Watching The Stars

During spring break last week, me and my parents had a fire in our backyard in our fire pit like we sometimes do. We were all sitting around watching the fire and it was all quiet and peaceful. I wasn't even thinking about this assignment when I looked up at the sky. It was really clear and the moon was so bright. There were a lot of stars to look at.

I thought back to elementary school when we studied all the constellations and had to memorize certain ones. I could easily pick out Orion's Belt because of the three bright stars in a row. That was the easiest one to see. Once I pointed it out, my dad looked up and started to pick out certain constellations also. I don't think we saw any planets. I'm not even exactly sure what a planet would look like.

Staring up at the dark sky was really relaxing. It kind of made you forget everything else that was going on in the world. It was really quiet and peaceful. Nobody was talking to each other. We were just all sitting around the fire, staring at the stars.

I'm sure the people from pre-scientific times were either really amazed at stars or they probably just didn't care. Some people were probably amazed because no one had ever found out what stars really were yet. So to them they were just a bunch of shiny, bright dots in weird patterns that lit up the night sky. And then I'm sure some people just didn't care what they were. No one had discovered their importance so they were just unimportant dots that showed up in the sky every night. Also, the moon and stars were very useful to these people because in those times, there were no light bulbs or flashlights to see things. Besides maybe a small candle, there was just the night sky. So the stars were very valuable to them.

It is very important that we protect the night sky from light pollution. I think that everyone needs to be able to see the sky and all the stars it really has in it. Some people in big cities like New York or Los Angeles can't even see the night sky at all. They probably have no idea what constellations truly look like unless they leave their city. It is also important to see the night sky because you can really see what universe you're a part of and how big it is. It is especially important for children to see it because you don't want to grow up and not even know what's actually around you. I think the night sky is a very important part of our education and that is why we need to save it.