Alone and Happy About It

We take a step away from the buying guides and the deep sky searches for the messier catalog to take a look inside on why amateur astronomers do what we do, and why being alone might be better.

 Alone in the dark?

Astronomy lends itself to be a solitary hobby.

Of course it has its moments where star parties and observation events bring us all together for a collective peek at the heavens in conjoined glee but all the greatest discoveries in this hobby are made alone, in the dark.  Those moments are special in their own right, sharing the experience of discovery with each other, and often end up as a spring board sending others out to buy telescopes and host their own star parties.

For most, stargazing is done alone.

When you consider it, stargazing is a form of meditation.  Our breathing slows.  Our senses sharpen.  Like meditation the astronomer on the hunt focuses on the present, completely in the moment.  Our minds may wander but while the scope tracks its quarry, bringing photons that are older than the human race into view, the focus is brought back to our center.  The breathing slows.  Through the eyepiece we are one with our observations.

We sit, and think, and explore, and cast our sight to the furthest visible depths of outer space and calm ourselves.  As the heavens rotate above and planets rise and set through the evening, the worries of the day, like dirt in a rainstorm, washes away.

[columns][span7]

[/span7]

[span5]As astronomers we are explorers in the starships of our own imagination. Each celestial way point bringing us closer to our own mental singularity. We skip from nebula to star cluster to planetary system spanning light years with minor adjustments to the scope. No other feat of technology can get our eyes closer to the stars than at this moment, telescope in hand.  And no matter how many other travels may be taking the journey with us, letting them peak into the viewfinder after perfecting the focus, each traveler experiences it in their own head, differently. Alone.

[/span5][/columns]

There should be no mistake that this is not a bad thing, to be a member of a society of people that prefer to spend their time huddled behind scientific equipment without an audience.  In a world where there are more buzzers and ringtones and blaring advertisements we find fewer places to escape.  It seems like these nerds with giant light tubes, specialized chairs, and soothing celestial tunes might be on to something.

Astronomer or not, maybe we all should take a look through a telescope from time to time.

We are alone, one and the stars.  It is perfection.