I’ve been curious about space from an early age, childhood summer nights lying back-down on the damp and dewy grass gazing upward.
"Mom, how far away is that bright star?" I questioned.
"I don't know, maybe try to imagine the furthest distance you can and then double it!" she said.
So, I began to do just that... and then some. I quickly found myself stuck in an infinite loop of doubling the distance I imagined over and over until a dizzying sensation gripped me.
"I don't think it ever stops! That bright star is very far away and beyond it there are others and behind those there could be anything." I shouted.
"Anything, like what?" my mother asked.
I paused a moment, "Maybe a brick wall or the end or something we can't describe. I hope we get to know the answer someday.”
I was always curious as a child and it has certainly stuck with me. Fascination with the macro—vastness of space—depth of the oceans but also with the micro—particles—and their sub-particles. I had both a telescope and a microscope before I was ten. While my siblings found joy in playing with neighborhood children, I passed my time trying to figure out how stuff worked. Collecting stones of different composition and hammering them into powder—bottling—cataloging for inspection under my microscope. Setting up sticks to track the progression of the time throughout the day… a sort of sundial. Yes, perhaps I was and still am a bit odd, however, these are the things that give me joy.
This blog is not about a literal rainbow in the stars (that would make the physics professors eyes roll) but rather a metaphorical rainbow. A belief that hope and new beginnings can be found through leaning into the things we're passionate about. I started taking zoom classes with my local astronomy club aaa.org in May of 2020. The first class was on astronomical distance measurements using parallax and math. My thought was to go back and see if I could answer that question from so long ago "How far away is that bright star?". The class was a wonderful distraction from all the bad that was happening in New York. What I learned is that we can only measure what we can see and light traveling at a constant rate continues to expand the size of our known universe and what is beyond that remains unknown and to that I say "Give it some time."
I'm very grateful to my employer #LifeatRL for implementing a sabbatical policy allowing me a month to lean into my passion of astrophotography and night-time photography. It has been difficult to plan during the pandemic, but I’m on the journey now hoping to inspire you to create your own unique Rainbow in the Stars.
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