On My Road to Astronomy

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

How I wonder what you are

Up above the world so high

Like a diamond in the sky

When the blazing sun is gone

When he nothing shines upon

Then you show your little light

Twinkle, twinkle, all the night

He could not see which way to go

If you did not twinkle so

In the dark blue sky you keep

And often through my curtains

For you never shut your eye

Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are. Stars and galaxies are fantasies to me, and this passion for them has driven me towards astronomy. Looking back, I discover that there were several milestones which marked the origin of this devotion. Although years have passed and most memories have blurred, these critical moments remain clear in my mind.

It was when I was a little boy that I sensed an ambiguous interest in stars. On a quiet afternoon, I was in my small warm room enjoying a comic book about nature with rich illustrations. The page I was reading contained a big image of a lizard resting in grass, which was kind of disgusting and disturbing for me because it was a little ugly. Therefore, I turned the page, and suddenly saw a map representing snowy mountains and wonderful lakes with a caption, “Our Planet”. This somewhat attracted me, as I looked at it, lost in thought. Our planet is so beautiful, with all these majestic natural formations, which is able to intoxicate anyone with a sense of beauty. What about other planets? Do they all have magnificent sights like our planet? Every planet may hold a different sight, and this possibility really excited me. When I turned to the next page, a spectacular image stuck me in awe. On a black background, a bright yellow sphere sat in the center, which had a faint halo around it, creating a warm feeling with several golden concentric circles surrounding this yellow star. On each circle, there was a planet illustrated in such a manner that it seemed to be galloping away at full speed, which was really interesting to me. Some of these planets had rings, which added to the beauty of the picture. Somewhere in the corner of the picture, a small planet with a fairly long tail was rushing past another planet, and it was so well painted that I almost heard the screech caused by its motion. The whole picture seemed to be a highly-organized symphony, which attracted me very much, because thoughts flooded into my mind. The painted wonder kept me thinking about how these things originated, about how the stars were able to prevent themselves from collapsing into each other and about what the future of these stars would be and about much more. As a result, from this drawing, I not only had my first glimpse of the solar system, but sensed the beauty in the cosmos as well. This experience, although plain and commonplace, was my first touch of astronomy. A seed was soon planted, only waiting for the opportunity to sprout.

As I learned more about the world and read more books, especially science fictions, my love for stars and galaxies increasingly grew. This led to the second major event about astronomy and me. One summer night, I took a walk in a nature park near my home. The park was large enough for me to wander for a long time quietly, only with occasional chirping of crickets. Suddenly, some glimmering white spots attracted my eyes, as I stopped to observe them and figured out they were reflections of stars on the lake. Looking downwards, I found these stars blinking in a naughty manner, as if urging me to appreciate its beauty. I thought, as I learned in class, the reason of blinking was disturbance in the air. Twinkle, twinkle, little star, now I had learned what you are.

A cool breeze rising, I lay down on the grassland by the lake, looking at the wonderful night sky with stars, so many of them. The sky was so clean that I could see a vague shape of our galaxy. It was milky white and looked like a silk belt as it traversed almost the whole sky. I remembered the “Foundation” series by Isaac Asimov, in which the author depicted a large empire ruling over the entire Milky Way Galaxy. People traveled between stars and established settlements all over the galaxy, during which epic events took place. I remembered the “Space Odyssey” series by Arthur Clarke, in which human explored the universe and encountered alien civilization that was vastly superior to ours. I also remembered the “Three Body” series by Cixin Liu, in which the writer presented an story about human race and another civilization living on the planet of Centaurus-α. In his book, Liu also suggested an interesting, although impossible theory of the birth and death of our universe, which had not been understood well nowadays. How much I wondered if we could achieve what had been illustrated in these books! Looking at all these numerous stars in the sky, I felt a motivation to study them, to further unveil secrets behind them, and to conquer them. I felt obliged to clear away existing difficulties for human beings to travel to other planets and sow seeds of civilization on them. I looked through the sky into the future, when all of us would be able to easily jump from one planet to another, which would be exceedingly exciting and romantic. Lying on the grass in this cool and tranquil night, I further strengthened my motivation for astronomy.

In the procedure of higher education, new attracting reasons for me to embrace astronomy came to my mind. Already in an astronomy group, I have started to read about articles of other outstanding scientists and tried to understand what they had found. I remember a day in college when I was really busy and lost interest of school work and everything else. After a tiring day, everything seemed boring, as I walked in the light of the setting sun. It was at this moment that I remembered that I had a weekly group meeting that evening. Somehow, I was cheered by this thought, and immediately headed to the meeting room, to read about the latest findings and prepare for the meeting. At the meeting, everyone shared his or her work in the preceding week enthusiastically. I remember their cheerful faces when they were sharing the findings about a new type of star, a newly discovered relation between black holes and their host galaxies and a new telescope that would be constructed that year and so on, and I merrily listened to them and gave my own opinions. After the group meeting, it seemed evident to me that astronomy should be and would be what I pursuit, as it could bring me joy and a high level of fulfillment. To be an astronomer means I will constantly absorb new ideas from others and participate in collaborative projects, which is exactly what I love. So, already on the road to an astronomer, I feel really assured and happy, as this put my life meaningful.

Twinkle, twinkle all the night, for you never shut your eye. After these meaningful events, I have fully made up my mind to become an astronomer. I will continue studying that diamond in the sky, no matter what. Astronomy, to me, is life.