p0k3t0 t1_j522289 wrote
Reply to comment by gaze-upon-it in Ancient humans and their early depictions of the universe: “It is no exaggeration to say that astronomy has existed as an exact science for more than five millennia,” writes the late science historian John North. by clayt6
I was on a beach in Hawaii one night and the sky was completely clear in every direction. It was the only time I ever really felt the truth of living on a rock in space. It felt obvious.
I imagine that feeling might have been more common a long time ago
gaze-upon-it t1_j5281nz wrote
I had a similar experience in Peru at Machu Picchu, delayed train back and it was amazing. People were asking “what is that?” You can get that view out west in the high deserts Utah, Nevada etc.
p0k3t0 t1_j52cqs5 wrote
Living in a big city, the Milky Way is just a scientific fact. Out in the middle of darkest nowhere, it's something truly amazing.
vgf89 t1_j54hdzc wrote
I've yet to go somewhere high in altitude and low enough in light pollution, but the college town I was in was somewhat decent. One night a friend got me to go out and stare at the sky until my eyes adjusted. It was pretty faint, but damn was it cool actually seeing the milky way for the first time.
Now I live in a city where I rarely even see stars in the sky :-/
ermagerditssuperman t1_j577vu3 wrote
It's my favorite part about going back and visiting home in Nevada. My mom's house is high on a hill over Reno (NV hill, in the US Mid-Atlantic it would be a mountain) so it's outside of the city light pollution. I can go in the yard and look up and actually map out a bunch of constellations.
When I lived in DC for a few years, I was lucky to pick out 10 stars at night.
Now in an east cost suburb, I can see stars, but still nowhere near the level of the Nevadan night sky.
gaze-upon-it t1_j57arya wrote
Lives in both places and Nevada is a great place to see the sky.
DanWainwright21 t1_j54ayjm wrote
I get a sense of awe whenever anybody talks about seeing a clear night sky. I had the pleasure to be at a party on private land in the middle of Wales with no light glare about ten years ago during the perseids meteor shower.
I lay outside watching the stars for a long time and the shooting stars... hundreds upon hundreds of them. I've never seen the sky so clear, nor that many shooting stars ever.
I had this feeling of connection to the whole Universe. As vast as it was, it was close, and I felt I could sense life everywhere doing the same as me in that moment too, looking back towards me. It was overwhelmingly beautiful.
I'm a musician, and I've written many songs about that feeling, awe in that one moment, and I probably will continue to for the rest of my life.
I've been chasing it ever since to see the same thing again. I hope I do one day.
hester_grey t1_j54l78k wrote
Sounds like maybe the Brecon Beacons? Amazing place to view the night sky - I saw the Milky Way for the first time from near Pen y Fan recently and I'm not ashamed to say I cried.
DanWainwright21 t1_j54luew wrote
It was on a farm in Meifod. It was the most moving thing. I struggled leaving. I'm from Liverpool, but lived in Manchester at the time working as a DJ and I just knew that wasn't the life for me anymore and I wanted to make Wales my home.
I've lived in Wales for over a year now and I'm just about to embark on a life as a folk musician. It took some time but I'm glad that change is taking place. And that's all because the sky was so inspiring that night. I've never been able to click with a city ever again.
hester_grey t1_j54m75m wrote
Ah nice. I moved from England to Wales too. It's a gem of a country, I'm starting to really get why the Welsh are so proud to be Welsh. They've got something to be proud of for sure.
DanWainwright21 t1_j54mkjy wrote
It's gorgeous. I value being able to go and explore and climb hills and walk through forests so much.
This is slightly unrelated, but I'm sure it'll be a great dark spot too. But I've got a growing fascination with Glen Affric in Scotland for the ancient native pine and aspen forests that are there.
But it's next on my list for a get away and hopefully some nice dark skies :)
[deleted] t1_j54jnyz wrote
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BillSixty9 t1_j53nycj wrote
Except earth being a rock in space is new information in humanity’s history of knowledge
notgreat t1_j54g26v wrote
Earth being a rock in space is ancient knowledge.
What space is and the fact that there are lots of other rocks in space is much, much more recent.
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