Genesis

Six (fleeting) Years: 

Clouds! As a patchwork of light clouds started to obscure the belt of Orion, I decided to wrap up observing for the night. 

It was December 26, 2019. Today, as in all of ground based observing history, clouds have perhaps been the one consistent reminder for astronomers, that despite all their nightly wanderings among the stars, they are in fact, humans subject to the whims of the earth.

Back inside the warmth of my home, my scope packed up, I searched for an email I wrote to a friend from my undergrad days, after taking my first deep sky photo - of the very same Orion nebula. I remembered having the kid in a candy shop feeling.

That email was dated Dec 26, 2013. Exactly six years ago, accurate to the day.

I realized over this 6 year period of time, I had gathered a small collection of jewels in the sky.  The images lived on my phone, on Flickr and of course on my computer hard drives. I also realized that time was running by. If I was ever going to pen down the story of my solo journeys from my patios, front and backyards to these far flung places, I must start now.

Why?

Why write a blog? While it is a niche hobby, a backyard astronomy blog is not unique by any means. For one, the internet is full of free and spectacular images not only hobbyists but from scientific sources, earthbound major observatories and most famously the Hubble Space Telescope, You Tubers (yes there are some famous ones there), and local astronomy club websites.  What would be different?

My pictures were not the best in class, neither were my methods or tools cutting edge to warrant a tutorial like approach. But what I hoped that would be different is the seeing behind it. I hope to tell the story of how these picture post cards in the night sky have connected human curiosity across millennia and spanned continents weaving a common narrative through people who otherwise lived very different lives.

Stories in Sky

As I got drawn into the hobby over the years, I realized even in the age of Hubble, the hobbyist astronomer was not dead. In fact I had an advantage of finding out what astronomical objects "really" looked like beyond false color images. More so, all objects as seen by us are like an image on picture postcards from different places and times. Each had a unique story waiting to be discovered, not only of the object but also the humans behind them. In the last hundred years we have gone far in our understanding of these stories, putting together the pieces of epic of the universe's evolution one chapter at a time. I am doing my part re-telling the stories in this community from my evolving perspective. The realization is the goal, all else (images included) are merely stepping stones to get there.

The Experience

There is something magical about putting ones eye behind a piece of glass and discovering miniaturized worlds hiding in plain sight. Once you realize what it is that you are looking at the experience can be hair raising and humbling at the same time.

Even a 15 minute observing session at the end of a workday or a longer weekend marathon, the solitude and silence, quietens the mind, pressures of daily life vanish and time seems to stand still. That experience of an escape, from your own backyard, patio or balcony, is worth sharing.

Minimalism

As I mentioned before, to me this is not about making the best pictures or having the latest gear. The range of astrophotography tools and methods available today ranging from DSLRs, webcams, dedicated astro cameras, video astronomy and EAA is both a blessing and a distraction.

Astronomy is a strange pursuit where people have made incredible discoveries and posited compelling hypotheses based on rudimentary tools and hand drawn sketches. Their minds were their primary tools, far ahead of any equipment at their disposal. The amateur equipment available to an average American is something Galileo would give an arm and a leg for. I do believe that at all levels, the seeing must be augmented with mind and even the heart. The rich and fact based information available free of cost to the general public from professional sources is part of  the appreciation. What we can do with what we have is usually beyond what our minds can grasp and process.

I deliberately keep my equipment to a minimum (by astrophotography standards), well within what I can afford and intend to keep it that way.