2024 11 15
This might be the best terrible photo I’ve ever made. It’s Saturn, as seen through a telescope up in Wisconsin’s Northwoods during our summer cabin getaway.
Can you imagine what it must’ve felt like for the first humans to witness this planet, once telescope technology got good enough to see it with the naked eye?! Sure, it looks like shit as seen in this image. That’s not the point. We all know what Saturn looks like in all its magical beauty, through closeup images made via probes, and space telescopes, and NASA image editing, but I’ll tell you what, seeing this with your naked eye is quite a sight. It legitimately changed my perspective on our universe. As you peer into an eyepiece and catch a glimpse of this planet, which in our reality is very very far away, you start to think maybe it’s not actually that far away. Maybe we are part of something bigger. Maybe we will one day be able to easily venture out into our solar system and beyond. The miracles that await us, out there, we can only imagine.
-Clayton
It’s Saturn! …as seen from St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
This might be the best terrible photo I’ve ever made. It’s Saturn, as seen through a telescope up in Wisconsin’s Northwoods during our summer cabin getaway.
Can you imagine what it must’ve felt like for the first humans to witness this planet, once telescope technology got good enough to see it with the naked eye?! Sure, it looks like shit as seen in this image. That’s not the point. We all know what Saturn looks like in all its magical beauty, through closeup images made via probes, and space telescopes, and NASA image editing, but I’ll tell you what, seeing this with your naked eye is quite a sight. It legitimately changed my perspective on our universe. As you peer into an eyepiece and catch a glimpse of this planet, which in our reality is very very far away, you start to think maybe it’s not actually that far away. Maybe we are part of something bigger. Maybe we will one day be able to easily venture out into our solar system and beyond. The miracles that await us, out there, we can only imagine.
-Clayton
2024 10 03
One weird abstract thought I often revisit is the sheer amount of events happening all over our solar system at any given moment. Like a tree falling in the woods with nobody around to see it, there are so many epic and amazing things happening right now, as you read this, that nobody will ever know about. Massive storms on Jupiter bigger than our entire planet; rocks colliding into other rocks at speeds we can only imagine; long-scrapped human-made exploration devices so remote and lonely, existing in a void without any planet nearby to give them a sense of belonging. And all of this just within our own home system, which, while relatively close, still remains largely a mystery to us due to the remarkable size and distance.
Once you start to view the Milky Way in the sky and get a better sense of the scale we exist in, things quickly get impossible to comprehend. Then, when you consider our galaxy system is one of billions of other galaxy systems, each comprised of billions of stars and likely trillions of planets, it’s no wonder we mere humans have a countless number of Gods we call on to meekely attempt to make some sense of the whole thing.
-Clayton
Brian setting up his telescope. St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck
One weird abstract thought I often revisit is the sheer amount of events happening all over our solar system at any given moment. Like a tree falling in the woods with nobody around to see it, there are so many epic and amazing things happening right now, as you read this, that nobody will ever know about. Massive storms on Jupiter bigger than our entire planet; rocks colliding into other rocks at speeds we can only imagine; long-scrapped human-made exploration devices so remote and lonely, existing in a void without any planet nearby to give them a sense of belonging. And all of this just within our own home system, which, while relatively close, still remains largely a mystery to us due to the remarkable size and distance.
Once you start to view the Milky Way in the sky and get a better sense of the scale we exist in, things quickly get impossible to comprehend. Then, when you consider our galaxy system is one of billions of other galaxy systems, each comprised of billions of stars and likely trillions of planets, it’s no wonder we mere humans have a countless number of Gods we call on to meekely attempt to make some sense of the whole thing.
-Clayton
2024 05 14
Kyla has a book coming out which is very exciting news! She has become one of my favorite thinkers on economics and our modern media-saturated life. I share this video because this piece arrived in my inbox a few days ago via her substack and I really enjoyed reading it. Then, today, the video version of it appeared in my youtube feed and it reminded me about how I love that she makes her content available on all the major platforms. It’s a ton of work, but these days this is what you basically have to do if you want to be noticed. Posting to your daily weblog isn’t going to move the needle! … perhaps I should turn my daily weblog post into a daily vlog post, as well … maybe.
-Clayton
Super grainy image of a green-lit tree at night with some stars and planets and sensor artifacts. March, 2024.Wheeling, Illinois. © Clayton Hauck
Kyla has a book coming out which is very exciting news! She has become one of my favorite thinkers on economics and our modern media-saturated life. I share this video because this piece arrived in my inbox a few days ago via her substack and I really enjoyed reading it. Then, today, the video version of it appeared in my youtube feed and it reminded me about how I love that she makes her content available on all the major platforms. It’s a ton of work, but these days this is what you basically have to do if you want to be noticed. Posting to your daily weblog isn’t going to move the needle! … perhaps I should turn my daily weblog post into a daily vlog post, as well … maybe.
I love what Noah Kalina has been doing on his channel lately. But yeah, yet another fulltime job on top of the ones I already have probably isn’t in the cards. Maybe we start small.
-Clayton