It’s no secret that I love getting lost in space, and I recently came across this feature in the New York Times Magazine that blew me away. Here are some of my favorite bits.
In the 1200s, the Maya made records of Venus’s position in the sky on paper made from fig-tree fiber. Hieroglyphics carved into their monuments feature three stones surrounding a fire, a cosmic hearth of creation. Today K’iche’ Maya people in Guatemala understand the constellation of Orion to include those three stones and the fire in the center to be the Orion Nebula.
In 1995, Robert Williams, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute at the time, pointed Hubble at an empty piece of sky and left it there for 10 days. His approach was risky — normally scientists use their precious telescope time to look at known objects. “Throughout my scientific life, I tended to rely on instinct, probably more than I should,” Williams says. He and his colleagues chose a spot just above the Big Dipper.
IMO the best thing about looking at space is that it helps you realize how little you and your little daily troubles really are.
I highly recommend viewing this on a large screen. If you want access to the story, here is a free code:
Comments welcome!