A VISIT TO A DUTCH OBSERVATORY

In September 2006, three Dutch astronomers,
Casper ter Kuile, Arnold Tukkers and Jos Nijland,
played host to the SARM participants at the
International Meteor Conference in Roden
(Valentin Grigore, Alexandru Conu, Cristina Tinta,
Andrei Dorian Gheorghe, etc.).
During this time,
they visited the workplace of Arnold Tukkers,
the Cosmos Observatory in Lattrop.

In the Netherlands,
flowers seem to be
not simple plants,
but stellar projections.

- Andrei Dorian Gheorghe -

Once, a long time ago,
there was a charming little girl who went with her mother
to a nice public observatory.
It was a lovely, clear evening,
and you could see thousands of twinkling stars.
There was a helpful guy in the observatory,
and he told a great story about our Solar System.
The little girl (she was 8 years old)
sat in the front row of the lecture room.
She saw wonderful pictures of Saturn, the Moon and the Sun.
At one point, she raised her tiny hand high in the air.
The astronomer saw it, and said,
"What do you want to ask?"
The little girl with her big blue eyes said,
"Well, you have a big telescope.
Can you see Heaven with your telescope?"
The astronomer knelt down beside her and looked at the girl,
and said to her,
"Why do you want to see Heaven?"
The little girl looked at him,
and a tiny little tear ran down her cheek.
She looked at her mother,
and back to the astronomer.
And then came her answer.
"I want to see Heaven
because my Daddy died three months ago,
and he is in Heaven now."

The astronomer was me,
and I will never forget that little girl.

- Arnold Tukkers -

In the Netherlands,
Orion seems to be
not a Hellenic hunter,
but a Dutch painter.

- Andrei Dorian Gheorghe -

In the Netherlands,
dark nebulae suggest that the Pleiades are
not a star cluster,
but Van Gogh's easel.

- Andrei Dorian Gheorghe -

Love for those who try
to dignify their own beings
with things from the sky.

- Valentin Grigore -

In the Netherlands,
Don Quixote would not fight windmills,
but he would embrace them
as galactic projections.

- Andrei Dorian Gheorghe -

Photos: Casper ter Kuile (1, 2, 5),
Cristina Tinta (3), Alexandru Conu (4), Jos Nijland (6)
Proof checking: Alastair McBeath (U.K., Vice-President of the
International Meteor Organization)
Design: Gabriel Ivanescu
© 2007 SARM
(Romanian Society for Meteor and Astronomy)