The Old Astronomer to His Pupil: Sarah Williams // Stunning New Footage Of Earth
The Old Astronomer to His Pupil
Reach me down my Tycho Brahe, I would know him when we meet,
When I share my later science, sitting humbly at his feet;
He may know the law of all things, yet be ignorant of how
We are working to completion, working on from then to now.
Pray remember that I leave you all my theory complete,
Lacking only certain data for your adding, as is meet,
And remember men will scorn it, 'tis original and true,
And the obloquy of newness may fall bitterly on you.
But, my pupil, as my pupil you have learned the worth of
scorn,
You have laughed with me at pity, we have joyed to be
forlorn,
What for us are all distractions of men's fellowship and
smiles;
What for us the Goddess Pleasure with her meretricious
smiles!
You may tell that German College that their honor comes too
late,
But they must not waste repentance on the grizzly savant's
fate.
Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect
light;
I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the
night.
Sarah
Williams
(from Best Loved Poems of the American People; Hazel
Felleman, ed; 1936
(The last line was used as an epitaph for an Astronomer-couple buried at Alleghany Observatory)
incredible footage from the ISS speeding through
Earth’s orbit. The video makes the largest cities in the world appear to
be blotches of light surrounded by the deep blue of the sea. We also get
to see natural phenomenon like the Aurora Borealis and thunderstorms from above
