Observe the sky

Looking back, I can remember that since I was little, I have always been very curious about the unusual and the distant. I remember looking through my father's heavy binoculars during summer nights. In the city, I could often see a few stars shining a little brighter on clear nights, but when the holidays came and we fled to the mountains, the dark sky would gift us with nights of many Perseids, several comets and some distant planets.

I particularly remember putting aside my summer espadrilles, equipping myself with some thick boots, something warm and heading out into the open countryside in search of a good spot from which to gaze and decipher constellations. Back then, I always imagined that the first star I saw was always Sagittarius because my father had told me that the brightest star was Kaus Australis, since it was a double star. At that age, I was also unable to put stars together in search of a pattern. The cart? The Big Dipper? Even though I had a lot of imagination and I was great at abstract drawing in art class, that was beyond my capabilities.

When I was older, with a book and a taste for astrology, I began to decipher the constellations of Aries with its warm-shining RZ Arietis and to look for satellites like Hydra with an amateur telescope. Now, having lost my innocence but still fascinated by the words “planet”, “comet” or “galaxy”, I long for those moments when I decided to put on my boots, lie down on a light coat and watch the Perseids bathe the sky.

I can't imagine a better plan for the summer than to look up and see the bright echo of a comet that passed long before any of us were born, and will return long after we are born.