Astronomy is for Girls

As parents, and grandparents, we all have expectations for our children. Some expectations are high. Some expectations are “just have an honest life and be happy”. We tend to project onto our children what they may be. When my granddaughter played at the piano my daughter said “Oh, are you going to be a concert pianist?” When my granddaughter sat on my lap at the computer I said “Oh, are you going to be a computer scientist?” It’s not wrong to do that but we as parents must have reasonable expectations for ourselves as well.

I’m always a little jealous when other parents describe their children’s accomplishments. They got a job at Google or became a doctor or attorney. But is does come down to being honest and happy. Being honest starts with entering a field you like, that you can do day in and day out. Having worked all my life I know that a job can drag down your spirit and if you’re not doing what you like then it’s hard. I also know that dishonesty leads to problems that eventually cause unhappiness. So, its a bit of a conundrum.

We taught our children to be patient and persistent. As young adults they have their whole lives in front of them with plenty of chance to get it right. America is filled with opportunity and creativity is in abundance. God knows it took a while for me to get it right and happiness was elusive for a while. Standing back as a grandparent has been one of the happiest times of my life. Less stress, less ambition, more enjoyment.

We taught our children well, the important things. We formed their moral cores with decency and compassion for others. And we kept an open mind. That, I think is key to acceptance of what your child chooses, not just in a career but in a marriage partner or single life. So, parents, hold your children close. Your love will affect the outcome. Love is most important. But it’s OK to sprinkle in some high expectations and to tell them they are bright, and clever, and capable of choosing what they want in their life.

The Stars Capture our Imagination (images from Wikipedia Commons)

At Family Tree Tops we create ancestry family trees using Hubble images as the background to your top-down compact family tree. See your great grandparents in the center of an awesome photo from our universe. We are stardust. More at https://familytreetops.com/post-astronomy-backgrounds/

Spiral galaxies together with irregular galaxies make up approximately 60% of the galaxies in the local Universe. However, despite their prevalence, each spiral galaxy is unique — like snowflakes, no two are alike. This is demonstrated by the striking face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6814, whose luminous nucleus and spectacular sweeping arms, rippled with an intricate pattern of dark dust, are captured in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. NGC 6814 has an extremely bright nucleus, a telltale sign that the galaxy is a Seyfert galaxy. These galaxies have very active centres that can emit strong bursts of radiation. The luminous heart of NGC 6814 is a highly variable source of X-ray radiation, causing scientists to suspect that it hosts a supermassive black hole with a mass about 18 million times that of the Sun. As NGC 6814 is a very active galaxy, many regions of ionised gas are studded along  its spiral arms. In these large clouds of gas, a burst of star formation has recently taken place, forging the brilliant blue stars that are visible scattered throughout the galaxy.