The sign of our times is the fact that we rarely observe the night sky by standing outside and gazing directly into the starry night.
Many of us do it mostly by scrolling and staring into phones’, laptops’ and TV sets’ screens. I am not an exception. I do not observe the night sky outside as many times as I would like to. The fact is that the most powerful knowledge about the Universe I received thanks to books. For the full list of my favorite books about the Universe, click here. Still, I believe that the most magical way to observe and contemplate the night sky is not reading books or scrolling smartphones.
The most beautiful way to analyze, e.g., the falling stars (perseids), is to go out of your house, sit down or lay down, and feel the magic of the Universe. I have already written that the most other-worldly moment of contemplating the night and rays of the Sun is to feel the sun rays during the night. How? I want to stress that the magic moment is to feel sun rays reflected in the moon.
The Earth’s satellite does not shine by its own light. The light that shines from the moon is the sun rays reflected in it.
By reading and watching a book, we will never feel the supernatural power of the Universe.
Moreover, we cannot do this by scrolling our phones or watching even the most breathtaking science-fiction movies. I sometimes do regret that I live in a place that is polluted by light. Nowadays, practically all cities (except North Korea’s cities) possess the problem of bursting too much light. Thus, people who live in the city cannot see the stars. It is the sign of our times. For me, it is an unfortunate sign. Does it mean that I hope that our cities will regress into towns from the XV century? No, I hope that people will find a way to reduce the amount of light produced in metropolises.
