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AndrewJ
member
Reged: 08/21/09
Posts: 39
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Quote:
Seeing light that dates back from the Roman Empire to when the dinosaurs roamed.  
But if the little photons could think they wouldn't measure their journey as having taken any time at all. 
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ggarrison
super member
Reged: 07/22/09
Posts: 162
Loc: Austin, TX USA
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There's a scene in the movie "Grand Canyon" where Danny Glover's character, Simon says:
"You ever been to the Grand Canyon? Its pretty, but thats not the thing of it. You can sit on the edge of that big ol' thing and those rocks... the cliffs and rocks are so old... it took so long for that thing to get like that... and it ain't done either! It happens right there while your watching it. Its happening right now as we are sitting here in this ugly town. When you sit on the edge of that thing, you realize what a joke we people really are... what big heads we have thinking that what we do is gonna matter all that much... thinking that our time here means didly to those rocks. Just a split second we have been here, the whole lot of us. That's a piece of time so small to even get a name. Those rocks are laughing at me right now, me and my worries... Yeah, its real humorous, that Grand Canyon. Its laughing at me right now. You know what I felt like? I felt like a gnat that lands on the *BLEEP* of a cow chewing his cud on the side of the road that you drive by doing 70 mph."
Pretty much the same thought for me about looking out into the heavens.
Peace, and clear skies.
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Gordon
Celestron Nexstar 8SE with XLT coating - Baader Planetarium Hyperion 8mm-24mm Clickstop Zoom eyepiece
Celestron Skymaster 20x80 Binoculars
Smart Seat II Observing Chair
all in the hands of a total neophite 
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Register at ScopeBuddies.com to find local astronomy buddies! 
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joec33
super member
Reged: 06/13/09
Posts: 111
Loc: Chester, N.Y
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Gordon, I thought of the same thing when I saw the heading for this thread!! You beat me to it!! I have to say though that there is nothing like really trying to take in how far away some of these "DSO'S" really are when your looking at them!!
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“I'm not perfect, but who are we kidding, neither are you.”
Jeremy Grey
An Over accessorized XT10i
80mm Meade Series 5000 Apo w/duelspeed focuser
Vixen VMC110L
Orion Starblast6
Meade DSI PRO II, Orion S.S Autoguider
Advanced GT Mount
Kendrick Dew System
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Crossen
member
Reged: 07/14/08
Posts: 87
Loc: Vienna
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I've always enjoyed the challenge of finding DSOs with small optics, particularly binocs. Of course for that you need clear, dark, skies--with which I was blessed for a good many years.
One of the highlights of my observing experience was searching for Coma-Virgo Cluster galaxies with 15x100 binocs. When I started, I had no idea of how many I might find. I was hoping to pick up all the Messier galaxies of the Cluster and maybe a handful of NGC systems besides. But I certainly underestimated the glasses I was using! I forget how many scores of NGC galaxies I spotted; but even more surprising was the fact that many of these systems revealed their structure to me--nucleus, bulge, disc. They weren't just anonymous "faint fuzzies", but individuals. Ellipticals like M87 were distinctly different in appearance from Sb or even Sa spirals; and the supergiant elliptical M87 itself was distinctly different from 'garden-variety' giant ellipticals. It was such a strange feeling being taken so far into Deep Space with the help of only 15x!
And almost always after an observing session--even going back to the nights I first traced out the constellations many years ago--there was that peace of soul, that sense of having been in touch with something majestic and elemental, that others have remarked upon in this discussion. Partly it's a sense of accomplishment; partly it's a calm imposed by the universe itself. But even the memory of the experience is something I would never willing give up.
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RAKing
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/28/07
Posts: 2083
Loc: West of the D.C. Nebula
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I enjoy the wonder of it all.
It's been that way since I was a child, just looking up at the stars and wondering what is happening out there and how we came to be what we are. 
Ron
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Time spent looking at the stars is added to your life.
Tak FS-128, C925-CF, C6SE, other stray cats and refractors.
A-P Mach1 GTO
Zeiss orthos to Ethos - and some stuff in between.
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Jack Tripper
sage
Reged: 05/10/09
Posts: 345
Loc: Canada
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I like the sense of tranquility, peace, calm, and stillness that I feel while observing. Detaching from our little rock and being one with the universe.
That feeling continues during the drive home, as well as going to bed and waking up the next morning.
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Celestron CPC 1100
Denkmeier S2 Power Filter Switch Diagonal (.66x Reducer, 2x Barlow)
Ethos 17mm, Baader Scopos 30mm
Lunt 60mm Hydrogen-Alpha Solar Scope, Lunt Zoom
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