19 August 2011 McCormick Observatory

McCormick Observatory was free and open to the public tonight. We peered through a 32.5 foot telescope at an amazing ball of stars that looked like a lattice of diamonds. The father-daughter astronomers I live with were most excited. I was excited because the telescope dates to 1885. But then AC reminded me that the stars we looked at were TEN BILLION years old.

I can wrap my mind around a big telescope from the 19th century. But I can’t wrap my mind around the age of our galaxy. It makes my eyes hurt.