One of the things I was most excited to try when I first got my camera was taking pictures of the moon. There were so many times when I saw a beautiful full moon, but of course, when I tried to capture it with my phone’s camera, it was just a blurry white disk. I was thrilled when I went out on my first little away mission to find the moon visible before the sun set and I was able to get a few glimpses of it in my shots.
I didn’t really know what I was doing yet at that point, but I was determined to get better at nighttime photography, making do with the equipment and locations that I had. I don’t live in the heart of the city, but of course, there’s all kind of light pollution in small neighborhoods too. But soon I was seeing all sorts of detail in the full moon and worked on trying to frame the moon in new ways.
Space fascinates me. I love Star Trek in many of its iterations and have since I was a young child. The space race always grabs my attention. When I had to choose a science course in college as part of my liberal arts requirements, I signed up for an intro to astronomy class. I ended up getting in the “real” astronomy course – the one that focused on the physics under-girding our understanding of the cosmos, rather than just looking at constellations. This was back in the days where we had to register for classes in person, standing in lines in front of the registrar’s offices. The “easy” astronomy course designed for non-science folks filled up fast. I ended up begin glad to get into the harder one though. Granted, I’m not sure I could tell you exactly what we learned there, but I remember liking it at the time, even when it was hard. But there was something about knowing even a little of what’s out there and how it works that made me feel connected to something larger. And knowing there’s so much more we don’t even have a clue about yet and wondering what we might discover gives me a hope and excitement for the future. That blend of known and unknown, seen and hinted, is what also draws me to astrophotography and my own small attempts at it.
I recently finished reading Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower and today finished the sequel, Parable of the Talents. I highly recommend both, but the subject matter is difficult – suffice it to say that for a book written in the early ‘90s and set in 2025 (and moving on from there), it is eerily prescient and a warning of what could happen, enough so that my anxiety levels significantly increased while reading. But a central part of the books is the narrator’s belief in a religion/philosophy called Earthseed and the idea that its destiny (and thus that of human beings broadly) is to take root among the stars. This resonated with me. Throughout the books, despite all the horror of an American society suffering the chaos and destruction of climate change – the hunger, the poverty, the arson, the violence – there was a fundamental belief that space exploration was not only important but a necessity. Space holds the potential to unite us as perhaps nothing on Earth can, if only we allow it.
Being able to truly see the night sky is an amazing thing. I have several memories that stand out clearly in that regard. One was when I was in high school and I went on a trip with my friend and her family, who had rented a houseboat. One night, as we drifted on the lake, we all played out on the roof of the boat and watched as the Perseid meteor shower dazzled us with one shooting star after another. Another memory is from my aunt and uncle’s home in the mountains of New Mexico. I was sitting on the back deck and there was brilliant moon. As I stared up at the sky, I happened to see a single meteor steak through. And finally, I remember being on a camping trip with my youth group. I don’t remember where we were or much about the trip at all, but I do remember walking into a clearing one night and suddenly being overwhelmed as I looked skyward and saw more stars than I ever thought possible. I remember feeling dizzy as I briefly caught a glimpse of what “infinity” might mean. I would give a lot to see that kind of sky and have that kind of experience again.
At some point, I hope to get out to dark sky area and really soak in the immensity of the night sky. I remain disappointed that I was unable to see Comet NEOWISE as it passed through recently and I wish I hadn’t allowed my fear of being out at night alone to rob me of that experience, but that’s a whole different discussion. In the meantime, I’ll continue using what I have, where I am, and even if the resulting images aren’t the amazing masterpieces other photographers create, they’ll be mind and mean something to me. Hopefully, they can mean something to you as well.
