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Those of us gazing skyward this evening (and blessed with clear skies) can experience a rare alignment of six planets — Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, and Mercury will all be naked to the human eye. Use strong binoculars or a telescope to catch sight of Neptune and Uranus, too.
I was on an island off the northeast coast of the U.S. in late October and, one night, I noticed that the night sky looked different. I don’t remember ever seeing so many stars, and I’m someone who tends to look skyward a lot. Are stars brighter at that time of year? Was there some celestial event? Did I imagine it?
–Dorothy
Dear Dorothy,
Many years ago, Dot sat mesmerized in an audience as Elizabeth Lindsey, a National Geographic fellow, enchanted us with stories of her ancestors — Pacific Island wayfinders who navigated the ocean in tiny boats by “reading” stars and waves, millennia before Western explorers hit the seas.
Indeed, writes Roberto Trotto, author of Starborn: How the Stars Made Us and Who We Would Be Without Them, in a story for TIME Magazine, it was the study of stars and other celestial bodies that helped usher in the Scientific Revolution in the 17th century, and “consequently, the advanced technology our lives depend on today — from electronic devices hinging on electromagnetism to planes relying on aerodynamics.” Our night sky is vastly more than just inspiration for songwriters, poets, and lovestruck teenagers.
Beyond its role kindling our technological advances, the night sky reminds us that we are simultaneously small and yet bound up in the world’s beauty and history, and the sweep of time. We are, ourselves, in the words of Carl Sagan, “the local embodiment of a consciousness grown to self-awareness, we are star stuff pondering the stars.” Poetic, yes, but what does Sagan mean, exactly? Put simply, as Middle Dot Child, an astrophysics major, explained to me, all organic matter on Earth containing carbon was produced originally in stars. “Stars create the elements that life is made from,” he said. We are the universe in human form, which means that each time we lift our eyes to a night sky, we are beholding ourselves.
Phil Plait is a kindred star-loving spirit, an astronomer and science writer whom you can find at his Bad Astronomy newsletter, on Scientific American, and also on Bluesky. Phil is also, I gather from the fact that he replied to my direct message on Instagram with a sincere apology for taking “so long” to reply even though his reply appeared less than 48 hours later, a really nice guy.
And Phil has plenty to say, sounding part poet, part astronomer. Keep reading.
