gmhTODAY Summer 2023 | Page 16

When was the last time you looked up at the stars ?

Summer is Looking Up by Crystal Han

T hese days we seem to pay more attention to the stars on screen than the ones

in the sky . If we take the time to go outside and look up , however , we might learn a lot more than we think .
No matter how much time goes on , the night sky has the unique ability to captivate and inspire . For Morgan Hill Astrophotographer Matt Chesebrough , stargazing as a kid is what eventually led him to pursue both engineering and photography . “ I grew up back before cell phones and iPads , and more often than not at night I ’ d just be laying under the stars , watching them spin through the universe and dream about what was out there ,” he said . This same sense of curiosity and wonderment has guided humanity for centuries . People first learned to track seasons and determine the best time to plant their crops based on star positions in the sky . It is what led to navigation and exploration of our world . To this day , much of our technical advancements can be traced back to our fascination with the stars , such as wi-fi , which was developed by astronomer John O ’ Sullivan for the purpose of sharpening the images from his radio telescope . It seems that no matter how far we come as a civilization , we ’ re able to take our lives one step further when we ’ re admiring the stars .
Part of why stargazing has such a powerful effect on us is that it can illuminate things about ourselves that we might have lost sight of . “ It ’ s just a wonderful connection and reminder that we ’ re really pretty insignificant in the universe ,” Chesebrough said . Feeling small and insignificant may not seem like a good experience , but it
16 SUMMER 2023 gmhTODAY Magazine : Go . Make history ... gmhtoday . com