YEAR OF ZEN: WINTER: DAY 86

Long-wavelength NIRCam Orion mosaic in ESASky

Q: Write about the last time you let yourself be silent under a starry sky.

A: Because I live in a heavily light polluted city, I take any dark sky opportunity possible to gaze at the stars and reconnect with the fundamental fabric of my species: people starring at the sky and asking “Why?” The last chance I had to do this was on our family Fall trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota. Every night we were there we were treated to the cosmic tapestry, including vivid evidence of our Milky Way galaxy. I don’t know of anything else that can make me feel so large and so small in the same breath and moment.