I've always thought that the Greek mathematician Claudius Ptolemy came as close as anyone ever has to capturing in words, the feeling we all have when the Milky Way and the majesty it represents comes to mind. The quote is archaic, but everyone will surely recognise his intent: “I know that I am mortal and the creature of a day; but when I search out the massed wheeling circles of the stars, my feet no longer touch the earth, but, side by side with Zeus himself, I take my fill of ambrosia, the food of the gods.”
Indeed as the Sun descended below the horizon each evening of the 2022 Queensland Astrofest (held July 22-31), there came that frisson that all astronomers know so well — the sense that we are on the cusp of an awakening, that indescribable wonder is only moments away. At first, only the brightest stars appear, but before long the entire firmament is alive
