Planetary Neighbor
A fellow amateur astronomer and I, both members of the Auburn Astronomical Society, headed to scout camp with our telescopes to share the night sky with several dozen Cub Scouts and their families on a perfect, moonless autumn evening. Our purpose was to introduce them to the cosmos in a new way. I set up my telescope, focusing on the evening’s highlight: Saturn. Meanwhile, my colleague aimed his telescope at Vega, a bright star positioned high in the sky. Though we had only two objects in our lineup, each had a story. As the families trickled in, my counterpart welcomed the first few kids to his telescope. Vega didn’t reveal much detail; stars, even seen through a telescope, tend to look like brighter versions of themselves. But my colleague was well prepared to share Vega’s story. He explained that it was about 25 light-years away and described what that distance meant—light that had left Vega 25 years ago was only just now reaching us. The group then made their way to m...