The Stargazer....

 

"There are more stars in the Heavens than grains of sand on the Earth"

 

Carl Sagan
 

As a young boy, I was very fortunate to grow up close to a man who had a genuine love for the stars. In fact, he was a full Professor of Astronomy at the University of Minnesota. He had built (from scratch) a large telescope in his backyard. It was complete with motors and timers to ensure it would be in sync with the motion of the Earth.  In fact, he told me it was one of the largest homemade telescopes west of the Mississippi. His biggest enemy was the city, who kept putting up security lights in the alley behind his house. Someone, who was never caught, kept shooting out the security light with a BB gun.

From that telescope, I first saw the craters of the Moon, the rings of Saturn, the moons of Jupiter, and the redness of Mars. I could not get enough of it - I was hooked. The professor was good and very patient with me. He thought maybe, just maybe, I could be a protege. However, my interest far outstripped by abilities. In short, I was not that good of a math student - in fact math was not my friend. To be an astronomer, you and math have to be very good friends indeed. 

My interest in astronomy continued as I grew up. I took Astronomy at the University and received an easy "A". I read books, watch specials on the Discovery and Science Channels and followed NASA developments on the internet. Before I left for the Navy, the professor gave me a book he co-authored. He signed it, and wrote "for much good work among the stars". To this day, it remains one of my most prized possessions.

I remember when the Hubble telescope was launched. After some adjustments were made while in orbit, it has sent back the most amazing pictures. We are now seeing things that no person has ever seen before. I became interested in the man who this telescope was named after. Edwin Hubble was a famous astronomer from the early part of the 20th Century. Many people credit him for discovering the existence galaxies other than our own as well as the "Doppler shift". Whether he was the one who made these discoveries is open for debate, however many believe he was involved in both as well as many other lesser discoveries. In any event, his work was credible and helped advance the science significantly last century.

The heavens continue to reveal themselves to me. I have learned about uncounted distant galaxies, quasars, pulsars, black holes and neutron stars which include the very strange  and mysterious magnetars. I have become fascinated with unproven concepts such as "bending space" allowing faster than light travel, dark matter (or energy), and the very unusual and bizarre "string theory". However, the thing that interests me the most is the age old question, "are we alone?" As Dr. Sagen has said, "There are more stars in the Heavens than grains of sand on the Earth". If that is true, is it possible we are not alone? Or is it probable. Stay tuned...