Star Gazers
The air was cool and crisp as the Junior Astronomers hiked their way to the top of the mountain. Dusk was setting in as they made it to the outlook and they quickly set up for the evening of stargazing.
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The Milky Way was stretched across the night sky. The hazy band of light mesmerized Lainey, Emmy and Socks as they took turns examining its beauty up close through the telescope.
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“You know there are 100 billion galaxies in the Milky Way?” Socks said as she stretched out across the soft green grass staring up at the starry night.
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“Crazy huge!” Exclaimed Emmy. “And we are just a fleck of dust in all that.”
Lainey peered into the eyepiece of the telescope. “NASA recently selected a project called GUSTO that will fly a telescope carried by a balloon to map out large sections in the Milky Way.”
“And the nearby Magellenic Cloud too,” added Socks.
Lainey adjusted the telescope slightly. “Yeah! This study will give us the first real look at all of the phases of the stellar life cycle.”
“Unreal” exclaimed Emmy. “I can only imagine what they are going to find!”
Lainey stepped back from the telescope and looked up, taking a deep breath, impressed once again by the magnitude and beauty of our sky. “Your turn Emmy. Have a look!”
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Fun Fact: The Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory (GUSTO) mission plans to launch in 2021 from McMurdo, Antarctica and should remain in the air between 100 and 170 days, depending on weather conditions.
🔭 by @simonspentz
Behind the Scenes Time Lapse
