Stargazing with Insomniacs After School

My father once purchased a telescope through a mail-order catalogue. I assume he bought it because I loved astronomy as a child. We only used it once to stare at a full moon from the roof of the three-story brownstone we were renting from. After that, the next time I went stargazing was 2018, when I visited a planetarium on NYC's Long Island and saw some of the Jovian worlds. I never did become an astronomer like I dreamed, but I still get excited about going to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. 

Insomniacs After School. Makoto Ojiro. 2019.

Insomniacs After School is a fun story for my inner child. As the title suggests, Nakami and Magari don't get a lot of sleep, so they sneak off to the school's abandoned observatory for peace and quiet. When they get caught, their only option is to revive the Astronomy Club despite not knowing what such a club does. While stargazing is a good start, the kids aren't using the school's professional telescope until they master the basics. To that end, Namaki learns how to use the Canon he has for long-exposure night photography. 

As of the first two volumes, Insomniacs suggests that in a small city like Nakao, Ishikawa Prefecture, light pollution isn't a huge problem. The countryside seems to be a train ride away. In major cities like NYC, ambient light creates a general halo around the city; light pollution means photographers invest more time in light filters and post-production. The Long Island observatory I mentioned was at the far end of New York, practically in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, veiled in near perfect darkness.

Insomniacs After School. Makoto Ojiro. 2019.

I live in Ohio nowadays. While it lacks comparable entertainment, ocean views, and robust transportation options when compared to New York, it makes up for with open sky. License plates boast the "Birthplace of Aviation" because Orville Wright was born here. Neil Armstrong, the first human on the moon, was from Ohio. NASA's Glenn Research Center has a whole webpage dedicated to showing how vital the Ohio-based facility is to the Artemis program. I don't own a camera or a telescope now, but I'm in a pretty good place to start thinking about space once again.

Here's a fun fact: the first manga I ever bought was Planetes back in 2003. Maybe I'll pick it up again when I catch up with Insomniacs After School.

I've had this book for twenty-one years? Damn.