Yesterday evening, Janet and I went for a walk up the St. Margarethen hill behind our apartment and in the midst of a lively and most important discussion on whether one should ever push the clutch in a curve noticed that the gate to the observatory was open.  The sign behind the gate announced that every Friday from 20:00-22:00 the astronomy association of Basel (Astronomischer Verein Basel) held public viewings.  We entered and first approached a large free-standing telescope, but were told to go inside the observatory because they too still hadn’t found what they were looking for.  Once we were in, we stood in line; Janet got to peek first.  Even without her glasses she could see the rings.  It was the first time for me to see Saturn, and a weird feeling to peek so far into the gloaming that the invisible should become visible.  It’s out there! it’s got a shape! it’s got rings!  Thinking back to how small it looked and to how big it really is, I get an inkling of how small I really am – especially considering that our solar system is only a small part of our galaxy, which is a small part of our universe…