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Every night, the stars glow over SCNU. The universe uses the star trails as brushstrokes to depict the outline of time. The unknown mystery of the universe is waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the starry world of SCNU!
The starry river is dazzling and profoundly distant.
The stars shine brightly, dotting the vast sky.
Stars leave their tracks in the sky of SCNU.
The sculptures stand silently under the starry night.
Star tracks etching the beautiful memories of SCNUers.
Look up at the stars and feel your heart pounding loudly.
The Geography Exploration Club is the only geography popularization student organization at SCNU. Club members love stargazing, some of them addicted to the beauty of the starry sky, some curious about the depth of the starry sky. The Geography Exploration Club regularly organizes stargazing activities. Older members teach new members their operational experience and astronomical knowledge. They talk about recent astronomical phenomena and watch the magnificent scenery of the distant sky together.
Many impressive things have happened during stargazing events. Zhang Yuxin, a 2022 undergraduate student majoring in Biological Science, says that what impressed her the most was her first time observing the surface of the moon with her own eyes through a telescope. The moment she got in front of the telescope and saw the craters on the moon's surface, she felt deeply enchanted by the universe.
In addition to using professional telescopes to observe the sky, most people just simply look up. Tang Zhuojie, a 2021 undergraduate majoring in Communication Studies, said that looking up at the starry sky makes him better realize the mystery of the universe, broadens his horizons and inspires him to go further in study.
Zhou Zhuo, a 2022 undergraduate student majoring in Geographic Science, believes that looking up at the mysterious and bright starry sky has encouraged her to explore the unknown in the distance. The members of the Geography Exploration Club keep exploring, looking up at the vast and mysterious universe. In stargazing, they gain knowledge and the strength to move forward in life, which is exactly the original purpose of the Geography Exploration Club to organize stargazing activities.
Peng Zhongyu, a 2021 undergraduate majoring in management science, recalls, “At a very young age, I began to be interested in space, stars, constellations and other astronomical knowledge.” However, the towering buildings and dazzling neon lights made it hard for him, who lived in the city, to have a chance to see the stars in the night sky. One summer vacation in high school, Peng Zhongyu returned to his grandmother's home and enjoyed the country life, where the vast starry sky was unobstructed by the city's light pollution.
For him, interest was the best teacher. Before stargazing, he absorbed a lot of astronomical knowledge through science classes, extracurricular books, astronomical websites and apps. However, his stargazing practice did not go well at first. At first, he observed with his naked eyes and he could only see the Big Dipper and Orion in the good weather conditions. He learned to observe stars with the help of a telescope. “The telescope is more sensitive than the human eye. It can capture more of stars. If it is difficult to recognize the arrangement of the constellations, you can look back to find out the order of the stars,” Peng says.
Stargazing is no longer just a hobby for Peng. It became his life goal. After the college entrance examination, he tried to enroll in the astronomy major, but unluckily he failed. Even so, he still loves stargazing. Looking up at the night sky soothes his emotions and gives him the strength to pursue goals in life.
Things have changed, but stars remain the same.
You Zhuohao, a 2021 undergraduate student majoring in Mathematics, was not a typical “star chaser”. At the beginning, he was just a photographer. He was attracted by the star pictures taken by other photographers, and that's why he started to “chase stars” and take pictures of stars. In early July last year, he and his friends shot a departure video for their countryside team, capturing a section of the day to night time-lapse.
You Zhuohao recalled that there were a lot of clouds that night and the stars were just faintly visible. When he returned to the dormitory that night, he looked at the photos and realized that there were still many stars in the cloudy night sky, our naked eyes failing to capture them. They still circled the North Star above the No.1 Teaching Building in silence. That year, he went back to his home in Hainan. One day, the night sky was bright with stars, he climbed up on the roof with his camera. As soon as he looked up, he was surprised to see the vast Milky Way in front of him. “It was the most stunning starry sky I remember,” he says.
Back in Guangzhou, he entered the fourth year of his university life. He once lamented that he was anxious about facing the uncertain future, but looking up at the stars gave him the courage to face the unknown. Every time he looked up at the starry sky, he could see the stars move forward step by step. From the vastness of the starry sky, he felt the power of inner core stability. “Human beings are very small in the vast Milky Way. Sometimes we don't need to be too anxious about some things,” he says, “Just go with the flow, because no matter what happen, the stars remain the same.”
Luo is a 2021 undergraduate majoring in law. “I took this picture while stargazing with her on the roof of the library after I stumbled upon the entrance to the rooftop. For many people, that night was just an uneventful evening. But for me, that night gave me another memorable moment at SCNU.” It was the final week, students were all under great pressure in the face of approaching graduation and the unknown future. But by looking at the vast starry sky on a summer night, it was as if they were detached from the real world and free from stress. The distant starlight gently soothes anxiety and exhaustion.
“Under the pressure of our academic tasks, we tend to forget to look up at the stars. However, when we do look up at the stars, we will find a wider world.” Luo says that looking up at the starry sky is not just observing those distant points of light, but also experiencing another kind of peace, feeling the smallness of an individual in the universe and appreciating the small blessings in life.
Source from SCNU News Center
Translated by Xiao Ruiyi, Tang Jingyue
Proofread by Edwin Baak
Edited by Li Jianru