Observations On a Serious Hobby

NCF Office – July 9, 2024 7 Comments

I appreciate Judson Chubbuck sharing the importance of hobbies for our connection with God and wholeness as created persons. May you be inspired by his insights as well. – Renée

The Heavens Declare the Glory of God
    The sun, moon, planets, stars and constellations are a source of awe, wonder, and peace for me. I grew up in a rural setting under dark skies. On moonless nights, the sky was a dark curtain pierced by thousands of pinpoints of light which was divided by the dusty starlight trail of the edge of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Looking up from the horizon to these stars, and the constellations they formed, also gave me a deep subjective sense of orientation and place in the universe. While that place is small and temporal, I found comfort in it, especially with faith that our glorious creator God made this beautiful, mysterious view and its nuclear and organic life process for all of us, and there is more than enough of it to go around.

A Lost Habit and Hobby
    Under those country dark skies, I developed a habit of looking up and a hobby of astronomy with a small telescope. But, when I moved from the farm to attend the University of Illinois in 1968, I lost my habit of looking up and my hobby of astronomy. The move to a more urban area meant municipal lighting and residential lighting practices that competed and often triumphed over the lights in the sky. When we moved to Milwaukee in 2001, the urban light pollution of the Chicago-Milwaukee corridor washed out all but the brightest stars. In urban settings, seeing the stars in a dark sky required traveling away from town, often late in the evening. Looking up then became an occasional event on vacations or trips to my sisters’ homes in Illinois. 

Habit and Hobby Regained
    In 2016, Sharon and I made a decision that we would pursue the hobby of astronomy again. Milwaukee gave us a great gift to begin that process when we joined the Milwaukee Astronomical Society. At MAS, we received support in observing and identifying celestial objects by naked eye and telescopes on the club grounds. With advice from MAS, we eventually bought our own modern computerized telescope, learned how to manage optics, and travelled alone or in groups to more remote areas of Wisconsin and Illinois as well as a trip west where we observed in New Mexico, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, and the Colorado Monument. I learned how to setup in my backyard and peer through the light pollution to practice locating and identifying deep space objects. We also learned how to dress ourselves and equip our scope to observe on frigid nights. 

A Surprise View
    Preparing for selling our Milwaukee house and moving to Illinois took a year out of our habit of looking up and hobby of astronomy. When we purchased our new home, a dark night sky was not on our list of features. We figured we’d have to travel to more remote spots as in Milwaukee. But after about a month of living here, we finally had time to explore the neighborhood. Taking a walk after dark, much to our surprise and delight, we found ourselves four blocks from our house looking east at a large cornfield with no houses or bright lights to diminish the light of the eastern stars shining down on us. It was not a perfect dark sky, but it is adequate and wonderfully convenient to be able to see a good number of stars and constellations familiar to us, “old friends,” as we like to call them. 

“Old Friends” 
    On a recent night, we walked ten minutes, found a bench and sat down to take in the view. We took some time to let our eyes, adapt to the dark sky. The first lights we saw were not celestial, but terrestrial and animate. Lightening bugs! The little creatures were hovering and glimmering above the corn stalks as far as we could see. A magical and delightful display!

    Looking up into the eastern sky we saw Vega, Deneb, and Altair, the three stars of the summer triangle. Vega is the 2nd brightest summer star and is in the constellation Lyra, the lyre. Off of Lyra running in a slight southwest orientation were the constellations Hercules, Corona Borealis, and the brightest star of summer, Arcturus and its constellation Bootes. Deneb is the tail of the constellation Cygnus the swan (or Northern Cross) and at the head of Cygnus is Albirio, a beautiful double star of blue and gold seen through a small telescope. Far to the south, low on the horizon was the constellation Scorpius and its red giant star, Antares. High in the sky above us was the Big Dipper and its double star Mizar-Alcor in the handle, the two end stars in the cup pointing to the north star Polaris. Nearby was the constellation Cassiopeia. I could say more but I’m becoming an old guy showing off his memory. (Don’t be threatened, it has taken me eight years to memorize these objects and their positions.)

What are the points Judson?
1-Obviously we love the night sky and receive human and divine inspiration and scientific knowledge as a gift of God and encourage you to look up too!

2-We love to share experiences with others and would like to invite interested others to a star party later this summer or early fall. Let us know if you have interest. We have access to a second telescope and four pairs of binoculars to share.

3-We thank God for the surprise gift of a darker sky that came with our new home!

4- A serious hobby or pastime is a gift. We live in a time of crises and as people of God and a community of God, we try to care about others as ourselves and we care for the environment as God’s creation. All this trouble can lead to harmful levels of human stress that can harm our minds and bodies. Finding a serious hobby or pastime can occasion a healthy break from trouble to focus on something that brings peace and even joy to our minds and bodies. Astronomy is one thing that does that for me. What does that for you? Do it mindfully, with some frequency in your life. My great-grandfather seldom had the money to take vacations. His creative response was, “Take a little vacation every day.” He did and lived an active, community-oriented life until he died at 90.