I love astronomy

I think it's a fascinating area when it comes to subjects that address our curiosity. Human beings evolved because they were curious, one of our keenest senses, not only in us but in other animals.

When television was young, there was a very popular show based on the still popular fictional character Superman. The opening of this show had a familiar phrase that said, “Look. In the sky. It is a bird. It's an airplane. It's Superman!” How beloved Superman has become in our culture and the worldwide fascination with extraterrestrials and all things cosmic only emphasizes that there is a deep curiosity in all humans about nature and astronomy, even if many people don't know how to call it astronomy, which nowadays has become very controversial.

Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences of all time. When archaeologists unearth ancient civilizations, even cavemen, they invariably find art that shows man's unquenchable fascination with the stars. Even today, you can easily get a lively discussion at any meeting on the topic “Is there intelligent life on other planets?”

Many have tried to explain humanity's apparent obsession with outer space as a result of ancient memory or as part of humanity's eternal nature. Whatever the cause, people of all ages and from all nations share this deep interest, to know more about the universe of which our little planet is just a part. Some even say that we are not of this world.

It's rather strange because the actual conduct of a serious astronomy student isn't really high adventure stuff. You will never see a movie “Raiders of the Lost Arc” or “Jurassic Park” made about an astronomer. A thrill for lovers of this science is staying up all night watching the cosmos through a powerful telescope. But that fact doesn't seem to discourage the tens of thousands who get into astronomy each year and the huge worldwide interest in the stars, planets and the universe.

There may be no other universal human allure that does so much to make national boundaries and even international animosity seem to evaporate. In addition to the Olympic movement, international cooperation to achieve great strides for humanity in space appears to be advancing without interruption, even as the nations cooperating on these projects are virtually at war on Earth's surface. It's a strange thing to see Russian, American and other astronauts working together as brothers on space missions, even when their home countries are busy aiming missiles at each other at home. It almost makes you think that we should put more energy and money into the space program, not least because it seems to be a bond that heals tension rather than creates it.

Why is astronomy so exciting, even though we don't have dinosaurs, moving animals, or any real danger for most of those obsessed with the discipline? It can go back to a basic curiosity that all humans have about their natural habitat and this big mysterious thing called space. Perhaps it goes back to the old saying at the beginning of Star Trek that space is "the final frontier".

But we all share this ongoing sense of excitement each time we pick up our telescopes and look directly at the cosmos above us. We feel that we are looking at the dawn of time. And in light of the problems with the speed of light, which means that many of the twinkling stars out there are actually light from those stars that began their journey to us thousands of years ago, we are really looking straight into the past every time we direct our eyes. to the sky.

But we don't need to worry about conquering the final frontier and finding our curiosity satisfied. There will always be more to learn and discover in the world of astronomy. And humanity's curiosity about astronomy is likely to be equally boundless.

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