Setting the Scene

Abstract

Far from city lights, the view of the night sky is dominated by stars. Th ey seem to be present in countless numbers. It comes as a surprise to learn that with the naked eye only about three thousand are visible at any given time. Most of these lie within a hundred, and all but a few within a thousand, light years of the Earth.

The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea, The plowman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

—Thomas Gray, “Elegy written in a country churchyard”