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When I was in high
school, I hated science - a common sentiment amongst my female classmates. Truthfully, science
intimidated me - it was considered a boy's subject back then (wow, times
have changed…).
But a pivotal transformation happened for me several years ago when my boyfriend bought me a telescope for Christmas! I took one look up into that night sky and I was hooked... Suddenly, I had an exciting new curiosity for astronomy, astrophysics, chemistry, math, biology and so on... I found myself going to the library, reading book after book on topics that I was terrified of in high school. Who would have thought that science could be so interesting & so beautiful? Ever since then, I've been on a journey to find my rightful place in the world of GEEK, and it has been liberating!
Let me tell you about my one of my first accomplishments as an amateur astronomer (did I stress the word 'amateur'?)
It
was an early morning in June 2004 and I was determined to watch the
transit of Venus across the Sun (it only happens every 243 years!). I
got up at the crack of dawn, loaded myself and my telescope into my car
and drove to a nearby conservation area (conveniently located on a
hill). However,
after setting up my telescope, I soon realized that when I looked
through the eyepiece there was NO contrast in the sky, a side
effect of using a solar filter, which filters out approx. 99.99% of the
light (otherwise I would fry my retinas). Without contrast, I could barely find the Sun, which is pretty pathetic when you think of how obvious the sun usually is... I
started to panic looking at my watch, realizing that I only had about 8
minutes left before the transit was over. Tick-tock, tick-tock. But
then, a rather strange and funny thing happened. A man jogging with his
dog came around the bend where I had my telescope perched. We exchanged a
cordial "good morning", but as he passed by, his dog bumped the legs of
my telescope, which would normally cause a novice astronomer to wince,
especially using a manual telescope. But when I looked through the
eyepiece again, expecting frustration, I realized that 'bump' ended up
aligning my telescope with the Sun perfectly. With a little focusing,
there it was - the glorious disk of the Sun with the minuscule black
silhouette of Venus passing in front of it, only millimeters from the
edge! I was awestruck. I almost missed witnessing this rare event, but a
good-luck dog saved the day! I shouted to the man who was now halfway
down the hill, "thank you!", but I don't think he heard me.
It's
been years since then, but don't worry, I can now find the Sun, no
problem, (as well any other celestial object I set my mind to!) Still
using that same manual telescope, but now it feels more like a
prosthesis of my arms and eyes rather than something to be intimidated
by.
I eat, drink and sleep science - I can't get enough of it! Designing apparel is my way of introducing
my friends, family and customers to the weird and wonderful world of
astronomy, physics, chemistry and all that other yummy, geeky stuff. ...stay curious my friends!
This is the astro-photo I took on 'doggie-day'. If you didn't know better, you might not think it looked like anything special; when in fact it's our beautiful neighbour, Venus, humbled
before the immensity of our Sun. ...Beauty
is in the eye of the beholder.
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