Orion constellation in the night sky; Taavi Niittee
Quick, someone send a message to some of my family members! They’ll be delighted that I was on Fox News this week.
Actually, it was a Fox affiliate and a tiny one. A dear colleague and I ventured out bright and early at 5:30am in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to arrive at Marquette’s TV6. They did a lovely interview with us — the sweetest team! — about the Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan and some upcoming events we have this week in the region.
We can really feel the changing seasons as we’ve moved into autumn. I felt the cold when I stepped out of the house to go to the station.
But what really got my attention was looking up.
Suddenly, I could see so many more stars than I usually do. And there was Orion, just above the driveway where I was standing. (Side note: When I was a little kid, I used to think that the three stars in the belt of Orion were the profile of a cow’s face, and I basically created my own little constellation of a cow in the sky. That’s what I saw above our house.)
Everything was so bright and visible! Without the light pollution, everything was abundant. And the strange thing is that it really scared me. That feeling didn’t last long, because I was also delighted and had a sense of awe. But I’ve just forgotten what it is like to have all of these magnificent stars. They’re so bright, and in a way, they feel closer to us, too.
We have lost something extraordinary with light pollution.
I remember when I was moving to Michigan, the first stop was the Grand Canyon. I loved seeing those incredible formations. In the daytime, pictures don’t do them justice. But at nighttime, that was maybe the most abundant sky I’ve ever seen in my life. And suddenly, there was a realization that this is what most of humanity saw every single night, wherever they lived.
The cosmos is jolting. It’s good to be awestruck.
—Renee Roederer
