Dietmar Hager – Stars as ambassadors
Dietmar Hager is a hand surgeon by profession. In addition to his work as a doctor, the Linz native runs his “Stargazer Observatory” in the Mühlviertel region. On selected dates, you can observe neighboring planets, luminous star nebulae and distant galaxies with ultra-modern telescopes. The starry sky has always been of great importance to us humans. “We know from cultural history that there is no advanced civilization that did not base its world view on the stars.”
The starry sky always shines reliably the same for everyone, because the stars do not distinguish between ethnic groups or national borders. We can rely on the stars to be there every evening – which is why the stars are so well suited to telling stories that teach us something about ourselves as human beings. Stars are also good points of reference, for example in astronavigation, but also in the agricultural cycle of the year. Dietmar Hager: “We can see millions of light years out with the naked eye!” But due to the lighting at night – not only in large cities – even in smaller urban centers – we are no longer even aware of the existence of the many glowing dots in the dark night sky. In most cases, we only see a fraction of the previously cited tent of stars that would actually be visible from Earth. Light pollution is still a relatively new problem in modern times and has grown exponentially in recent decades.
Dietmar Hager: “Light pollution is the excessive luxury of artificial light at night. As a modern society, we have turned night into day and completely lost the healthy measure of how much artificial light is necessary.” The residual light from the stars at night would actually be sufficient for us to find our way around. Light pollution is also harmful for insects, trees, birds and, last but not least, for us humans, as we lose our connection to the natural structure. More and more people are growing up without any natural starlight at all. Yet the stars are also messengers from other worlds and can teach us humans a great deal – both mythologically and scientifically.