Sunday, December 10, 2006

On the Miracle of Stars...

Orion is my favorite constellation, for a number of reasons. Paul Cella (over at RedState) has a nice little post on the wonderment we desperately need, and sometimes forget... until a child reminds you. And he mentions G.K. Chesterton in the process (a double bonus).

1 comment:

Dr. Thursday said...

I was about six when my father introduced me to the stars - I mean astronomy - and I've wanted to be a scientist ever since. (As a computer scientist, I get to do everything, which is both Chestertonian and Catholic!) And Orion has always been my favourite too.

Here's something you might like to know about: I am a big fan of Dover Publications, and they have a great 3-volume work called "Burnham's Celestial Handbook". It has one of the great classic quotes of all science:

"Considered as a collector of rare and precious things, the amateur astronomer has a great advantage over amateurs in all other fields, who must content themselves with second and third rate specimens. ... [he] has access at all times to the original objects of his study; the masterworks of the heavens belong to him as much as to the great observatories of the world." [p. 5, emphasis added]