h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hey Beeline - GREAT article on the point of astronomy. Really good. I just saw that the project is now over, but I will add a little personal note.

In my case I became interested in Astronomy because of the beauty, mystery and the amount of knowledge contained in the subject. There are marvellous insights to be gained from even the most cursory investigations of cosmology. We often take these insights for granted, but they are actually quite wonderful in their own right. Statements such as "why do objects fall down?", "why don't people in Australia fall off the Earth?", "why is the sky blue?", "why do some stars move, and other ones don't?" "is there life on Mars?" are all questions answered by Astronomy. It is also such a rich subject - there are aspects of biology, geology, meteorology, mechanics, quantum physics, relativity, chemistry, philosophy to name but a few. Also, it is a subject I will be able to study even into old age. There is something comforting about that...

CR

Thanks CR.

You're right - that's what got me as well - the fact that it's so broad and (kind of by definition) all-encompassing. Astronomy pretty much represents the logical extreme of what human curiosity and wonder is all about - it's the exploration, both mental and physical, of our entire universe and everything in it.

Talk about a big topic!