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Reflections on the Heavens & Psalm Eight An Interview With Daniel Sweeney

Under an Oregon desert vista, known for some of the darkest skies accessible in the United States, Daniel Sweeney sat in a natural hot spring at sunset, watching the February sky darken and quickly illuminate with radiant lights. He reflects, “The skies were filled with more stars than I’d seen in my whole life… I could not speak. I was in complete awe.” If you ask Daniel for a big stargazing moment in his life, this one stands out. But he also shares dozens of smaller moments that have contributed toward a growing interest in the heavens above. Yet, only over the last decade has Daniel developed a more intentional study of the stars and skies–amatuer astronomy. Each fall, his interest seems to perk up, as fall marks increased visibility of planets, nice long evenings, optimal temperatures, perhaps even an event such as a meteor shower or an interesting sighting. He recalls one such fall night in which he set up a spotting scope for the family to observe a bright object in the night sky: “It was Saturn! We could see the rings clearly… it was very small and not much detail…but to see the complexity of that planet that’s not very far astronomically-speaking was just another step (in his growing interest for astronomy).” Daniel enjoys inviting friends over to look through a telescope on particularly optimal nights for visibility–which means “all the stars align” sort-of-speak– in terms of the absence of cloud-cover or smoke for clearness, optimal transparency, and “seeing,” which describes the stability of the atmosphere. “You need steady skies, clear skies, and a lack of light pollution”--which he explains can be man-made or even measured by the amount of light from the moon. Daniel shares that because of cultural light-pollution throughout the world (created by man-made light), “a lot of people don’t have access to the night sky. We are fortunate here in Floyd because we have a relatively dark sky.” Daniel shares his enjoyment of Dark Sky Mapping as well as learning through atlases of the night sky, interactive sky maps, constellation maps and more. These are just some of the tools to help amateur astronomers study the sun, moon, galaxies, comets, planets, double stars, star-clusters, location of North & South through stars and more. After thousands of years of humans studying astronomy and with all these maps and tools, the mysteries of the heavens are still so unknown to man. “There is essentially infinite exploration,” he shares. “The deeper we look into space, the more we see.” This is an exciting reality for Daniel, but there is also another feeling it evokes: “It’s extremely humbling. That’s another reason I really enjoy it because it does place us. If you think about just how complex and just how amazingly vast it is, it’s a window into something we can’t comprehend. That’s like trying to understand God in a lot of ways.” “When I look up at the night sky, I feel extremely humbled while being extremely grounded. There is a major sense of peace that comes from realizing our place.” Daniel develops this idea of how his soul has found more rest through his astronomical journey. “We are flying through the universe at incredible speed, but we can’t feel that or see that really. That lends to that idea, ‘What are we built to comprehend? I find that in scripture or prayer, accepting that humility and that there are things we can’t comprehend, is a comfort. I find that also in astronomy.”