Come Sail Away

Exploration and Travel are the Keys to the Cosmos

I’m listening to Styx’s Come Sail Away piece right now and it really brightened a cold, winter morning.  Not that I’m sad; quite the opposite. I just returned from two periods of extended travel to Iceland and Europe. My task: to serve as an astronomy lecturer for Smithsonian Journeys on a land trip. That was followed aa few weeks later by an assignment on a transatlantic cruise.  They were fabulous experiences. On the cruise, I had the privilege of bringing my mom along as my guest.  We had fun times, fun experiences, and  it was another chance to share the cosmos with fellow travelers.

Each time I go on a journey, I think about how much travel can broaden a person’s horizons. It doesn’t have to be very far  — many people find inspiration as they travel from one town to another, or even to another neighborhood in their own metropolis. The important thing is that when a person travels to a new environment, be it next door or around the world, they see a new vista, a distant horizon, and meet new and different people.

Travel and Exploration are How We Learn

That’s the essence of exploration – to learn new things from new places. It’s why I enjoy going around sharing astronomy and space science with others. It’s sort of a “meta” experience — reaching out to others about how we explore the universe and what we learn about it (and ourselves). That’s probably why I am so fascinated with astronomy and space exploration; they are important journeys to make, and the journey of my life has been to study astronomy and then share it with others. Each time we look up and out, we make progress toward understanding our place in the universe. each time we travel around our own planet, we make progress in understanding our brothers and sisters on this planet, and the places they live in. Progress is the greatest journey of all.

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