Photo Credit: Pexels

We were hurried out of Hominin House dinning hall with unfinished cake & custard pudding in hand to a corner of the parking lot, where a black telescope stood in place waiting to receive us. If you had told my younger self that one day many years from now you will be rushing to see the planet Saturn before it sets, on South African soil, at a UNESCO protected site called the Cradle of humankind, I would have told you, "What a great beginning for a fairy tail, Sister tell me how does it end?" Yet here I was watching my school motto (ARDUUS AD STELLAS) materialize before my eyes.

Our guide through the universe that evening was Vincent Nettmann, Maropeng's Resident Astronomer. Just imagine that... a place with it's own resident astronomer! 👀👀👀👀



Throughout the evening, Vincent frequently asked such questions to keep the group engaged and to help us better understand the size and scope of the universe.
I have to admit that sometimes I take our existence as human beings forgranted. I get bogged down in the earthy things and rarely take time to think of  what's beyond the ozone layer. And I also don't want to ask the big questions like " Ummm....why are we here?" . It's too much for my mind to contemplate. However,  looking out into the night sky, watching the astronomer point out parts of the galaxy with a simple red lazer light,  and hearing the large aperture telescope quietly buzz and twist as it responded to typed calculated directions, made my earthy concerns minuscule in the grand scheme of things.  I felt limited and limitless in the same moment....how?...I really can't explain.


The celestrial sphere is not static, it doesn't just humbly wait for humans to look up and admire it. It has its own rhythm as beautifully demonstrated in Van Gogh's starry night, and Vincent the director, wanted to give us a great show, but with little control over his cast (the stars and planets) he could not make promises to us that he could not keep. And really....who were we to command the heavens? so I finished my pudding and obediently settled into the show.

We made a small circle round the telescope and took turns looking out into the night sky. Vincent instructed us to take our time because if our eyes were positioned wrong, instead of seeing stars and planets we could be frighted by the darkness of the plastic protecting the sides of the lens.

As the minutes ticked by, he showed and shared with us so many more interesting sights and insights, that we forgot about the late evening chill and became more fascinated by the secrets behind each twinkle in the sky.

Afterwards, we went inside and watched a presentation on planets, galaxies and universes. We learnt that South Africa is currently building one of the world's largest telescopes. Just think more children in Africa will be able to add astronomer to their dream career lists now.

I wrote it ALL down... all that was said in the presentation so that I could share it right here... in this post, but I regret to inform you, I lost the paper so you'll just have to take a trip to Maropeng and experience it yourself. My sincere apologies. 😊😀

UPDATE: discovered three weeks later!

Last year I shared a blog post titled  "Maybe your dreams aren't big enough". Only my post had focused on the magnificence of the earth, so in light of my stargazing experience , let's extend it to our galaxy, then the universe too!

This post is in honor of Ms Gumoes, so it must be short and sweet and straight to the point as she would have liked it.

                                               (Btw find me on Twitter @mariajulietrose 😀)