the dog is called "Rab"

Molly

[Andy McK]

Used to go to Fort William as a kid for hols, all the sheepdogs there were called Rab. soz

Hi Moll

[John]

I think Carl Sagan summed it up perfectly with his "Pale Blue Dot" piece. The universe nether knows nor cares about our trivial affairs on this little lump of rock tucked away in a galactic backwater. For some reason I find it refreshing to gaze out across the light years to view events and objects that are totally beyond our influence and on the edge of our ability to comprehend. It puts us in our place which is, on the whole, a good thing

[hes not well again]

No its the sheep that are called rab, the dogs are called molly

[Andy McK]

I stand corrected

I cant argue with Carl or sheep dogs

nite all ..........

[GeorgeH]

It does put things into perspective once you start thinking astronomy stuff...it also rightly puts 'the x-factor' to the bottom of the heap...

[MG1]

I consider it a case of happy chance that led me to the aquaintance of a man who in the course of time was to have a conversation with his wife. Nothing strange in that, you may say. Except in the course of this conversation the words "get that xxxxxxx heap of scrap out of my living room" were uttered by the said wife. It became apparent subsequently that she was refering to a home made 8" dob that was, to be fair, unrelenting ugly and I became the somewhat unsure owner of the said heap of scrap. Nevertheless I waited for a clear night and applied my eye to the eyepeice. This taught me two things. The first was that the previous owner considered that collimation was for sissies, the second that the Andromeda Galaxy is by any criteria a most incredible thing.

The thing that I was unprepared for, and it is here that I finally get to the point, that now I have seen it with my own eyes I can no longer take much of life seriously. Now that I have seen a whole other Galaxy millions of light years away I find that nearly every thing on telly is fairly pointless when veiwed with the perspective that only astronomy can give you. Is this a common thing or should I seek help?

Your eyes have been opened...bit like the blue (or was it red?!?) pill! Welcome to the real world!

The one that gets me is sitting out in a dark site on a cold crisp night in the early hours when the world is peaceful. If you lie back so that only the sky is in your field of view and just look I find that after 15-20 mins sitting or lying still I suddenly become aware of the depth of space and feel almost vertigo as if I can sense the rotation of the earth and the speed at which we are rushing through space.

Mind blowing doesn't even come close...dealing with life afterwards isn't easy. I feel your pain.

Michael

[foundaplanet]

The thing that I was unprepared for, and it is here that I finally get to the point, that now I have seen it with my own eyes I can no longer take much of life seriously. Now that I have seen a whole other Galaxy millions of light years away I find that nearly every thing on telly is fairly pointless when veiwed with the perspective that only astronomy can give you. Is this a common thing or should I seek help?

It certainly does make you realise how trivial we humans can be and are. Here we are in this enormous place, most of us preferring to stay in our own little box trying to do something to prove our own existence.

Maybe the purpose of humans is to do what you are doing, finding the universe wonderfull. After all without intellingence the universe is just rocks floating about. Even to call them rocks implies intelligence. Intelligence gives the universe meaning, it is the part of the universe that is aware.

You may well be right . Intelligent....hmmm.. We can figure things out but does that make us intelligent, I'm not so sure. Curious yes.

Your right anyway, TV is rubbish. They don't even have to make good programs anymore because there are so many habitual born TV heads.

[BAZ Senior]

The Hubble deep field shots do it for me, you just cannot get your head round that view, size, distance, time, it just doesn't matter.

[hes not well again]

Its obvious from everyone's posts that viewing the stars does tend to promote a certain rethink about who we are and our place in the universe. I tend towards the view that it's a big universe and all we really have is each other. I'm going next door to hug my neighbour

[pastiche]

It would be ungentlmanly to comment, however I believe that she not only found the door, but used it. It would appear that the scope was only a side issue. He's not getting it back tho

Now that's really rough ... losing the love of his life and a wife in so short a time!

[Mike Hawtin]

Is this a common thing or should I seek help?

1. No, it is not particularly common among the general population.

2. Yes, you are probably beyond help along with the rest of us here.

[saturn4me]

I think Carl Sagan summed it up perfectly with his "Pale Blue Dot" piece. The universe nether knows nor cares about our trivial affairs on this little lump of rock tucked away in a galactic backwater. For some reason I find it refreshing to gaze out across the light years to view events and objects that are totally beyond our influence and on the edge of our ability to comprehend. It puts us in our place which is, on the whole, a good thing

You couldn't have said that any better!!

Absolutely bang on in my opinnion.

[singlespeedman]

I think it is a case of that we need to realise just how small a part we have in the grand scheme of things so we can make every effort to try and make sure that we can at least get it right.

[jimmyjamjoejoe]

I almost died a while back, since then everything has been somewhat trivial to me... Can't say i get that feeling from astronomy to be honest, but i can see why it would.