2024-07-30 17:20:43
It was so chilly outside that it was hard to believe it was midsummer. It was already winter here in the fall, so I had to dress warmly. After driving for a long time on a winding mountain road without a single streetlight, I arrived at the place. (Oh, I couldn’t drive.) I could feel the rough stones under the car wheels and the car body bounced around. ‘Is this it?’ I was getting anxious when I reached the top of the mountain. The astronomical observatory in Hwacheon, Gangwon-do.
“You came just as the clouds were gathering.”
I stood in front of a large telescope that I had seen in children’s magazines like ‘Science Dong-A’ when I was young. When it was my turn, the staff member licked his lips. He said that summer is not a good season for stargazing because the clouds move quickly. While hesitating, he said, “Look now!”
There was a universe inside the telescope. When you look up and look at it with your naked eye, it’s just a small yellow dot, but inside the lens, you can clearly see the rings of Jupiter. “You didn’t put planet stickers inside the lens, did you?” I rolled my eyes at my husband’s words, thinking it was childish, but it was actually so amazing that I could have thought that way.
The sky seen with the naked eye was also full of stars. Jupiter, Saturn, Altair, Weaver Girl, Swan, Big Bear, Little Bear… In Seoul, it was easy to find constellations because only large and bright stars were visible, but because there were so many stars, it was actually more difficult. Just like Jupiter, if you look closely at those many dots, each has its own appearance and life.
Looking at the stars scattered in the pitch black, I felt dizzy. The sense of space disappeared and it felt like I was alone in the middle of the sky. But at that moment, I became the smallest. Would the Earth look like a dot on that star? I would be nothing more than a speck of dust. Should I say that it was a little funny to hold on to things that easily fade in front of the lights that had passed through eons? If the goal of a vacation was to forget about the world and let go of myself, I thought that it was a vacation schedule that was faithful to that.
![When I looked up, things were passing by in the night sky[소소칼럼]](https://dimg.donga.com/wps/NEWS/IMAGE/2024/07/30/126210797.1.jpg "When I looked up, things were passing by in the night sky[소소칼럼]")
“You can see stars in Seoul?”
It was four years ago at this time that I asked my friend again because I couldn’t believe what he said. It was when my friend told me about the constellations after seeing a picture of the night sky that I had taken without much thought on Yeongjong Island, Incheon. It was just a picture taken on a clear day with lots of stars, but I was reading the meaning of the letters in front of my eyes to a blind person.
There was one more thing she told me. I didn’t have to go far to see the stars, even from in front of my house. “It’s hard to see stars in a city with a lot of light pollution.” I assumed that I wouldn’t be able to see stars in Seoul, but I was wrong. I just hadn’t looked at them carefully. Since then, I often stop and look up at the sky.
Even for someone like me who is not familiar with astronomy, it is not difficult if you use modern technology. If you turn on the constellation finder app that a friend recommended and turn your smartphone around, relatively simple constellations will be aligned. Oh, that was the soft exclamation at that time.
When I wonder why stargazing is more fun than I thought, it’s Kim Chun-soo’s “Flower”. Up until now, I didn’t care whether I could see it or not. Even if I did, it was hard to find meaning in the anonymity where I couldn’t tell what was what. But when I found names for things that had always been there, they felt completely new.
It would be an indistinguishable space from space, but the stars you can see change depending on when and where you look. Memories you make with someone are a bonus. Two years ago, on our honeymoon, my husband and I found the Southern Pisces, which we had never seen before, and last year in Chuncheon, I saw the Big Dipper and Jupiter with a friend who was a ‘newbie’ like me.
On the way back from Hwacheon. If it were any other time, I would have come here talking about how today was, but it was hard to add words to that sky. I will add John Mayer’s “You’re gonna live forever in me” that I listened to quietly. This summer night may not be able to cross hundreds of millions of light years, but I think it will be a memory that I can look back on decades later.
A great big bang and dinosaurs
Fiery raining meteors Fiery raining meteors
It all ends unfortunately Unfortunately, everything ends someday.
But you’re gonna live forever in me
I guarantee just wait and see I am sure, even after endless time passes, you will still be inside of me.
They say that this summer’s rainy season ends today. It will be a better season for stargazing when the clouds clear.
[소소칼럼]It is a light-hearted piece of writing that talks about things that happen around us or about our little tastes. In order to keep the simple and affectionate feelings from disappearing from us, reporters take turns writing about small things that catch their attention.
Reporter Kim Ye-yoon [email protected]
2024-07-30 17:20:43