When You Gaze at the Stars, the Stars Are Also Gazing at You
Counting the twinkling stars, recounting the struggles of a lifetime, it turns out all that is gained, acquired, and obtained is nothing compared to a starry night.
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Humanity has created many brightly lit cities on Earth, but they have obscured the light of the stars. To see the brightest stars, you must find the darkest night.
This March, in New Zealand's Tekapo, I saw the most stunning starry sky of my life! It was so beautiful that I wanted to cry tears as I looked up.
I fell in love with this cute little town of Tekapo when I arrived from Christchurch by bus. From the Christchurch, I arrived at Tekapo and already loved it.
With glacial snowmelt and ice water, Tekapo Lake reflects a milky blue hue; Astro Cafe on John Mountain offers stunning scenery and serves planet hot chocolate; and vast swathes of tussock grass, particularly enchanting under the evening's golden sunlight, at the pastoral shepherd's church.
If it's spring or summer, you can enjoy an entire field of rhododendrons in Tekapo. But we visited in autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, and the tussock grass has a distinctive charm.
Tekapo is even more charming at night. It's one of the first internationally recognized Dark Sky Reserves in the world. In 1981, the locals began to reduce their lighting voluntarily, and all buildings are strictly controlled. Due to the long-term clear and cloudless weather, Tekapo is particularly suitable for stargazing, and Tekapo is known as the world's best place for clear, magnificent starry skies.
We booked a stargazing tour with Dark Sky Project. At first, I didn't really understand, after all, stars are just there above our heads, isn't it? Why would I pay 750 RMB for a tour?
Dark sky project sounds like a mysterious secret agent organization.
The stargazing tour prohibits any light source, even mobile phones can't be used.
Just using a red-light flashlight on the dark mountain, with only that.
But after going there, I realized it was worth it! First, John Mountain is completely closed after nightfall, only the stargazing tour group can go up there. Secondly, listening to the explanations of the professionals is how you truly 'see' the stars, otherwise, I'll just vaguely point and say, 'Look, Milky Way!'
That night, we took a photo of the Milky Way with our single-lens camera.
When we looked up at the starry sky, all words became meaningless. I could only keep exclaiming, 'Wow!' All the science fiction novels I've read, my imagination of the universe, all surfaced in that moment. The feeling was so vast that I choked on my throat and stumbled.
When you gaze at the stars, the stars are also gazing at you. It's quiet, vast, and boundless, with infinite authority, like a huge gravitational force that's impossible to escape, and it would swallow me up. At the same time, I felt a sense of freedom and security – the whole universe is connected to me, and I am a part of the universe.
The observatory's guide opened his stargazing pen and pointed it straight towards the sky, interrupting my thoughts. 'These four are almost only visible in the Southern Hemisphere,' she said, 'You can also see them on New Zealand's flag.' This smallest constellation in all 88 constellations of the zodiac is used to guide direction in the Southern Hemisphere, similar to the Big Dipper in the Northern Hemisphere.
Like a kite, the Southern Cross, and Betelgeuse.
She then pointed out a nearby star of the Southern Cross, which is Alpha Centauri, also known as Sirius B, one of the closest stars to our solar system, only 4.24 light-years away (only!), This galaxy has appeared in many science fiction novels.
While the guide was explaining, I was deeply moved by one of his sentences, 'What you're seeing may be humanity's future home.'
Large Magellanic Cloud is a neighbor of the Milky Way.
We learned how to find the 12 constellations of the zodiac, and went to the observatory's high-powered telescope to observe. Who knew that even a faint point of light could become a spherical star cluster with over a million stars when viewed through a telescope!
The Carina Nebula 47 star cluster.
That night, many meteors streaked across the sky, and there was no time to make a wish, no worldly wish could stand before such a starry sky.
When we looked up at the starry sky, we saw not only the light emitted by stars billions of years ago, but also the possibilities of humanity's future. Past and future converged in that fleeting moment, condensing into eternity.
I often imagine the universe when I can't sleep, listening to 'Get Together' by Mayday, I have countless times imagined the appearance of the universe, but in the night of Tekapo, when the vast starry sky unfolded before me, I realized that the universe is far more vast than I had imagined. I couldn't even try to imagine its true appearance.
Finally, this photo comes from the NASA photo taken on my birthday. Recently, the Hubble telescope celebrated its 30th anniversary, and NASA launched a new treasure – 'What did Hubble see on your birthday?' allowing everyone to query the cosmic scenery captured by Hubble on their birthday.
(Same month, same day, but not necessarily the same year)
These beautiful nebulae are mostly formed from the matter ejected during the explosion of supernovae, remnants left by the end of a star's life. And the inconspicuous stars may come from countless stars rotating and burning billions of light-years away.
And in one inconspicuous grain of dust, everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you've heard of, everyone you've ever known, lived their lives.
This is the gift the universe gives us.
