by Michael Wright

Messier 74, a composite image made from three exposures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 through F814W, F555W and F435W filters. Credit: NASA/ESA/Michael Wright

There is one other aspect of this pursuit that I also find compelling – a primordial or “spiritual” component that is hard to deny. It is difficult not to be awed by a night under extreme dark skies and a brilliant canopy of stars. the Milky Way, zodiacal light, meteors, naked eye galaxies… all reminders that I need no longer dream of being an astronaut. I am already on a spaceship that is hurtling through space, and I am just a tourist taking a few photographs out the “window.”

~ John A. Davis, Astrophotographer, from his description of his photograph entitled “Cocoon over North America, 2011” in the Starstruck exhibit at the Michener Museum, Doylestown, PA January 2015