-
“If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore …”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), Nature and Selected Essays In his poem, Emerson puts forth the view that they would be regarded with great wonder and remembered and discussed for years to come. They would be recognized as a sign of God. Not every one agrees with this view, some think the human response would…
-
“If I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
![“If I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”](https://stargazingguy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/depositphotos_257481036_xl.jpg?w=1024)
– Sir Isaac Newton PRS (25 December 1642 – 1726/27)* Newton was relatively modest about his achievements, writing in a letter to Robert Hooke in February 1676, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” In a later memoir, Newton wrote, “I do not know what I may appear…
-
“There is no easy way from the earth to the stars”
― Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC – 65 AD) usually known as Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. The quote is translated from Seneca’s tragedy Hercules furens (The Mad Hercules): “non est ad astra mollis e terris…
-
“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”
― Carl Sagan. Spoken during the first episode of the 1980 landmark science series “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage” titled “The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean” An earlier version of the “we are made of star-stuff” quote, was made in the 1973 Carl Sagan publication “The Cosmic Connection: An Extra-terrestrial Perspective”: “All of the rocky and…
-
How many star signs are there?
We all know there are 12 star signs or signs of the zodiac. The 12 astrological star signs are evenly spread across the calendar: The date of your birth is meant to have an impact on your personality, behaviours, love life, career, etc. – every newspaper carries a horoscope trying to predict your destiny! But…
-
“Moonlight drowns out all but the brightest stars.”
– J.R.R. Tolkien (3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) An interesting quote, apparently from the Lord of the Rings, but it doesn’t stand up to a Google search! Even if its in one of the movies, this is a misattributed quote. Even more interesting (in my opinion), it isn’t true – moonlight doesn’t technically…
-
“The stars are the land-marks of the universe.”
— Sir John Frederick William Herschel (7 March 1792 – 11 May 1871) According to Wikipedia, Herschel, was an English polymath active as a mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor, experimental photographer who originated the use of the Julian day system in astronomy. He named seven moons of Saturn and four moons of Uranus – the seventh…
-
“For my part I know nothing with any certainty, But the sight of the stars makes me dream.”
– Vincent Van Gogh (30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) One of the greatest artists of all times. Painter of The Starry Night (amongst many others) and tormented and tortured soul. Credit: https://depositphotos.com/49703113/stock-photo-starry-night-sky.html His letters give a deep insight into his nature, his thoughts and his dreams. This quote is taken from a letter…
-
“Keep your eyes on the stars, but don’t forget that your feet are necessarily on the earth.”
– Theodore Roosevelt (27 October 1858 – 6 January 1919) Theodore Roosevelt Jr, often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26th president of the United States from 1901 to 1909. He previously served as the 25th…
-
“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.”
– Professor Stephen Hawking (8 January 1942 – 14 March 2018) Dr. Stephen Hawking, a professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge, delivers a speech entitled “Why we should go into space” during a lecture that is part of a series honoring NASA’s 50th Anniversary, Monday, April 21, 2008, at George Washington University’s Morton…
Stargazing Guy
Connecting people to the Stars
-
“Science Fiction Is a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.”
– Peter H. Diamandis, Metatrends substack, 17 July 2026 Why are people so pessimistic about the future – and view the past as some form of pastoral utopia? On these pages we promote hope – not cope or mope. Hope lives here. An interesting insight is from Peter H. Diamandis in his substack, where he…
-
“I believe in evidence.”
– Isaac Asimov, The Roving Mind (1997), (2 January 2 1920 – 6 April 1992) Scientist and science fiction author Asimov’s output of novels and books popularising and explaining science was prodigious. As a rationalist he often railed against superstitious and pseudoscientific beliefs that tried to pass themselves off as genuine science and had this…
-
What is a light-year?
A light-year is a measure of distance – not time (or anything to do with Disney’s Toy Story). It’s used to indicate the distance to stars and galaxies. It’s the distance light travels in one year in a vacuum, which is about: – 4.2465 light-years OR 5.88 trillion miles OR 9.46 trillion kilometres Light travels…
-
How far is that star?
Basically, far! The Sun is the closest (and brightest) star. It is about: – 93 million miles – 150 million kilometres The next closest star (Proxima Centauri) is invisible to the unaided human eye and you need to be in the Southern Hemisphere to see it with a telescope (it’s too dim to see with…
-
Death rates from disasters have fallen over the last century.
Good news. Recent data indicates that natural disasters are NOT going to kill us all. The global death rate from all natural disasters (drought, floods, storms, earthquakes, wildfires, extreme temperatures, etc.) has fallen by more than 90% over the last century. The total number of deaths has fallen substantially, despite there being four times as…
-
“Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas.”
– Maria Salomea Skłodowska Curie (Marie Curie) (7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) She was a was a Polish and naturalised-French physicist and chemist. The first woman to win a Nobel Prize. The first person to win a Nobel Prize twice. The only person to win a Nobel Prize in two different scientific fields.…
Stargazing Guy 