How Do You Feel When You Look At The Stars

I remember the stories people like to tell when they see shapes in the stars. I think about how our man-made lights sometimes drown out the lights of the sky. It’s so eerie that our human emotions and competitions sometimes drown out the fact that we all belong under the same sky full of stars. We just don’t always see it or realize it.

But on a less serious note. My main memory of the stars is on the Big Island of Hawaii. Many people don’t know just how seriously they take studying the sky on this island. There are no streetlights or anything that would create light pollution. So when travelers from around the world come by and drive up the roads to the observatory, they get to see magnificent sights and wondrous new places. But they also get to experience what, in the moment, feels like a near-death experience. To get up to the observatory, you have to drive on one-way roads in the pitch black night. You get to know there are cliffs on both sides of you, but you don’t get to see them. And to make matters scarier, the island is sometimes covered in thick fog.

But don’t get me wrong. It’s worth it. Because once you get high enough to leave the fog behind, you reach a setup of telescopes. Each one showing you planets or the moon. All great sights, but not the reason I remember the stars the night I visited. With the naked eye, you can see the milky way. YES. You can see the milky way while being in the milky way.

Its absolutely stunning, like someone smudged droplets of milk around a sky painted in stars. The stars glow around it. The stars glow through it. I’ll never forget the sight. So when I look at the stars, I feel the energy and thrill of that adventure. I feel the childlike excitement and naivety that I felt when I learned about the universe we lived in. I feel the joy that family vacations bring. I feel the comfort of home but also the excitement from knowing the world is mine to explore.

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