It does at first appear that an astronomer rapt in abstraction,
while he gazes on a star, must feel read more

It does at first appear that an astronomer rapt in abstraction,
while he gazes on a star, must feel more exquisite than a farmer
who in conducting his team.
- Isaac D'Israeli,

Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy: the mad daughter of a wise mother

Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy: the mad daughter of a wise mother

Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another

Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another

Physicists and astronomers see their own implications in the world being round, but to me it means that only one-third read more

Physicists and astronomers see their own implications in the world being round, but to me it means that only one-third of the world is asleep at any given time and the other two-thirds is up to something.

These earthly godfathers of heaven's light,
That give a name to every fixed star,
Have no more read more

These earthly godfathers of heaven's light,
That give a name to every fixed star,
Have no more profit of their shining nights
Than those that walk and wot not what they are.

That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every read more

That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every 'superstar,' every 'supreme leader,' every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there - on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

At night astronomers agree.

At night astronomers agree.

My lord, they say five moons were seen to-night--
Four fixed, and the fifth did whirl about
read more

My lord, they say five moons were seen to-night--
Four fixed, and the fifth did whirl about
The other four in wondrous motion.

It's like having astronomy without knowing where the stars are.

It's like having astronomy without knowing where the stars are.