Post by Rishi on Nov 14, 2008 0:15:38 GMT 12
Since before I can even remember, I've had an utter fascination with the cosmos. As a little kid, I remember keenly walking out of my house at night to stare at the stars above. I didn't stare at them to make a wish, nor did I usually stare at them out of scientific curiosity. Most of the time, I merely viewed the stars to admire their beauty. And even now, I still do the same thing. It is best, for me and in general, to view the stars under two optimum conditions. These are when there are a) no clouds and when there's b) maximum darkness (ie. when street and home lights are turned off for whatever reason). Actually, staying on the latter point... I remember going on this camping excursion back when I was still in high school a few years ago to this remote country area. Our main base where we ate and slept was like this small, isolated kinda shack. It was night on the first day (we only stayed there one and a half days) and most of the teachers and students (including yours truly) walked out of our dorms to go outdoors. We saw a few hundred stars in the sky, nothing too different to what we've usually seen at night. Then one of the teachers requested that all lights indoors be switched off. After that... hooooooooly sh*t! ^_^ The sky was like absolutely JAM-PACKED with glittering stars! Words alone CANNOT adequately describe it! 
I had never seen so MANY stars in ALL my LIFE. 
Needless to say, it was one of the most BEAUTIFUL things I have EVER seen in the HISTORY of this whole freaking UNIVERSE! 
I remember seeing what seemed like clouds, but when I focused my vision more clearly on these so-called 'clouds', I realised that they were actually CLUSTERS of stars all grouped together! SH*TLOADS of them, and REALLY close to each other! I don't think that memory is ever gonna leave me. It was THAT particular experience that made me even more of an avid stargazer than before, and inspired me to switch most of my house's lights off at night to see more stars. Most of the stars visible to our eyes in the night sky are extremely faint, and so extra darkness is required for them to become visible to us. It is during THESE times in particular that I've seen celestial phenomenon such as shooting stars and meteors. I have to be honest, MANY times I've wished that I'd see a UFO...! 
But alas, to no avail! My keen eye observes the sky and sees small moving objects in the sky. At first, I don't know what the hell they are (so I maintain some hope that they could be extraterrestrial spacecrafts), but on closer inspection, I realise that they're just planes or satellites. I can tell because almost ALL reported flying saucers have moved in a manner that defies the laws of gravity. Well, anyway... on Sunday, I went to my local library (as I usually do) and got out one of my ALL-TIME favourite books from there (for like the ZILLIONTH time, no less! XD). It was a book entitled 'A View Of The Universe' and it was by a dude called David Malin. The thing I really dig about this book is that it's NOT like an astronomy book that has like 500 frickin' pages of scientific jargon that laymen won't understand and only 3 pages of photos, this book is FULL of breathtaking images of the heavens (with accompanying text, of course)!
I've managed to scan some (but not all) of my favourite images from 'A View Of The Universe' by David Malin. Most of the images got scanned really dodgily, so I tried to 'fix' them by doing a few slight alterations here and there on Photoshop. However, the images are still practically the same as they are in the book. Anyway, here are the STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL images (the first image is the cover):
Anyways... do any of you dudes and dudettes view the stars at night, and if you do, have you seen ANYTHING you would consider interesting or unusual? Post your experiences and/or images here, fellow stargazers!
Personally, I think I'll NEVER grow tired of stargazing! Even after so many freaking years, I've ALWAYS kept my obsession with the stars (as well as the occult/paranormal) intact! 
Some people might see the stars as just dots in the sky... and when you view them at surface value like that, then that's what they are. But I KNOW that they are FAR more than that! When I see the stars, I see LIFE. That's because life is EVERYWHERE! It's even inside EVERY atom! When I see the stars, I see different beings with different civilisations on different planets, each containing their own unique languages, customs, ecosystems, technologies, beliefs and emotions! There are MORE stars in this entire universe than EVERY single leaf on every tree and EVERY grain of sand on Earth COMBINED! And someday... SOMEHOW... I'm gonna see 'em ALL! 
I had never seen so MANY stars in ALL my LIFE. Needless to say, it was one of the most BEAUTIFUL things I have EVER seen in the HISTORY of this whole freaking UNIVERSE! I remember seeing what seemed like clouds, but when I focused my vision more clearly on these so-called 'clouds', I realised that they were actually CLUSTERS of stars all grouped together! SH*TLOADS of them, and REALLY close to each other! I don't think that memory is ever gonna leave me. It was THAT particular experience that made me even more of an avid stargazer than before, and inspired me to switch most of my house's lights off at night to see more stars. Most of the stars visible to our eyes in the night sky are extremely faint, and so extra darkness is required for them to become visible to us. It is during THESE times in particular that I've seen celestial phenomenon such as shooting stars and meteors. I have to be honest, MANY times I've wished that I'd see a UFO...! But alas, to no avail! My keen eye observes the sky and sees small moving objects in the sky. At first, I don't know what the hell they are (so I maintain some hope that they could be extraterrestrial spacecrafts), but on closer inspection, I realise that they're just planes or satellites. I can tell because almost ALL reported flying saucers have moved in a manner that defies the laws of gravity. Well, anyway... on Sunday, I went to my local library (as I usually do) and got out one of my ALL-TIME favourite books from there (for like the ZILLIONTH time, no less! XD). It was a book entitled 'A View Of The Universe' and it was by a dude called David Malin. The thing I really dig about this book is that it's NOT like an astronomy book that has like 500 frickin' pages of scientific jargon that laymen won't understand and only 3 pages of photos, this book is FULL of breathtaking images of the heavens (with accompanying text, of course)!I've managed to scan some (but not all) of my favourite images from 'A View Of The Universe' by David Malin. Most of the images got scanned really dodgily, so I tried to 'fix' them by doing a few slight alterations here and there on Photoshop. However, the images are still practically the same as they are in the book. Anyway, here are the STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL images (the first image is the cover):
Anyways... do any of you dudes and dudettes view the stars at night, and if you do, have you seen ANYTHING you would consider interesting or unusual? Post your experiences and/or images here, fellow stargazers!
Personally, I think I'll NEVER grow tired of stargazing! Even after so many freaking years, I've ALWAYS kept my obsession with the stars (as well as the occult/paranormal) intact! Some people might see the stars as just dots in the sky... and when you view them at surface value like that, then that's what they are. But I KNOW that they are FAR more than that! When I see the stars, I see LIFE. That's because life is EVERYWHERE! It's even inside EVERY atom! When I see the stars, I see different beings with different civilisations on different planets, each containing their own unique languages, customs, ecosystems, technologies, beliefs and emotions! There are MORE stars in this entire universe than EVERY single leaf on every tree and EVERY grain of sand on Earth COMBINED! And someday... SOMEHOW... I'm gonna see 'em ALL! 
