Being an Earthling
It's funny how sometimes the more you understand, the more awe you feel. Nobel-winning physicist Richard Feynman once talked to an artist friend who lamented how science makes things dull. Read his iconic rebuttal below.
Hello Good Lookers,
It's Menka here with Noticing – your monthly nudge from Just Looking to slow down and stay curious about your everyday, ordinary life here on Earth.
Oh, and happy new year! As I get older, I'm becoming more forgiving of the hype around it all and simply embracing it as a ritual that helps me feel the sands of time a bit more. Another slow-mo trip around the sun begins.
Noticing Other Planets
"Stars twinkle and planets don't – that's how we can tell the difference", I explained to my son as we walked through the supermarket car park. It was only 4.15 pm, but it felt so late, and I really wished I had gloves on.
"Why don't they twinkle?" came the predictable response.
Luckily, I knew the answer to this one (I studied astrophysics with Stephen Hawkings at university; honestly, that happened), so we didn't have to disrupt the stillness of the moment with the slipperiness of an internet search this time.
"Stars are a source of light that comes from a single point far, far away, and this gets easily disturbed as the light enters into our atmosphere. But planets, they're completely different. They exist much closer to us and just reflect the light from our Sun, so the light comes to our eyes nice and steady."
As I looked down at him that chilly evening, I could see glimmers of the night sky reflected in his eyes. I was completely awed over. The Sun, our closest star, radiates light that travels all the way to a planet, bounces off its surface, heads all the way to us here on Earth, and then bounces off the salty tears on the surface of his eyes and now the light – that same light that originated from the Sun – enters my eyes. Nuts!
It's funny how sometimes the more you understand, the more awe you feel. Nobel-winning physicist Richard Feynman (and my first major celebrity crush) once talked to an artist friend who lamented how science makes things dull. His friend argued that as an artist, he could simply appreciate the beauty of a flower, but a scientist would instead be breaking it all down. Feynman's iconic rebuttal of this view:
I can appreciate the beauty of a flower. At the same time, I see much more about the flower than he sees. I could imagine the cells in there, the complicated actions inside, which also have a beauty. I mean it’s not just beauty at this dimension, at one centimeter; there’s also beauty at smaller dimensions, the inner structure, also the processes. The fact that the colors in the flower evolved in order to attract insects to pollinate it is interesting; it means that insects can see the color. It adds a question: does this aesthetic sense also exist in the lower forms? Why is it aesthetic? All kinds of interesting questions which the science knowledge only adds to the excitement, the mystery and the awe of a flower. It only adds. I don’t understand how it subtracts."
You can watch Feynman saying this in his thick New York City accent here. What's not to love? But I digress. I came on to write about planets. The more you know about them, the more you'll notice them. And that noticing can and probably will change your life.
The word "planet" comes from an ancient Greek word "planetai" meaning wanderer. Which makes sense, because planets are objects in the sky that move slowly – wander around – against the background of stars.
If you looked up last week you might have seen Venus just casually hanging out with the Moon. Known somewhat unpoetically as a "conjuction".
You don't need a special camera or telescope to see planets. The five brightest planets that can be seen with the naked eye are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Sometimes, Uranus can also be seen under dark skies with excellent eyesight. (Incidentally, most children have stronger than 20/20 vision and are therefore better able to notice Uranus, among other things.) And the best time to look out for them is dawn or dusk when the Sun is hidden just below the horizon.
As we tune into these cosmic sightings, it can remind us that we, too, live on a planet hurtling around the universe. At the moment, I'm reading Orbital, the Booker Prize-winning novel that imagines the observations of astronauts as they look back at the earth. "The earth, from here, is like heaven. It flows with colour. A burst of hopeful colour."
The effect of seeing Earth from space can have a profound impact on astronauts. It is described as the "Overview Effect", and to some extent, we can feel this simply by looking at a photo of Earth. To quote astronaut Ron Garan who spent six months in space on a NASA mission:
"Its a profound sense of empathy, a profound sense of community, and a willingness to forgo immediate gratification and take a more multi-generational outlook on progress."
Right now, as you read this, people all around the world are living with unimaginable loss and fear of loss. There are fires and bombs. I'm not nudging us to ignore this by looking up at the sky instead. I'm suggesting that we could stay open to both: remaining sensitive to the suffering and remaining tethered to the mystery and awe of the universe. And, that maybe these two things are connected.
Experiment with Mars
Get your diary out and on 9 Feb write "Mars is very close to the moon". If you're not a seasoned planet watcher, then just knowing this information is enough to want to look up on that day! If you let your eyes adjust and scan carefully, you'll find it. It appears fairly regularly. In fact, Mars was near a full moon just yesterday, on 13 Jan. Did you see a tiny orange-yellow dot above the moon?
The photo on the left is a simple phone image from my friend Ashik. The one on the right from Chris Granger was made using a pro telephoto lens. Given that Mars is twice as big as the moon, you can imagine how far away it is despite being in our own solar system. Mars also has two moons of its own, but these are too faint to be seen with the naked eye. Good to know, though, right?
Learn more about Mars and all the planets here because, as Feynman said, what you know will only add to the beauty, never subtract.
If you see a planet wandering around, send me a photo and make my day! Reply to this email, or if you're on Instagram, please tag us at @wearejustlooking.
60 Experiments in Looking is shipping again 👀
I stopped shipping for a month over the holidays – because, well, holidays. It was a nice break from emails and tracking numbers. When I started packing the boxes again this week, I noticed the cards with fresh eyes. Here's an on-theme one:
Looking at their simple design reminded me of a time when we play-tested the cards with a group in London and someone mentioned "The cards don't look like they were designed". Ana G, who led this, was standing right there, and (to my relief) she took this as a lovely compliment. To her, it meant that the design looked effortless, balanced, and natural. And I totally agree.
It's been fun to hear from people who have received their experiment cards and are giving them a go. Donald has been using them with his local photography group, and they do one experiment every week! Paula is using them with her son, who is at university, and messaging back and forth about what they see. Would love to be a fly on these conversations. If you've got them, how are you using them?
If you'd like your own pack, use this 10% discount code GOODLOOKER, which works for all readers of this newsletter. It will come with your very own Earthling sticker, too!
Community News
Thanks to everyone who replied with face pareidolia photos after the last newsletter! Here's one of them: a wonderful image and musing from Pete Butler.
"I have attached photos of faces I see when I’m walking in the Peak District of Derbyshire. They were formed at the end of the last Ice Ages, as the glaciers retreated north. Weathering has also had a hand. These shapes have been there for thousands of years. In previous centuries, did traveller also see these faces as they trudged across the desolate moorland? There is a Roman Fort nearby; I like to think that I shared the joke with them!"
I also love how the faces we see often echo their environment, a bit like dogs and dog owners. Here is a home buzzer system that Dianne Gould noticed in Venice. I sense something Italian-looking about him.. the eyebrows, the moustache?
Five More Links About Looking
Painting hues [Watch: 20 seconds]
Watch this to deepen your appreciation for shadows!
Kids don't want to make polite conversation [Read article]
From "The Auntie Bulletin" newsletter, it turns out that making friends with other people's kids is really all about noticing, attention and sharing observations.
Blue Sky Through the Window of a Moving Car [Read book]
One of the best books I've read in a long time. A collection of comics about love, grief, public transport, furniture shopping, and other everyday experiences. Written and illustrated by Jordan Bolton, you can enjoy many of the spreads on his socials (before hopefully buying his book from your local indie publisher!)
Other ocean-worlds out there [Read article]
Titan is Saturn's biggest moon, and we know it has oceans. At the moment, we still don't know if there is any form of life there (alien microbes), but it is likely.
There were 93 goodbyes [See photobook]
For 27 years, Deanna Dikeman took photographs as she waved goodbye and drove away from visiting her parents at their home. In this tender, poignant collection, the final photograph shows no one waving back at her.
Thanks for reading and being part of this movement to reclaim our attention from the algorithms, and reconnect to the great web of life!
With curiosity,
Menka
ps. Did you know I have a book coming out soon? Your Best Digital Life: Use Your Mind to Tame Your Tech. Thought I should mention it. Check it out here!
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