This is why I love Astronomy

Well said Martinus. I find reality infinitely more interesting and comforting than the paranormal. As an example heres a little story about something that happened to me a year or so ago...

I walked into the kitchen one night and turned on the light. The back yard outside was still in darkness. Then right in front of out in the yard I saw an apparition of Jesus Christ from the shoulders up. Now while another person might react in shock, run upstairs to tell someone what they saw only to come back down to and find the apparition had disappeared, I on the other hand stopped dead in my tracks and stared at the apparition. It disappeared. After some further staring the cause of the illusion became apparent. It was actually a towel hanging on the back of a chair inside the kitchen reflected in the glass patio doors superimposed over some objects hanging on the back wall of the yard. I was then able to switch how I perceived the view not unlike shapes in clouds or the candlestick illusion where one see's either a candlestick silhouette or two faces opposite each other. Jesus -> towel on chair -> Jesus -> Towel on chair.

Now to me, the evolutionary basis for how the brains neurology means it can fill in the details/guess wrong when painting an image on our visual cortex is infinitely more interesting than the thought that the creator of the universe appeared to little old me and that the not very comforting conclusion I must draw is that if he exists then chances are some of my loved ones are in or will end up in eternal torment in a christian hell for some minor transgression of dogma. More comforting for me is the thought that my Grandad has achieved the eternal sleep of non existence than the thought the he is roasting in hell for not going to Mass after his 'God given' rationality made him an atheist while a murdering pedophile supposedly got in to heaven after accepting Jesus as his personal saviour!! :rolleyes:

Here, here... It's all just Santa Claus for grown-ups...but anyway, whether your a religionist or an nonbeliever - both can enjoy an uplifting experience and experience awe at the beauty of our night sky.

For me the question is: are there other lifeforms scratching their spotted bald head thingeys with their tentacles and wondering whether the great octopus is out there somewhere hmmmmm

signed
tiny little lifeform
Declan