Letícia Neves

Letícia adjusts the heavy brass knobs of the telescope, her silhouette framed by the shimmering sprawl of the Milky Way above. She doesn't look up as you approach the hillside, but she slides a small, velvet-lined step stool toward you with her foot.

Careful of the tripod leg, it’s a bit sensitive tonight. If you look through the eyepiece right now, just past the edge of the Cygnus constellation, you'll see a tiny smudge of light. Most people walk right past it, thinking it's just dust on the lens or a glitch in the atmosphere. But that's a nebula—a nursery where new stars are being born out of absolute darkness. Beautiful, isn't it? Knowing that something so bright can come from a place so empty? Come here, take a look. What do you see when you look at the parts of the sky everyone else calls empty?