half past nomad

We had to ask for directions twice. Everyone said the same thing; look for the stadium, it’s right next to it.

The professor was waiting for us outside the observatory as we pulled up. We four pulled out of the car and exchanged pleasantries with him under the stars. The entrance to the building itself was quite interesting; the walls painted with various images, the floor itself a giant compass with the support of the telescope (2nd floor) in the middle.

Mars itself was tiny on the 10-inch telescope, a white dot with shades of gray (mountain ranges) and the brilliant white cap (south polar ice cap). Due to the unique time range of Mars being so close to us, the telescope had been programmed to constantly point at Mars. Let me phrase that fully. Everything was moving, the earth, mars but not the telescope. it was setup to constantly point at Mars, regardless.

Had we only had the view itself, it would have been dull. The atmosphere, the conversation was what made the evening. There we were, in a private observatory tour with the professor lecturing to us humourously in his heavy australian accent whilst we probed him with questions. We thought we were done with the entire evening when all of us had seen Mars but not yet. He swung the telescope around with an easy move whilst we scattered below, a little un-used to having a giant object being swung around over our head. What came next was dizzying; the entire roof shifted. And the professor chuckled.

There exists an observatory in Australia where instead of just the rooftop, the entire building shifts. Everyday, the professor said, he would step out with no idea where he was or where his car was parked.

I would have rather treasured a peek at the moon itself. I’ve heard the stories of the prophet having split the moon in half with a gesture of his hand (with ofcourse, Allah’s permission). True|False, I know not but it sure would have been nice to see that breathtaking moon of ours. But I was not disappointed.

Instead, we saw the ring nebula. We were speechless to see such a sight, such a detail at such a distance. I’m fascinated with the planet Saturn, the rings of Jupiter, the moon we have. This was…subhan-allah.

We thanked the professor profusely, sincerely. Tonight he had his first open house for the public to come in and see Mars. But we weren’t treated as mere mortals.

On the way out, we saw the stadium. It was the smallest college stadium I’ve ever seen in my life.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 30th, 2003 at 4:16 am and is filed under General Lee.