What I saw last night

[abaddon]

Maybe I could be considered an amateur astronomer but I don't think that accurately describes what I do.

I like to look in a telescope and view the cosmos. I do it for the meditative effect it has on me which is sometimes more pronounced then traditional meditation using Tibetan chimes.

Last night I spent some time observing the planet Neptune. I had the magnification turned up to 200x and was watching as the very small, bluish planet swept across my field of view and the rotation of the earth took it out of my eyepiece. To think that this planet, dark, and swept with supersonic winds just floats out there, untouched, unmolested; an anchor of beauty 2.7 billion miles away. Inspiring to gaze upon.

Next i looked at the planet Uranus. The little light-green planet looked like a small disk at 150x magnification. It continues it's descent away from Cetus the Whale constellation. In ancient Greek "planet" means "wanderer". They called them wanderers because they never stayed in the same constellation but moved by them.

I next trained my eye on the galaxy Andromeda and at 50x magnification it filled up the field of view in my eyepiece. The bright, galactic center was apparent. Amazing to think that this galaxy, over 2 million light years away, is speeding towards our own galaxy, attracted by the force of gravity, exerting its influence across the inter-galactic distances. In the distant cosmic future, and if any of our species still remains on Earth, Andromeda and the Milky Way will collide, forever disrupting the familiar view of the night sky to whatever animals are left inhabiting the earth (though long before that our familiar constellations will no longer look the same to our posterity as they do to us).

This was my meditation last night. My look into the Cosmos as I contemplated my small habitation here on the blue planet in a spiral arm of the Milky Way.

I came away with renewed appreciation for life and a peace with existence that has been growing inside me since I took this journey over 3 years ago.

May Peace Light Your Way,
abaddon

[Heaven]

That's so awesome! I wish I could do that, I always wanted to buy a telescope and look at the stars and planets. I have always have a passion and I feel connected to the Universe and I enjoy to look up specially at night time. It makes you feel so small when you really realize how much is out there in space, still not explore.

[abaddon]

Thanks for dropping by, Heaven!

I absolutely agree with you; it never ceases to amaze me what's out there!

Best to you :)

[Heaven]

No problem! I love the fact that we are actually floating through space on a giant rock! :)

One of my favorite pic! The Eye of God Nebula.

thCAOU6SFX.jpg

[KittenBomb]

Wow, that sounds like such a beautiful and humbling experience. I would love to look at the planets through a telescope one day =).

KittenBomb
xXx

[abaddon]

Originally Posted by KittenBomb

Wow, that sounds like such a beautiful and humbling experience. I would love to look at the planets through a telescope one day =).

KittenBomb
xXx

Are there any science centers or observatories where you live? That would be a great way to view the planets as my backyard telescope wouldn't hold a candle to their extreme optics!

Hope you get your desire soon. As you said, it is a humbling thing to view our solar neighbors with our own eyes.

Best to you :)

[Morpheus]

"...scientists announced that the Sun, the Moon, our planet and its siblings, were not born into the familiar band of stars known as the Milky Way galaxy,
but we actually belong to a strange formation with the unfamiliar name of the Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy!
How can this be?"




http://viewzone2.com/milkyway.html