I only have time for a quick post today, as I’m going away for the weekend. To make things easy, I’ll just keep rolling with the astronomy theme.

As I’ve been scouring through astronomy books for the last couple days, the enormity of this field of study has started to hit home. I’m not even talking about the search for life on other planets, nebulas, black holes, the expansion of the universe, or any of that stuff. I’m referring to just our solar system. In an age where technology is expanding rapidly, new discoveries are made on almost a daily basis, and we’re carrying tiny computers around in our pockets, it’s almost baffling to think about how much we don’t know about our planetary neighborhood. Looking at how quickly things progressed in the 1960’s, you’d think we’d have astronauts orbiting around Uranus by now. Yet, it’s not even remotely the case.

Yes, this is a picture of Uranus.

Starting in the late-1990’s, we finally began to seriously study Mars, while we’ve almost completely neglected our own local satellite, The Moon. Venus, our other neighbor, has been largely ignored. Mercury has gotten some attention as of late, thanks to the MESSENGER spacecraft. Jupiter and Saturn seem to be under some form of constant observation (Saturn is being perused by Cassini at the moment). But then there’s Uranus, Neptune, and (arguably) Pluto. What do we know about them? Compared to Mars, we know virtually nothing about these outer planets. There are some plans in the works to revisit Neptune, New Horizons is on its way to Pluto (arrives in 2015), but Uranus isn’t even on the table.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Limited budgets and all that. We’ll get there eventually. It’s just depressing that the best pictures we have are from 23 years ago. I was too young to even recall Voyager II, let alone remember the pictures being unveiled to the public. If it wasn’t for the impending Pluto exploration, I’d be in a rather surly mood right now. Just think… No human being has ever laid eyes on the surface of Pluto in any detail, yet we will be doing exactly that in a few short years. I have to imagine that would give even the most jaded person a few goosebumps.

Back in elementary school, I had a pretty big interest in three things: The first was Nintendo, the second was meteorology, and the third was astronomy. My interest in Nintendo morphed into a general video game interest that continues to this day, while meteorology grew into a bigger hobby as I progressed through school. By the time high school rolled around, I was certain I’d spend my life chasing tornados. It turns out SUNY Albany had other plans and, from 2000-2001, it kicked my ass with classes for every brand of science and math in existence. Juggling Physics I/II/III, Calculus I/II/III, and Chemistry I/II was taxing my motivation at age 18. Unfortunately, they were necessary to obtain a degree in the atmospheric sciences, despite the fact that I was getting runaway A’s in all of my atmospheric science classes. I felt like Bill Paxton in Twister; staring at the sky with a handful of dirt sensing what would happen next before announcing that we were “going green.” I just wanted to predict and follow weather, but the arbitrary American college system struck again. There was no room for those that ran on instinct and passion.

But I digress. The original purpose of this post was to address the topic of astronomy, so let’s reeeewiiiind….

In fifth grade, my dad promised to buy me a telescope if I posted good grades in the first half of the year. Granted, this is elementary school we’re talking about, so there weren’t really grades per se. A fifth grade report card was more of an evaluation of my educational development and willingness to learn. So, yeah. Good evaluation = New telescope from dad. I followed through on my end of the bargain, so he took me out to the local Kay-Bee toy store and got me a cheesy $30 telescope which broke 20 minutes after setting it up. Three cheers for cheap crap designed for kiddies! To be fair, my dad was a champ about the whole thing. We returned the garbage telescope and drove to Toys ‘r Us, where he got me a quality $100 (don’t ask me how I remember the retail prices) starter telescope manufactured by Meade Instruments. It was about the cheapest telescope they produced, but it was far better than any toy. It was too weak to view anything like Mars, Jupiter, or Venus, but it was utterly amazing for looking at the moon.

Let me tell you something right now: You have not experienced the moon until you see it firsthand through a telescope. It transforms from a glowing, two-dimensional disk in the sky to a vast landscape of “magnificent desolation,” as Buzz Aldrin put it. Crater rims thrust from the surface, shadows darken their depths, and it’s all bathed in an eerie monotone hue. It’s pretty damn incredible.

I owned this telescope for about six years, before donating it to my high school science department. I haven’t owned another telescope since then, largely due to my burgeoning meteorological interests in late high school. I decided to devote my time to more terrestrial pursuits and my interest in astronomy slowly fell by the wayside. In the past ten years, I’ve occasionally thought about picking it back up again, but the cost in time and money has always been a bit daunting. If I were to buy another telescope, I wouldn’t want to go cheap. I want to see Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn this time.

Lately, I’ve been watching the first season of History Channel’s The Universe on Blu-ray. All of this talk about the planets, the moon, and our solar system has stirred my interest a bit. I’m beginning to weigh the possibility of picking my astronomical interests back up and dropping the cash on a new telescope for the first time in 17 years. But first, I need to do what I always do: Buy a bunch of magazines, read some books, and do some Internet research. Once I’ve saturated myself with information, I’ll have a better idea what direction I want to take.

The cool thing about deciding to do this now is that we’re heading into winter. Colder, dryer temperatures means less air distortion. In other words, I’ll have a crystal-clear view of the heavens above. What do you know? Astronomy and meteorology work well together.